Williston Reservoir Bull Trout Spawner Abundance Monitoring

Since 2001, FLNRO and FWCP have conducted annual Bull Trout redd counts in spawning tributaries of Williston Reservoir. McLeod Lake Indian Band (MLIB) and Tsay Keh Dene (TKD) First Nations are more recent partners in these efforts.

This project has three recommended options:

1. the core proposal consisting of redd counts in the established annual index reaches;
2. a recommended expansion of the redd count program to two-to-three new index sections in the Davis River, and two index sections in the Anzac River, to increase reliability of the surveys and increase First Nations training and employment; and
3. an application of the aerial redd count methodology (successfully applied to the Davis River in 2015) to the Ingenika River Watershed, to identify critical spawning habitats and estimate Bull Trout population size.

The major long-term benefit of the project is that field study results (abundance trends) are some of the most important population data for assessing Bull Trout conservation status; and are therefore also among the most important measures of success for FWCP’s conservation goals.