Qua/Curtis Crystal Green Nutrient Restoration Preparation
This project aims to assess baseline productivity and to evaluate the systems as candidates for nutrient restoration using Ostara’s Crystal Green pellet solid fertilizer additions. These pelllets help augment fry growth, abundance, and productivity by enhancing the stream’s algal and invertebrate communities.
The results will facilitate restoration and compensation options in more ecosystems within the Salmo Watershed, where Bull Trout and Rainbow Trout populations are at low levels.
Final Report: Executive Summary
During the 2016 growing season, Curtis and Qua Creeks in the Salmo River watershed were sampled for the second of a three year project (2015-2017) of the Nutrient Restoration Preparation Project. Sampling included water chemistry to assess trophic status, periphyton growth to assess primary productivity, invertebrate diversity to assess secondary productivity and fish abundance and condition. This assessment of the overall productivity of these two creeks is to determine if either creek is suitable for nutrient restoration with the addition of Crystal Green pelletized fertilizer in future years to augment juvenile Bull and Rainbow Trout as a restoration action within the priority Salmo watershed. The set-up of the study applies a Before-After-Control-Impact-Paired experimental and analytic design.
Key results and observations from the second year of the study included three juvenile Bull Trout in Site 2 in Curtis Creek confirming that spawning does occur in at least one of these streams. A result of significance is that the main chemistry, primary productivity, secondary productivity and fish metrics were quite similar between the two selected creeks meaning that they would likely be suitable replicates for a Before-After-Control-Impact analysis as was proposed.
Click the provincial database link below to read the full final report for this project.