ECOmmunity Place Locatee Lands Floodplain Re-engagement Project: Pre-Construction Phase

2018

$760,362

$29,000

The goals of the ECOmmunity Place Locatee Lands (EPLL) Floodplain Re-engagement project are to:

• Restore self-sustaining ecosystems.
• Enhance habitat for key Indigenous species and their inter-connected ecological roles while dissuading introduced invasive species from colonizing.
• Increase aquatic and habitat diversity and heterogeneity.
• Increase riparian structure and function.
• Improve connectivity between the river and adjacent highlands and wildlife corridors.
• Restore physical and biological natural processes and linkages between terrestrial and aquatic nutrient cycles.
• Contribute to improved water quality and conservation in the watershed.
• Advance local Syilx Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) practices and protocols.
  The aim of this project is to initiate habitat restoration and enhancement of the Okanagan River Channel floodplain in Penticton at the EPLL project site.

Project objectives include:

1. Re-connecting the Penticton portion of the Okanagan River Channel to 4.83 ha of the river’s adjacent historic floodplain, allowing for natural backwatering as water levels in the main river channel rise and fall (i.e. no direct in-line river flow).
2. Create seasonal off-channel rearing habitat for Indigenous fish species, especially refuge for juvenile salmon stages, specifically for sk’lwist/ntytyix (i.e. Chinook Salmon).
3. Restoring a diversity of fish-free wetland habitats and riparian habitats that support Indigenous biodiversity and recovery of species at-risk populations.
4. Improving connectivity between rare and endangered riparian and wetland floodplain habitats and upland terrestrial habitats.
5. Providing opportunities for local Indigenous cultural and ecological education, awareness and interaction.