Historic drought behind B.C. wildfires, salmon die-off set to continue, experts say

Thousands of dead fish, a prolonged wildfire seasonand intense water shortages leading to ice rink closures are allsymptoms of record-setting drought in parts of British Columbia.

The Lower Mainland, Sunshine Coast and West Vancouver Islandareas are experiencing Level 5 drought conditions the most severein the province's classification scale, which the B.C. government'sdrought information web page says means adverse impacts are "almostcertain.''

John Richardson, a University of British Columbia professor inthe department of forest and conservation sciences, said the currentstretch of parched conditions is an anomaly for the province.

"This is quite prolonged,"he said in an interview. "This isthe warmest, driest September we've ever had on record."

Though Environment Canada is calling for a chance of rain in someparts of the province Monday, David Campbell, head of the B.C.RiverForecast Centre, said the dry weather could persist for at leastanother week, "if not several weeks."

Experts say the drought conditions have already brought onsignificant adverse effects.

Thousands of dead wild salmon were found last week in the NeekasCreek, which runs through Heiltsuk Territory in the central coastregion of the province.

William Housty, conservation manager for the Heiltsuk IntegratedResource Management Department, said he has seen pre-spawn mortalitybefore "but never to this degree."

"We're looking at pretty much 100 per cent mortality of all thesalmon that were in the creek at that time. It's just unheard of atthis time of year that we don't have rain,"he said.

High tides and plentiful rain earlier in the season allowed the salmon to enter the river, Housty explained, but the following weeksof drought conditions dried out waterways and prevented the fishfrom spawning.

Oxygen levels dropped, the water temperature rose, and the resultwas massive die-off, he said.

"The Neekas is definitely the worst-case scenario. I don't thinkthe die-off that large is happening everywhere. But definitely whatwe're seeing consistently across the board, is that the river levelsare so low that the salmon just aren't in them,"Housty said. "Andif they are, they're dead."

Zoology professor Eric Taylor said though the images on socialmedia of waterways clogged with floating dead fish are compelling,it's important to understand that the drought impacts are local.

"You can't really extend what's happening in a reasonablylimited area to across the province as a whole and infer Pacificsalmon everywhere are under stress because of this,'' Taylor said.

'Myriad challenges'

And it's not the drought alone that is of concern for the salmon, he added.

"Fish can handle drought. They've handled it for thousands ofyears it's just one of a myriad of challenges that they face,"Taylor said. "It's when these challenges pile on top of each otherthat the real issues for fish happen."

He said the best solution is to ensure fish can easily accessrefuge areas, which would allow them to more easily adapt andsurvive during droughts.

Meanwhile, the Sunshine Coast Regional District delayed theopening of a local ice rink after the government implemented waterrestrictions amid concerns there wouldn't be enough for homes, fireprotection and the Sechelt Hospital.

The B.C. Wildfire Service also issued a news release ahead ofThanksgiving weekend urging people to use caution and remainvigilant to prevent human-caused fires. The government has bannedopen fires in much of the province.

"Sustained warm and dry weather will extend British Columbia'swildfire season well into the fall,'' the statement said.

As of Sunday, there were more than 185 wildfires still burningacross the province.

The service said a cold front is expected to sweep across theprovince Monday, but that winds associated with the weather patternmay create "elevated fire behaviour conditions."

"Very little precipitation is expected to accompany the front,"it said.

Even when the rain returns, Richardson warned the dry conditionscould create greater flood risks.

"The soils have been drying, they become hydrophobic and so whenthey first get moisture, it takes a while for the moisture to soakin naturally,"he said. "So, initially, it's very resistant andwater runs off the surface and especially on steep slopes thatleads to lots of erosion and potentially slope failures."

But floods are a worst-case scenario that would also requireheavy rainfall in a short amount of time, Richardson said.

"Best-case scenario is it starts to drizzle, and everything getswetted up, and we don't see anything happen at all,"he said.