Vedder River salmon habitat threatened by gravel mining
June 28, 2023
By: Meghan Rooney
Photo Credit: Angela Painter
UPDATE: Gravel mining on the Vedder River has been cancelled for 2023. Learn more here.
The provincial government of B.C. is on the verge of making a grave decision that threatens the habitat of wild salmon. They have proposed the removal of a staggering 360,000 cubic meters of gravel from the Vedder River during a large pink salmon spawning year. The project is being performed in the name of flood risk reduction, a topic we are quite familiar with. Based on the science, gravel extraction in this case is not likely to significantly reduce flood risk and there are other approaches that would be more effective.
The timing and scope of this project are all wrong and we need the province to know it cannot happen. Gravel mining does happen in the Vedder River, but usually, the work occurs on even years, when pink salmon are not spawning in huge numbers in tributaries of the lower Fraser River.
We need your support. Please take action by voicing your concerns to the key decision-makers on this file. Tell the Ministers of Environment and Forests to halt this project and safeguard wild salmon habitat.
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Vedder River salmon habitat threatened by gravel mining
June 28, 2023
By: Meghan Rooney
Photo Credit: Angela Painter
UPDATE: Gravel mining on the Vedder River has been cancelled for 2023. Learn more here.
The provincial government of B.C. is on the verge of making a grave decision that threatens the habitat of wild salmon. They have proposed the removal of a staggering 360,000 cubic meters of gravel from the Vedder River during a large pink salmon spawning year. The project is being performed in the name of flood risk reduction, a topic we are quite familiar with. Based on the science, gravel extraction in this case is not likely to significantly reduce flood risk and there are other approaches that would be more effective.
The timing and scope of this project are all wrong and we need the province to know it cannot happen. Gravel mining does happen in the Vedder River, but usually, the work occurs on even years, when pink salmon are not spawning in huge numbers in tributaries of the lower Fraser River.
We need your support. Please take action by voicing your concerns to the key decision-makers on this file. Tell the Ministers of Environment and Forests to halt this project and safeguard wild salmon habitat.
I lived by the Vedder River for several years, enough to see that it is important for PINK SALMON. For survival of the PINKS it is important that the area not be disturbed in their peak spawning years. So I respectfully ask that gravel mining not proceed in the odd numbered years, such as this one, when there are fewer fish there, but in the even years.
Gravel mining of salmon spawning rivers is madness! Stop this proposed project at once!