The information will be used to help AW prioritize river protection in our fine region. Just to remind y’all of what this area’s got to offer, here’s a quick video I threw together of one of our many North Cascades gems (Thanks to Chris and Erik for the clips):

Silver Creek, North Cascades, WA

From American Whitewater:

American Whitewater is completing an assessment of whitewater resources in the North Cascades.

The North Cascades is a section of the Cascade Range of Western North America that spans the border between British Columbia and Washington.

The information from this survey will be used in the development of a recreational resources layer in partnership with The Wilderness Society and other organizations.

It will help us prioritize our river protection efforts through the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, determine how to proceed in discussions regarding the future of the road network on public lands, and update the information provided in a 1986 River Recreation Inventory and Assessment for Washington State.

You can fill out the survey here.

Boofing at Bench

Again, the closure is voluntary, but we’d like to see kayakers respect it, as this is a critical time of year for Chinook. In previous years, the river closure lasted from August through May, and the Forest Service has relaxed this closure in response to hard work by several local boaters.

Devin Representing

In addition to following the closure guidelines, kayakers can practice good river stewardship by avoiding disturbance to areas where Chinook may be spawning (areas with grapefruit sized or smaller gravel). This includes walking through these areas as well as paddling through shallow spots. If you see any Chinook while you paddle, give them a wide berth, as they use the last of their energy to migrate upstream from the open ocean to spawn. After spawning, the adult Chinook die, and their carcasses supply important nutrients to the river and the surrounding riparian zone. Even after the closure period ends, continue to avoid disturbing spawning stretches, because Chinook eggs can take up to 150 days to develop before fry emerge.

For information on the closure, access, points, or Chinook salmon, check with the USFS Glacier Public Service Center (360 599-2714), or take a look at the signs at the Horseshoe Bend put-in. Currently the sign is in the wrong location, one gravel pull-off downstream of where most folks put in. There also should be a sign on the message board at the Douglas Fir campground bridge.

Please do your part to be a good steward of the river.

Here’s few pictures from last week on the Bend, taken by Bob Wilkerson, visiting from California. Also, stay tuned for some upcoming trip reports from BC and elsewhere!

David from CA boofing center at Bench on his 6th lap in two days

Eddied out

Heather running right

Mid-SAT on a sunny August day

Eric and David, lower SAT

Finishing it out

Here is the last drop on the run:

Ok. This one has some issues. I note a large wooden pallet parked in the drop. It looks like it goes pretty well at high water, assuming you don’t run into a piece of urban debris. On the other hand, low flows make this slower, but probably more body-armor intensive. There are several pieces of wood and odd potholes in the rock. Unfortunate. Farther down, things remain interesting as the cascading drop ends with some man-made strainers along the sides.

Overall, this is a manky, pot-hole filled piece of sandstone, concrete, and pipes that should not be run… but probably goes down left of center pretty well.

On the other hand, just below this drop is an ever-changing play feature that is formed where Whatcom creek lands forcefully in Bellingham Bay.

Skook it is not

The tidal height of the Bay and the river flow both affect the quality and shape of this feature. I am here to tell you that I have seen a really nice play feature there. No really! I’ll try not to sound like I am describing sasquatch, but there were two of ‘em, kinda of short but well-formed and foamy… Nice eddy service too. I’ll grant you that all I need for playboating to be challenging is a wave big enough to front surf & maybe spin, so if you are looking to perfect that Pan Am, don’t come here.

Whether this play feature is in or not, this is place really shines is as a very accessible place to give newer paddlers an introduction to moving water. There is a jet of strong current, a nice friendly eddy, and stairs on which to climb in and out of the water. Washington rivers can very intense places for beginners, and a friendlier venue (and close to the Old Town Cafe) could be a really nice spot.
Downsides: I see the waves, but what’s this?

As my Wisconsin paddling friends would say, this is spit-three-times water.
Of course, the second question a beginner might ask about that section of the waterway is - what’s under there? Is there exposed rebar, random blocks of sharp concrete? How deep is it? I have no answers to these questions, but I am going to do some looking. Someone at the port or the hatchery probably knows.
This sign is both ominous and inviting at the same time.

Does this mean anything for paddlers? It sounds to me like we can put in above the first bridge and run the drop.

For what it’s worth, here’s the stick gage for the pictures — 2′.2 from my read.

I think you want another 2 feet of water but I have no idea what tides are good. If you know anything about what good flows & tides are, fill me in.

Why?

The potential for lunch-time playboating in the spring & early summer is too great to ignore! A place to get wet for an hour or two and practice on some real moving water, right next to a big drop. I bet it wouldn’t take much doing to build a nice play feature here either, or at least cleanup whatver nastiness lurks below the slabs of the drop.

Bryan’s message: (note: SLRD = Squamish-Lillooet Regional District)

Hey Everyone,

I realize this comes late and it would be very difficult for some of you, but it is REALLY important in the scheme of things here in the Sea to Sky corridor. If you care about rivers in kayaking in BC and want to have rivers to paddle in August, you really have no excuse for not coming up here on Monday. In fact you should come ski on Sunday, because it is looking epic! Monday Feb 26 at 10:30 there is a public hearing in Pemberton on the Ashlu. This is a very interesting turn of events and many feel it will set big precedent with the SLRD and local government. I will try to explain.

Bill 30 was enacted to allow Ledcor to start construction on the Ashlu despite being denied zoning by the SLRD (local government) by an 8-1 vote. As many of you know they are well underway with construction. BUT…Ledcor has been taking a lot of bad PR and many in the community have tagged them as “operating without permits”. There future in this corridor and on other projects (hello…they own the water license for Callaghan) depends on them manufacturing local public consent. Well guess what is happening. They have gone back to the SLRD after the fact and applied for the permits. The same permits that they were denied after all the public hearings. If no one shows up in Pemberton on Monday and supports the local government, it will be very easy for this to turn into another back door deal, where Ledcor walks away with permits and ultimately permission from the local government. We have to stand behind the SLRD on this issue. I can’t explain how critical it is.

I’m starting to uncover a lot on this issue working on a documentary of the Ashlu and micro hydro in the Sea to Sky. Hopefully there will be some funding to keep efforts moving forward. So many people have dropped off the fight (Stuart and others). We can’t give in.

Thanks for your help. I will have a lot more coming at you soon, but I have been swamped in trying to get things done locally as well. Pass this email along. A good showing is really important.

Bryan

There’s some more good info, as well as a sample letter and email contacts in this thread on Boatertalk. Be sure to check out the following sites for more details:

Hydrofacts BC
Ashlu.info

Bryan, along with John Grace, has also put together an excellent short video showing the destruction that has already taken place on the Ashlu. Take a look at it on LVM. Just click on the picture under “LVM TV”. If the video doesn’t get you fired up about this issue, then I’m not sure what will.

It sounds as though there are already some Bhamsters with plans to head up on Monday. If you are in the Bellingham area, leave a comment if you need a lift, and you’ll find a map and meeting info here. This is short notice for sure, but it is well worth the extra effort. Show your support and join the fight!

I’ll close with a few pics from our trip to Callaghan last summer:

Photo by Eric Mickelson

Photo by Eric Mickelson

Photo by Hilary Neevel

]]> http://www.bellinghamwhitewater.org/2007/02/22/show-your-support-for-bc-creeks/feed/ http://www.bellinghamwhitewater.org/2007/02/03/stewardship-and-strainers-on-the-nooksack-river/ http://www.bellinghamwhitewater.org/2007/02/03/stewardship-and-strainers-on-the-nooksack-river/#comments Sat, 03 Feb 2007 21:40:20 +0000 Amy Stewardship http://www.bellinghamwhitewater.org/2007/02/03/stewardship-and-strainers-on-the-nooksack-river/ It’s happened to all of us – you get to a favorite section of river or play spot and find a big ‘ol log, tree, strainer, root ball, or other annoying woody object wedged, obstructing, impeding, blocking, or generally in the way of your favorite river feature. What to do? Well, most of us back in the good ‘ol days would grab our breakdown folding saw or chainsaw and simply remove the offending lumber.

This very incident went through our minds last December when Eric and I surveyed the latest storm damage on our favorite Bellingham section of whitewater – the Horseshoe Bend section of the North Fork Nooksack. Now, I’m not trying to sound particular here, but you have to understand – this is our favorite section of rapids on one of our favorite rivers in this land of limited guaranteed paddling sections to explore after work on any day of the year! Let me explain a little about what things looked like.

The North Fork Nooksack starts out with a couple of miles of class 2-3 which gradually build to some choice class 4 rapids and finally climax in the delicious class 4+ rapids of “Bench Drop” and “SAT.” Many a Bhamster paddler has cut his paddling teeth on these drops. These are two of the crème-de-la-crème of Bellingham rapids, at least for us folks that aren’t full-time class 5′ers. These rapids are runnable almost any day of the year, rain, shine or snow, climaxing in some fun drops that challenge us, right when we need to stretch out our adrenal glands.

The wood ruined these drops practically.

Bench drop could certainly be run – but you better not screw up. Directly below the drop in the run-out (that has, I’m afraid, been needed on more than one occasion for rescuing flailing or swimming paddlers and gear post-Bench) lay a tangled mess of a downed tree. It was already draped with some red ropes – used by the power company I’m guessing to help stabilize some power or telephone lines that had inadvertently been lying in the tree’s path. (I have heard, fortunately, that it is possible to get through these strainers since then.) This was just above some fun rapids, some of my favorites on the run, that lie between Bench and SAT. Above SAT were several obstructing trees – all of which conveniently blocked any reasonably safe entrance to the rapid. Directly below SAT was another awful tree that was right in the path of boaters finishing the final drop. Below this was yet another tree. The words frustrating were grumbled more than once on that tree-viewing expedition.

But before we ran home to grab our chainsaws to clean up the mess and restore some semblance of our favorite rapids on our favorite run, we had to consider a few things.

First of all, as whitewater kayakers, I firmly believe that it is our moral duty to be stewards for the rivers and lands around them that we love so much. We need to think carefully about the consequences of our actions, and how they can affect the long-term health of a place. This is hard, since we humans can be very shortsighted. Yet we must force ourselves to see bigger than what’s immediately in front of us, and find long-term ways to lesson our impacts. Second, one of the first lessons in ecology is that everything in nature has a purpose. Nothing is ever wasted. So, what’s the purpose of wood in a river?

Well, that depends on whom you ask, but here in the Northwest, everyone that has any brains at all understands that salmon are critically important to the economy and culture here, and many salmon runs are endangered. In fact, all three stocks of Chinook salmon that spawn in the Nooksack are listed as threatened in the Endangered Species Act. Spring-run Chinook spawn up to Nooksack Falls, several miles upstream of Horseshoe bend. According to the Whatcom Salmon Recovery website, Chinook require deep pools, large gravel, and shaded riparian areas to keep the water cold.

Ah, that’s where these strainers, so frustrating to us kayakers, come in.

Kevin Colburn, American Whitewater’s National Stewardship Director, writes in his March/April 2001 American Whitewater journal article that “logs have incredible ecological importance in many river systems. Logs trap sediment…are a food source to aquatic insects and trap leaves and other important nutrient sources like salmon carcasses. Logs create pools and overhead cover that act as critical fish habitat. Logs dissipate stream energy that would otherwise potentially cause erosion to the bed and banks of the stream. Logs…increase habitat complexity.” You can read the rest of his thought-provoking article here.

So logs are important, critical even. Rivers without logs and other features are virtual moonscapes for diverse healthy habitats. To simply remove the offending debris would be irresponsible. But does this mean we have to abandon our favorite stretch of river until the next flood comes and clears it out? Is there any chance for a compromise?

I believe there is, though it is not without controversy. I believe we could remove just a portion of the logs, allowing safe passage downstream for kayakers, without completely pulling the wood from the river. The point is to only remove wood that poses a serious safety hazard, and is not just an inconvenience. In this way we can help preserve the essential complexity of this free-running river, thus preserving salmon spawning habitat and helping a federally threatened species keep a toe - or fin-hold - in this world. And at the same time, we can continue to enjoy some of our favorite rapids that help nourish our spirits and bodies when we most need to get away from the daily grind.

In addition, by keeping these streams passable, paddlers can continue to contribute to the local economy of the area by buying gasoline, visiting local stores, and enjoying fish tacos and the like at our favorite nearby restaurants (for readers from out-of-town, I’m talking about Graham’s, right at the take-out for the Canyon section of the Nooksack. They have the best fish tacos around!). Because the sad fact is that when the rivers aren’t passable because of logs or low flows, we don’t paddle. (I’ll save the global warming speech and how that could affect flows in the future for later.)

The point is that this is a fragile issue. In simplistic terms, it could even be called a “paddlers versus fish” debate, which isn’t anything new. I’m all for conserving fish species. Their importance ecologically, culturally, economically, aesthetically, in addition to their right simply to exist, cannot be overstated. But I also believe that modifying an impassible strainer to allow safe passage for paddlers while still preserving fish habitat is not only possible, it is critical. How are we to remain connected, concerned, and aware citizens if we are barred the chance to visit our favorite places so we can commune, observe, and in general feel a part of our natural world?

I go to the river to find solace in the thick mossy Douglas firs and hemlocks lining its banks, to feel a part of its silt-laden, frigid waters, born of glaciers, that slide beneath my kayak, to witness the landscape evolving in the form of landslides and new features from the weight of mountains, water, and weather, to watch alpenglow painting Mount Baker pink as we emerge from the canyon, and to test myself against these natural formations we call rapids and whitewater. The river awakens my sense of purpose, my delight at finding myself here in this incredible part of the world, and makes me feel alive and lucky to be here.

But I also go to the river to learn about it so I can help protect it. We can enjoy our favorite rivers while also being stewards to them. We can help preserve the species that live in them full time while we visit only fleetingly. It is a balance we all search for – to be a part of nature while helping to preserve it at the same time. I hope that all paddlers remember this.

In the mean time, seeing as it’s already February and I haven’t paddled nearly enough lately, I’d better head up there to check on those strainers. Perhaps they’ve moved out of the way naturally by now? Sometimes the best way to be a steward of wood in the river is simply to have patience…