River watchers are hoping this year’s brown trout count in the Elbow River continues to show growth after the 2013 Alberta flood had a devastating effect on the population.

Chris Bjornson, a senior fisheries biologist with Golder Associates, says the flood three years ago continues to affect the population.

“The number of [spawning grounds] we have seen in the Elbow River has declined since the 2013 flood,” Bjornson explained.

The count has taken place for about 14 years.

“There was generally increasing numbers [before 2013]. During the flood year, there were low numbers, the year after the flood year was the lowest we actually have ever seen, and then last year there was a bit of recovery,” Bjornson said. 

“The numbers started to climb up again — not back to average yet — but there has been some recovery,” he added.

He said this year’s numbers so far, are similar to last year’s, which is promising.

The count looks to track redds, which are the spawning grounds of brown trout.

“The female, where she is spawning, constructs a small nest in the bed of the river … She builds a depression, she puts her eggs in and she covers that with gravel to protect the eggs, because they are going to incubate through the winter into the spring,” Bjornson explained.

“This actually leaves a visible mark on the river that we can see [and count],” he said.

Michael Kenny, president of the stewardship group Calgary River Valleys, says the annual count serves several purposes.

“It’s a blue ribbon river and it attracts thousands of fisher people from around the world,” Kenny said.

“So it’s great for the economy, it’s great for the environment, and overall, the most important thing is that it tells us the health of our rivers and streams.”

Bjornson says the size of a redd depends on the size of the female trout.

“There will be a few thousand [eggs] in any given redd. A small proportion of those will successfully incubate, the young fish will swim out of the gravel into the river and a few of those will turn into juveniles and then adults,” Bjornson said.

“The number of fish that actually survive is quite small.”

He said Mother Nature can take years to restore itself after a major weather event.

“During the flood, a lot of the gravels were pushed to the side of the river, and so over the coming years, the lesser floods, the spring flows will inundate those gravels and bring them back into the main channel of the river and make them available for the trout again.”

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Brown trout numbers in the Elbow River are holding steady, which is good news considering spawning ground counts plummeted after the flood four years ago.

Scientists, students and volunteers spent Friday rafting down the river as part of Calgary River Valleys’ annual fall fish count, looking for trout spawning beds — called redds.

The local non-profit has been doing the count for 14 years.

“What we’re hoping to see is an improvement in the spawning habitat, and that is some of the gravel where the trout are spawning that were pushed to the periphery of the stream during the flood that they’re getting moved back into the mainstream and available to the trout to spawn,” said Chris Bjornson, a senior fisheries biologist with Golder Associates.

“We’re starting to see a bit of that for sure.”

Before the flood, the group counted more than 430 redds. In the fall after the 2013 flood, the number plunged to barely over 100.

This year’s count is back up to the average number, which lies in the 200 range.

Robin Mcleod with Calgary River Valleys said the number has been slowly increasing.

“We have to have flood waters that come back into the river and bring the gravel down from the sides, hopefully,” she said.

Numbers from Friday’s count will be sent to the city and the province to help with further studies.

The post Elbow River brown trout numbers holding steady, annual count reveals appeared first on Calgary River Valleys.

The watershed was first crafted by glacial melt thousands of years ago.

Its tributaries run under what’s now Brentwood, Charleswood and Brisebois Drive — all paved over.

Now, local activists are hoping to bring one of those tributaries — Confederation Creek — back into the daylight by having it officially recognized by the province.

When it goes underground, it’s out of sight out of mind.- Simone Lee, Friends of Confederation Creek

The creek isn’t actually called Confederation, it’s just been dubbed that because it runs through Confederation Park. Its official, albeit unceremonious title is outfall N25, because it’s treated as a stormwater flow to Nose Creek.

Simone Lee, the president of Friends of Confederation Creek, says to acknowledge the creek as what it is — a crucial supplier of one of Calgary’s largest watersheds — would protect it.

“When it goes underground, it’s out of sight out of mind,” Lee said.

“There was this refusal to acknowledge that there was this permanent, existing, groundwater flow through northwest Calgary.”

Lee spoke standing on the edge of Queen’s Park Creek, one of the only above-ground tributaries left.

The group has been pushing the government to recognize the creek as vital to Calgary’s groundwater and daylight it, a process that returns water that’s been diverted below ground back into the sunlight.

“Burying these creeks is not the way to go environmentally,” said Janice Deere, another member of Friends of Confederation Creek.

“Having that creek in the daylight will actually preserve, enhance the water.”

But actually protecting the creek and its surrounding wetland will be a complex task.

Some land in the area has already been approved for development, but in March a study was released recommending some of that land along the creek be used for flood mitigation instead.

Newly-elected MLA Jeremy Nixon said he’s been speaking to residents and the local city councillor about the creek, and is excited to dig into the issue, even though it’s a complicated one.

“In addition to what can we do in regards to daylighting the creek or not, in regards to the flooding … as well as considering the fact it’s currently privately owned land, that adds another layer of complexity to it,” he said.

Lee said she hopes with a new government, there’s a new audience for her group’s message — that we know more about water protection now than when the streams were paved over, and should act accordingly.

“We have to set a better example for our kids,” she said. “We know better now, so we should just do better.”

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