By Cheryl Jahn

Nechako Watershed Roundtable sounds the alarm

Nov 29, 2024 | 3:39 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – It was a gathering of like-minded people, all with a vested interest in the health of the Nechako Watershed. A room of civic officials, academia and First Nations. And the message off the top of the event from UNBC Hydrologist Dr. Stepehn Dery was pretty grim in terms of the impacts of climate change over the years.

“The Nechako Watershed will probably warm and actually accelerate in terms of warming in the future. So in the past, we’ve seen about a two-degree rise across in the watershed between 1950 and 2023, and we expect at least double that in the future. So for 2030 to 2100, we might see a 3 to 5 degree increase in air temperatures in addition to the two degrees that we’ve already seen.”

And while there is an anticipation of an increase in precipitation, it won’t be what we’re accustomed to; more summer rainfall and less snowfall.

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And 2023 was not a great year for the Nechako Watershed.

“It was the warmest year on record at 4.1 degrees Celsius, 2.5 degrees above the average, 1.6 degrees, and it was very dry. This was actually the third driest and the warmest on record. So definitely not a good year, of course, considering all the wildfire activity, the drought that led to that.”

But the watershed is not simply about the water. It’s about the surrounding landscape, which is also changing.

“With the hotter conditions, we anticipate in the future probably is going to be more wildfire activity. We’ve already experienced quite a bit of wildfire activity in the last two decades and that might amplify the future. So we might lose even more tracts of forests and perhaps in some areas this summer are going to be drier.”

And Dr. Dery says to continue to ignore climate change could cost the watershed badly.

“We have to act now. We have to start working on that and not just plan but plan, but plans to action.”

The users of the Nechako Watershed, those who are part of the roundtable, have been studying this issue for years.