UpStream
UpStream
UpStream S2 Ep.3: Land Use Planning & Willow Creek Restoration







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The Skeena Watershed is vast, encompassing dozens of communities and Indigenous nations, and more than 54,000 square kilometres of forests, rivers, lakes, mountains and wetlands. Trying to monitor and understand the ecological, cultural and economic values of this land is a constant struggle. However, Sarah Railton, SkeenaWild’s land use planning and forestry lead, makes those struggles a little easier to deal with as she navigates the world of lands use planning, implements better forests practices and helps restore local salmon streams. One focus of SkeenaWilds land use planning and forestry work is restoration, in part through the Healthy Watersheds Initiative.

Willow Creek, just north of Terrace, was historically a salmon stream. But road development, beaver dams and logging chocked out most of the water flow and passage ways for fish years ago. But over the past couple of season Sarah and a crew of field techs have removed obstructions, cleared passage ways and replanted thousands of tress to rehabilitate Willow Creek and hopefully, allow salmon to return.