KELOWNA – The spring runoff put recently completed Mission Creek restoration work to the test and the project worked as intended.
The creek overflowed its banks where the dike has been set back between Gordon and Casorso Roads and water flowed into the floodplain.
“It’s great to see freshet flows entering the newly expanded floodplain,” says Mission Creek Restoration Initiative project coordinator Steve Matthews. “The river’s energy is already starting to develop a more naturally functioning floodplain and riparian area, providing the opportunity for deposition of fine sediments that would typically remain within the creek channel. This will improve in-stream gravel quality for spawning kokanee.”
Returning the creek to a more natural, meandering state improves habitat for fish and wildlife.
“The high water levels will initiate development of riparian wetland areas including the two amphibian ponds constructed during vegetation plantings,” says Matthews.
The provincial government channelized the creek through Kelowna and built dikes along both sides after destructive floods in the 1940’s and 50’s.
However, that resulted in the loss of about 60 per cent of the creek’s length and 85 per cent of Kokanee and Rainbow trout spawning and rearing habitat.
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