Penticton channel could again be home to salmon spawning
Work has begun on the Penticton channel to bring salmon back to the popular waterway.
The Okanagan River Restoration Initiative steering committee is asking drivers and dike enthusiasts to exercise patience with road and dike closures.
The southbound right lane of Highway 97 is now closed along the stretch near West Bench Hill and the bridge over the channel.
The popular west dike from Highway 97 to the KVR abutments will be closed until Sept. 30 to allow heavy equipment to work on the spawning beds.
There will be minor disruption to tubing down the channel with some select early morning closures, said Lee McFadyen, of the Okanagan River Restoration Initiative.
Where tubers now enjoy a lazy float down the channel, salmon once spawned and flourished. The river was rich in fish, including steelhead, coho, sockeye and chinook salmon, said McFadyen.
“We know people will have to make sacrifices with the closures, but it’s really worthwhile work being done and we have already seen the successes from when we did this exact same thing in 2014,” said McFadyen, spokeswoman for ORRI.
“The spawning beds we put in 2014 and 2015 were a big success, so we want to build on that. Salmon are regaining access to the channel,” she added.
The new spawning bed will be constructed in the channel adjacent the golf course and the KVR abutments. Once the 11,000 square metered spawning habitat is built, it will create great viewing opportunities.
The Okanagan River was channeled in the 1950s, altering fish spawning patterns.
Under the banner of ORRI, the Okanagan Nation Alliance, the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans have been working together since 2000 on restoration projects, including providing fish spawning platforms.
The success of the spawning beds built in the north reach of the Okanagan River during 2014 and 2015 has motivated the ORRI team to extend the areas.
The ORRI said signs will clearly mark the closed pathways.There is also a traffic management plan in place to handle the lane closure. Trucks will be using West Bench Hill to turn onto the highway, she said.