Image: Mike Vanden Bosch / Pattison Media / The Vedder River is pictured in July 2023 on a sunny summer morning. The Vancouver-based Watershed Watch Salmon Society is celebrating after the BC government walked back its plans to mine gravel from the Vedder River. The non-profit society says the decision was the right one because it is a pink salmon spawning year. Over 1,000 letters were sent to decision-makers in an effort to cancel the gravel mining operation.

By Mike Vanden Bosch

Vedder River mining canceled

Salmon advocacy group rejoices after province scraps plans to mine gravel from Vedder River

Aug 3, 2023 | 7:57 AM

CHILLIWACK — The Vancouver-based Watershed Watch Salmon Society is celebrating after the BC government has apparently scrapped its plans to mine gravel from the Vedder River.

In a statement on the non-profit group’s website dated Tuesday, August 1, Watershed Watch says over 1,000 letters were sent to decision-makers as a means of pressuring the provincial government into canceling its plans to extract gravel from the river in a pink salmon spawning year.

According to the group, pink salmon return to the Vedder and the rest of the Fraser River system every two years on odd-numbered years, sometimes in very large numbers. Shortly after they spawned in 2021, major flooding occurred in the Fraser Valley.

“Suffice it to say, this is the wrong year to be messing around with important pink salmon habitat by removing thousands of truckloads of gravel,” Watershed Watch wrote on its website. “How many eggs got washed away, and how many adult fish will return this year? We don’t know yet, but the projections are not looking great. Because of this, it is even more imperative to protect any pink salmon that return to spawn this year.”

The society says advocates will once again need to keep a close watch on how much gravel mining is planned in spring 2024.

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“Of course, this is a small win and just pushes the problem into the future,” it wrote. “We will need to negotiate in the best interest of salmon and trout and other species that use the river. Thoughtful and strategic removal of gravel might be okay for this reach of river, but not in a pink salmon year, and only if better options aren’t available to reduce flood risk.”

The society insists one way to avoid constantly having to mine gravel is to increase the height of the dike on the Chilliwack side of the Vedder so it matches the dike height on the Abbotsford side. Another is to ensure the river is not channelized but allowed to braid, meander and flood safely.

“Instead of one-off band-aid fixes, we need a strategic process and plan to manage for floods across the lower mainland. Our work with the Lower Fraser Floodplains Coalition aims to see B.C. move towards a more sensible approach to flood management that benefits people and other species, like salmon,” Watershed Watch wrote on its website. “We know all of this will take time, collaboration and significant investment. In the meantime, we want to express a big thank you to everyone who supports our efforts to take on these individual threats as we work on the longer-term strategic solutions to improve flood management and protect salmon habitat in the Heart of the Fraser.”

by Mike Vanden Bosch

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Salmon advocacy group rejoices after province scraps plans to mine gravel from Vedder River

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