Fraser River slide has ‘huge’ impact on community: Interior First Nation

WILLIAMS LAKE — High on the Chilcotin plateau in B.C.’s Interior, the chief of a local First Nation says the traditional diet of its members is threatened by a landslide more than 150 kilometre away.

Tl’etinqox Chief Joe Alphonse, who also represents five other local nations as tribal chairman of the Tsilhqot’in National Government, says Fraser River tributaries once teeming with salmon have shown paltry returns since the Big Bar landslide was discovered in June.

“On a good year, you can run across the river on the backs of sockeye, that’s how thick our rivers are,” he said.

Alphonse estimated up to 170,000 sockeye returned to local tributaries this year where the annual average is closer to one million.

While the slide occurred in the traditional territory of the High Bar and Stswecem’c Xgat’tem First Nations, the

Tsilhqot’in are among another 140 First Nations that the federal government has said could also feel the effects.

Members are concerned Ottawa isn’t doing enough to prevent further damage to stocks, and that the public may not realize there is still a crisis because salmon runs are finished for the season, he said.

On Nov. 15, the Tsilhqot’in government sent a letter to the office of the fisheries minister requesting an update on the department’s progress, including monitoring and contingency plans should mitigation fail. The letter asks for immediate updates when work barriers are encountered.

Stocks already faced challenges of historic overfishing and habitat loss, and the landslide could prove an extirpating blow, Alphonse said. The possible loss of salmon, combined with a decline in moose populations because of the 2017 wildfires, means wild meats are scarce in the region.

Fishing also plays an important cultural role in the community, and five months of the local calendar year are named for salmon or trout, Alphonse said. “It’s huge, huge, huge, the impact on my community,” he said.

The Tsilhqot’in aren’t alone in calling for more action.

On Monday, the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs issued a media release on behalf of the First Nations Leadership Council asking the federal and provincial governments to declare a state of emergency.

No one from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans was immediately available for comment, but it held a media briefing last week updating the progress of federal, provincial and local efforts. The department said water levels are beginning to drop on the river, presenting the only chance to remove enormous amounts of rock blocking salmon migration routes before spring and summer runs arrive.

Officials warned there’s a “high risk” they won’t be successful in rescuing the salmon before the 2020 season.