Last year, Watershed Watch Salmon Society raised the alarm about salmon and trout dying in Ford Creek in Chilliwack as the worst drought on record parched B.C. waterways. Volunteers raced to save what fish they could, scooping them into buckets to transport them to a cooler area of the creek with riparian cover. 

The previous year we felt helpless as salmon died by the tens of thousands in over-heated creeks in another year of severe drought.

As summer hits its apex this year, wildfires are flaring and

drought levels creeping up in what has become an all-too-regular ritual.

“Until recently I hadn’t thought of wildfire as a terribly big deal for salmon compared to the impact it has on terrestrial wildlife and ecosystems and on people,” says Aaron Hill, Watershed Watch’s executive director. “But with increased scale and frequency of fires burning more land every year, it’s increasing the cumulative effect on salmon.”

Last year was the most destructive wildfire season in B.C.’s recorded history. More than 2.84 million hectares of forest and land burned.

Wildfires are not a new phenomenon, of course, but the increase in frequency and severity of fires is an added stress on salmon already facing too many stressors, including habitat loss and the effects of a warming planet. The loss of forest cover along streams – as was the case in Ford Creek last year – exacerbates the warming effect of water. Loss of forest cover more broadly – from wildfire, logging and bug kill – causes more rapid snow melt, which brings more severe flooding and drought, and also increases erosion and sedimentation which can harm spawning beds.

“Probably most of the fires aren’t catastrophic for salmon, but they are adding to the overall impact,” Aaron says. “There are just a lot of cumulative impacts, which is just a fancy way of saying that salmon are facing death by a thousand cuts. And the fires are cutting deeper these days, along with so many other things.”

Drought has taken a toll on salmon in recent years, as low stream flows mean warmer water, some creek beds even running dry. Last year an estimated 84,000 fish died in the drought-stricken Cowichan River.

With record-low snowpack in most regions over the winter, late spring rain was not enough to ease fears of another severe drought this year. Many regions are already there, most severely the northeast, where areas like Fort Nelson and the Peace region are already at Level 4 drought of 5 levels.

In its final spring freshet bulletin in June, the B.C. River Forecast Centre noted river levels are declining in most areas of the province. Streamflow conditions vary but two-thirds of streamflow gauging locations were reporting below normal, well below normal or record low flow for the time of year.

The increasing severity of the drought-and-flood cycle in B.C. affects salmon at every stage and at any time of year, Aaron points out. And it’s not just salmon. Rising temperatures, decreased precipitation, and changes in food sources are having a profound impact on all fish and wildlife. Experts at Carlton University warned last year of the impact drought is having on all freshwater wildlife.

Receding water levels mean fish have less access to different types of habitat, wrote Robert Lennox and Steven J. Cooke. Salmon and trout may become disconnected from spawning and feeding areas.

The U.S. Geological Survey notes that many freshwater fish species are in decline and warns that all inland fisheries may be threatened by changes in climate and land use as drought becomes more frequent and severe.

“No one thing is killing our salmon, but you add up all the impacts wild salmon are facing, and the accumulation of all these extra climate-related burdens is having a massive impact,” Aaron says.

What can we do about it

• Reduce water consumption: We all contribute to either preserving or depleting our freshwater resources.
• Restore habitat: Get involved in and talk to your political leaders about re-creating safe spaces for fish in your local waters.
• Plant and protect streamside vegetation: The loss of riparian areas is a major contributor to warming water, a major stress on freshwater fish.
• Defend and restore wetlands and forests: These vital ecosystems provide fish and wildlife a natural defence against drought, flooding and the effects of a warming climate.
• Connected Waters: Promote and talk about the need for fish-friendly flood control structures in your community that ensure sloughs and side channels are open for fish.
• Write to the premier and the prime minister and tell them to make watersheds a priority by investing in a $1 billion Watershed Security Fund.