If all goes to plan, 30,000 Chinook salmon eggs will be fertilized upstream of Dawson City this summer as part of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation’s efforts to increase stocks of the vital fish.

For roughly two decades, fewer Chinook salmon have been swimming into Yukon, spurring the First Nation to develop a plan. Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in has been laying the groundwork to establish a full-fledged egg-rearing facility — featuring the first sonar system wholly owned by a Yukon First Nation — to bolster dwindling numbers of the species along the Klondike River, a tributary of the Yukon River.

“It’s one of our main traditional food staples,” Chief Roberta Joseph told The Narwhal, noting that citizens have been asked to voluntarily refrain from fishing Chinook salmon since 2013.

“Since time immemorial our ancestors have relied on salmon. Not only is it a food staple but fishing them is a time for families to bond and pass on traditional knowledge and stories. It’s a time of healing, of renewing spirituality and connection that our people have with the land.” 

An egg incubation facility is a few years off, though. Gaps in research need to be filled. This is what the community has been trying to do for the last two years: study what works and what doesn’t via an in-stream incubation project. This will help them determine egg-to-fry survival rates, or how successful eggs are at growing into adolescence. They’re also measuring conditions such as water level, temperature and when the fish arrive. From this information they can replicate the ideal conditions for a high survival rate in the incubation facility.

But more time is needed after a poor run of Chinook in previous years has meant numbers for the project aren’t as high as hoped, said Ben Schonewille, a fish and wildlife biologist with Environmental Dynamics Inc., which was contracted by the community to help study the feasibility of the egg incubation program.

They’ve requested an extension to the in-stream incubation project for at least another year. The Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board is evaluating the proposal to extend right now and a public comment period will likely be launched soon, a spokesperson for the board said.

The ins and outs of the in-stream incubator  

Since July 2018, egg-to-fry survival rates have been closely monitored through this project. Eggs are taken from females and are mixed with milt (semen) from males. The fertilized eggs are placed along with sediment into an incubation vector, such as a mesh bag, and then buried in the river. Researchers then dig up the bags and are able to gauge how many eggs inside have survived to the fry stage. This is called a “green egg” process.

Eggs are collected from a Chinook salmon to use as part of the in-stream incubator project aimed at increasing the dwindling population of Chinook in the Klondike River. Photo: Environmental Dynamics Inc.

Broodstock — the group of mature salmon that will be targeted by researchers for egg and milt collection — are located by helicopter at the peak of the salmon run. 

But issues including water clarity and a lack of Chinook have slowed down tracking goals for the project, which follows a separate in-stream incubation effort in Yukon started by Teslin Tlingit Council in 2016.

The Tr’ondëk Hwëch’s project has a goal of planting a maximum of 30,000 eggs per year (to put this into perspective, one female contains roughly 5,500 eggs while spawning). Roughly a third of this goal was hit, or about 10,000 eggs planted, in both 2018 and 2019.

“We just could not catch sufficient broodstock, nor were we comfortable taking more eggs due to the poor returns to the Klondike in 2019,” Schonewille said, adding that while 30,000 eggs is the upper limit of the project, planting less than that hardly deems it unproductive.

According to Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the number of Chinook salmon that make it back over the Alaskan border into the Yukon to breed — known as treaty-obligated escapements — have been less than the number that left the territory for the past 11 years.

Last year, 42,052 Chinook salmon entered Yukon, said Elizabeth MacDonald, executive director of the Yukon Salmon Sub-Committee. This fell below the spawning escapement goal range of 42,500 to 55,000.

It’s difficult to pinpoint any one reason why fewer Chinook salmon are populating Yukon rivers, but low productivity and changes to ecosystems could be playing a role. MacDonald said salmon that come back from the ocean to spawn are yielding fewer offspring compared to a decade ago.

Impacts to marine or river habitats could also be affecting their productivity.

“Definitely climate change is having an effect, and there’s a lot more people, so anthropogenic effects, not so much in our neck of the woods, but along the B.C. coast with forestry and rural development — industry, let’s say,” MacDonald said. “No one knows for sure. But there’s always a cycle to salmon. Sometimes they do well, sometimes they do poorly.”

Incubation facility hinges on sonar

Critical to Tr’ondëk Hwëch’s salmon incubation facility is the introduction of a sonar system that tracks the number of Chinook salmon in the water. “The unit looks across the river channel and records sonar files which are then reviewed by a trained sonar technician to count the number of salmon that swim past the site,” Schonewille explained.

Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in plans to have the sonar up-and-running by July 1 in Dawson City. It will be the first system of its kind wholly owned by a First Nation in Yukon, said Schonewille, noting that citizens are to be trained in how to operate it.

The goal is to ensure there’s a baseline understanding of how many fish enter the Klondike, he said, adding that it will help to determine the capacity of the watershed in the future for hosting Chinook salmon — and that the aquatic ecosystem isn’t thrown out of balance. 

“It’s really important because it provides a very accurate count of the number of fish that spawned in the Klondike in any given year,” he continued. “Once restoration work begins on a greater scale, we’ll be able to determine how successful it is.”

Salmon are inseparable from Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in culture

The lynchpin to all of this work is a Chinook salmon restoration plan that was first released in 2017. This living document is the basis for all future work regarding salmon restoration in the area. Underpinning it is Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in’s final agreement with the Yukon and federal governments, a section of which says that the community is responsible for preserving and enhancing the renewable resource economy within its traditional territory. 

Final agreements signal that a First Nation has settled their land claims. Eleven of 14 Yukon First Nations (including Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in) have done so. They can create and enact laws, for example, and have far more jurisdiction than First Nations in southern Canada, most of which fall under the Indian Act. 

The restoration plan’s message is clear: salmon are inseparable from Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in culture.

“Culture camps that bring Elders and youth together are a venue that allows traditional knowledge to be shared and passed on to the next generation,” the plan says. “These camps include activities that focus on all things salmon — harvesting techniques, preserving your catch, setting nets and special or traditionally used camping areas along the river, as well as spiritual practices, stories and songs that teach youth respect for the salmon.”

“Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in citizens are physically, culturally and spiritually connected to the Yukon River salmon fishery.”

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WHITEHORSE, Yukon — Roughly 10 miners from Saskatchewan arrived in Dawson City, Yukon, last weekend and two members of the group ignored self-isolation rules and entered a store, according to the chairperson of the community’s emergency measures organization.

Yukon requires all people arriving to the territory to self-isolate immediately for 14 days.

Mike Masserey told The Narwhal members of the group were heading to a mine site in the area, where they intended to self-isolate.

He said stores have notices informing people not to enter prior to self-isolating. Despite this, two members of the group entered a general store to stock up on supplies, Masserey said.

“I think they should get fined,” he said, adding that they drove into Whitehorse on April 3 and were in Dawson the next day.

“If they contracted the virus anywhere along the line … we don’t know. They don’t know either, but they know what the rules are, and yet they don’t see a problem with coming in and shopping at our stores.”

Masserey said if staff who run the two stores that sell food get sick, the community is in trouble. “Dawson is dead. We have no supply of food.”

Placer mining is common in the Dawson City area. Miners scoop up rocks and gravel from riverbeds, sort through them for gold and then dump the waste rock in a process that can severely damage streams.

In a territory that has a gold panner on its licence plates, placer mining is seen as a low-cost way for small-scale operators to get into the mining business without having to front the costs associated with starting a larger mine.

Masserey has seen other miners pass through the community as well. He said roughly a week and a half  ago, two miners flew in from Europe and stopped in town for groceries. Another one drove up from Florida about three weeks ago. Masserey said he instructed him to stay away from Dawson City and the miner said he planned to live out of his truck.

Mining in Yukon has been deemed an essential service, but there are still guidelines for the industry to follow. Last week, emergency measures were introduced that made self-isolation upon entering the territory law. Failing to do so can result in jail time of up to six months, fines or both.

A spokesperson with the RCMP said roughly eight people travelled to Yukon from Lloydminster, Sask., in a convoy, noting no charges are being laid. The group is self-isolating outside of the town’s limits.

“Two females in the group were responsible for getting groceries for the group and stated that they had self-isolated prior to the drive,” said Alma Edwards, acting director of strategic communications for Yukon RCMP. “There was a misunderstanding that they had to self-isolate once entering a new province or territory.”

“Neither of the females were exhibiting signs, symptoms of illness and were provided education by the responding police officer.”

As of April 8, there have been no charges under the Civil Emergency Measures Act, according to a spokesperson with the Department of Community Services.

“Our goal is not to charge people but to educate the public and have voluntary compliance,” Breagha Fraser said in a written statement to The Narwhal.

‘It’s just being negligent’: Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in chief

Roberta Joseph, chief of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation in Dawson City, raised concerns that placer miners entering the area are not taking self-isolation seriously, potentially jeopardizing the health of people there and in Yukon at large.

Miners flying from the south could spread COVID-19 to Dawson City residents, Joseph told The Narwhal, adding that spring breakup is when some come back to the region from out of the territory.

“It’s just being negligent towards and [showing] a lack of respect towards the people in our community who live here year-round,” she said.

Brooke Rudolph, executive director of the Klondike Placer Miners’ Association, said placer miners from 15 businesses are currently self-isolating, but she didn’t know exactly how many people. She said those who are self-isolating or have self-isolated had returned to Yukon in about the past two weeks.

The association’s members are primarily Yukoners. Membership hovers around 200, which includes businesses and individuals. Not all members are miners.

Some placer miners choose to live and work in Yukon during the summer months, Rudolph said.

“Really, they just came home,” she said.

The placer miners’ association rolled out measures of its own. It introduced a tracking system, for instance, that allows it to keep tabs on who’s self-isolating and where they visited and when, Rudolph said. After self-isolation, miners’ whereabouts are also documented. It’s voluntary for miners to share their information.

“We believe that placer mining can safely and responsibly occur and also provide economic benefit, not just to the Yukon but also small communities, which will really make a positive impact in light of a total decline in tourism,” Rudolph said.

She didn’t know how many placer miners have returned to Yukon recently, adding that most came back to Yukon before COVID-19 hit the territory. The territory’s first case was confirmed on March 22.

Gold seekers are flooding into the Yukon and wreaking havoc on its rivers

Enforcement officers now monitoring entries to Yukon

Travellers are now required to fill out a travel declaration, notify officials of self-isolation plans and provide contact information at the border and airport.

Earlier this week, John Streicker, minister of community services, said there are now enforcement officers posted at entries 24/7, including at the Whitehorse International Airport to meet incoming flights.

“With our outreach, notifications and the border measures in place, we are managing the situation as thoroughly as we can,” Jesse Devost, a spokesperson with the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources, said in a written statement to The Narwhal. “All miners should have been aware for several days now when encountering the checkpoint in Watson Lake or the Whitehorse airport of the need to self-isolate.”

Devost said the department doesn’t know how many placer miners have arrived, noting that they aren’t required to check in with mining recorders — officials in field offices who register claims, process permits and collect fees.

“The claim owners do need to visit the mining recorder usually later in the year to report the work they did to their claims, and we will continue to conduct that business with them, under our COVID-responsive office practises,” he said.

A 2002 study found that as many as five per cent of Yukon streams have been affected by placer mining, which “has resulted in extensive changes to stream channel morphology and stability.”

Dawson City Mayor Wayne Potoroka said it’s not only placer miners — everyone needs to follow the rules.

He said some people have been “late to the party,” noting there were groups of people congregating downtown recently, including locals.

Potoroka said the municipality has made it easy for people to self-isolate by working with several hotels that offered to cut their nightly rates in half.

There have been some changes, he said, since enforcement officers have been stationed at checkpoints.

“If you’re coming up the road now, there’s a stop,” he said. “You’re gonna get the hard talk.”

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Solar-powered curling, anyone? Or what about solar-powered sewage treatment?

Hudson’s Hope, the municipality that would be most affected by the Site C dam, is going solar with a blast.

“It’s starting to look like a real, honest to goodness twenty-first century solar community,” said Don Pettit of the Peace Energy Renewable Energy Cooperative, the business that recently installed 1,580 photovoltaic panels, giving Hudson’s Hope the largest municipal solar array in the province.

The panels — in more than a half-dozen locations, including on the rooftops of the public works shop, municipal building, curling rink, arena, and beside sewage treatment lagoons — will save an estimated $70,000 a year in hydro bills, according to Hudson’s Hope mayor Gwen Johansson.

“Over 30 years, that amounts to savings of more than two million dollars,” Johansson told DeSmog Canada. “If hydro rates go up the savings will be even greater.”

Johansson said Site C had nothing to do with the district’s decision to embrace solar, even though the project’s impacts on Hudson’s Hope will be extensive.

ICYMI: Site C Dam Over Budget, Behind Schedule and Could be Replaced by Alternatives: BCUC Report

“It’s purely a financial decision,” she said. “It’s a pragmatic cost saving.”

Despite conservation efforts such as installing LED lights in the town arena and other district buildings, Johansson said Hudson Hope’s annual hydro bill climbed from $68,000 in 2000 to $172,000 in 2016.

The cost of electricity for buildings with solar panels will be reduced by an average 75 per cent, according to the mayor.

Site C’s Giant Footprint on Hudson’s Hope

Hudson’s Hope, one of the oldest European settlements in the province, overlooks a Peace River canyon more than 60 kilometres upstream from the Site C dam. Known as the gateway to the W.A.C. Bennett and Peace Canyon dams, as well as to globally significant dinosaur trackways, the district markets itself as the “Playground of the Peace.”

But it might have to find another slogan if B.C.’s NDP government opts to proceed with construction of the now estimated $10 billion Site C dam following an expedited independent review by the B.C. Utilities Commission, whose final report was released Wednesday.

The community of 1,000 people would lose 97 properties to the Site C reservoir and the relocation of a provincial highway for the dam. The reservoir would also engulf the town’s water intake, pumping station and treatment plant, and riverside trails that attract tourists and make the quaint and quiet town an attractive place to live.

All told, 670 hectares of land in the district of Hudson’s Hope would be lost to the relocation of a provincial highway for Site C and its reservoir, which would also flood heritage sites such as an old-time ferry landing and the Rocky Mountain Portage House, a fur trade fort site opposite the town that was established by explorer Simon Fraser.

ICYMI: BC Hydro Spent $20 Million Quietly Buying Land for Site C Before Dam Was Approved

To prevent additional homes and property from sloughing into the reservoir, BC Hydro plans to build a giant berm — up to fourteen metres high, seven metres wide and two and a half kilometres long — as part of what it calls the Hudson’s Hope “shoreline protection” plan.

BC Hydro has stated that the berm would have no visual impact on Hudson’s Hope, but the district disagrees. “The sheer size and scale of the Bern will permanently alter the visual appeal and prized valley views of the District for residents and tourists,” the district noted in its submission to the Joint Review Panel that examined Site C for the B.C. and federal governments.

Johansson said more than 1,000 additional hectares of land in the district would also be lost to a BC Hydro statutory right of way. The right of way leaves ownership of the land in private hands, but prohibits property owners from building permanent structures.

“Although landowners get to keep their land there are severe restrictions on what they can do,” Johansson explained. “It gives BC Hydro the right to inundate, erode, or cause the land to slough or slide or to put debris on it.”

Last year, BC Hydro signed a “Partnering Relationship Agreement” with Hudson’s Hope, awarding the district $1 million in compensation for Site C’s impacts and pledging to support the revitalization of a residential sub-division in the district, where it has already purchased at least 80 properties for Site C.

The District’s Conversion to Solar

Hudson’s Hope’s conversion to solar began with a successful $1.35 million application to the federal gas tax fund, which supports local infrastructure priorities.

Greg Dueck, a solar consultant for the energy coop, said the Peace region has ideal solar conditions despite its northerly location. “Our winters are long but we’ve got good sun…We have great summers with long days.”

The district applied to BC Hydro’s Net Metering program, which allows owners of solar installations to sell excess electricity to BC Hydro and to buy electricity when they need it.

One challenge the Hudson’s Hope project faced was BC Hydro’s cap on the amount of power it will allow from any single solar installation in the district. The cap is 100 kilowatts, and Hudson’s Hope planned to install about 500 kilowatts of capacity, said Dueck. “So we had to spread out the arrays.”

ICYMI: Is B.C.’s Tunnel Vision Forcing out Solar Power?

When the solar installation becomes fully operational by the end of the year, the Bullhead Mountain Curling Club building will produce 100 per cent of its electrical needs, while the district’s arena — often the biggest electricity guzzler for municipalities — will meet just over one-half of its energy demand through solar panels.

Dueck said the falling price of solar, combined with the longevity of the photovoltaic panels, make it an ideal choice for municipalities.

“I think this is the tip of the iceberg,” he said. “[Municipalities] are just starting to wake up and say, ‘Wait a minute, we can do this.’ It will reduce their carbon footprint and it will save money every year. Once they put solar on it will pretty much run itself for a very long time. It’s just a really good long-term strategy.”

Elsewhere in the Peace region, Dawson Creek earned the title of “Canada’s First Solar City” in 2012 after it installed solar panels on most of its municipal buildings and embarked on other solar initiatives, such as requiring all new homes to be built “solar ready.”

Fort St. John, seven kilometers downstream from the Site C dam structure, was declared the “Solar Community of the Year” in 2010 after it introduced new policies to encourage solar installations. Among other initiatives, Fort St. John created development permit areas that encourage solar design. It also installed solar powered trash compactors, solar pedestrian signals, solar lighting at bus shelters, and solar hot water and solar air heating in some municipal buildings.

Johansson said the solar panels are a source of community pride and will contribute to long-term economic development. “We are thrilled by the benefits that come with our move to a clean energy future.”

Those benefits included summer jobs for seven Hudson’s Hope high school students, who were hired the coop’s joint venture partner, Moch Electric Ltd., to work on the installation.

The district of Hudson’s Hope, which has expressed concern about the impacts of Site C, has long called for a full independent review of Site C by the BCUC. The Union of B.C. Municipalities, representing the majority of people in the province, also passed a 2015 resolution calling for a BCUC review.

“It didn’t get the full review,” said Johansson, “but at least it’s had an expedited review.”

The B.C. government says it will make a final decision on Site C by the end of the year.

Image: District of Hudson’s Hope solar array via Facebook

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