Hill Creek Spawning Channel

Hill Creek spawning channel provides spawning habitat for Kokanee and Rainbow Trout from Arrow Lakes Reservoir. The channel was constructed in the early 1980s to compensate for lost natural Kokanee and Rainbow Trout spawning habitat, due to the construction of Revelstoke Dam.

FWCP funding supports ongoing operations, maintenance and monitoring at the channel, including Kokanee fry emigration, Rainbow Trout redd counts and fry emergence, adult Kokanee size, fecundity and escapement, overwinter egg survival, and water quality. Year-round flow control is essential to minimize sediment inputs and ensure adequate flows, and machine gravel cleaning, facility maintenance, and reporting are annual requirements.

Output targets for Hill Creek spawning channel are as follows for 2016:

• Kokanee (interim) egg target 5.4 million;
• Kokanee egg-to-fry survival rate ≥ 40%; and
• interim fry production of 3.8 million.

In 2016-17  there will be the scarification (cleaning of spawning gravel) and emptying of sediment from settling ponds; and the release of conifers from two hectares of the channel.