Fraser River flows fluctuating more drastically than in past
Posted June 28, 2012 10:53 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
PRINCE GEORGE (NEWS1130) – A scientist at UNBC has confirmed our suspicions: that flooding of the Fraser River is happening more frequently.
But Stephen Dery, who works in the environmental science department, has also discovered that the Fraser’s low flows are more extreme.
He says there are a couple of reasons for the drastic fluctuations.
“We have many pine trees killed off by the mountain pine beetle. There is a lot less water being retained by the trees. It’s actually infiltrating into the soil and then running off, contributing to greater stream flow,” he points out.
On the other hand, there is less run off during really hot summers because the receding glaciers just aren’t producing the volumes of water they used to.
He says the extremes, which he says have become more pronounced in the last 30 years, can cause headaches for people trying to predict flooding.
They can also impact the survival rates of migrating salmon.
“During really low flows, the water temperatures would be higher-than-average and that could be detrimental to the migrating fish. The high flows, with their high currents, could be detrimental too, as they just impose more stress on the salmon.”
