PRINCE GEORGE – The Nechako Watershed is an important piece of the Northern BC landscape. And it’s a big one. More than 47,000 kilometres in size. Larger than the size of Belgium.
And that’s why, in 2019, Rio Tinto joined forces with the University of Northern BC to study that watershed at length.
And, during the Natural Resources Forum this week, that research partnership was renewed for another five years, looking at the impacts of climate change on the watershed, pointing to things like drought and atmospheric rivers, that we’ve seen in recent years.
“We have seen all these extremes happen in the last few years, and we need to better understand what is happening in our environment,” says Dr. Stephen Dery, Industrial Research Chair. “What is climate change leading to in terms of our daily weather? And so this builds really on the effort that we’ve now obviously developed over the last five-and-a half years.”
“The questions we are trying to address is are there places in the river that they can use as thermal refuges during heatwaves and then take some relief from the warm temperatures? And then what are the chances of survival during these events that are now becoming more common with climate change,” says Dr. Eduardo Martins, Ecosystem Science and Management Associate Professor
Rio Tinto is one of the major players in that watershed and has been since the 1950s when the Kenney Dam was built.
“That science for us is critical in understanding how we can better integrate operational decisions in moving forward, but it’s also critical in understanding how we can work with our First Nations partners, their interests in ultimately protecting that ecosystem and enhancing salmon return, sturgeon returns, et cetera,” explains Andrew Czornohalan, Director of Tinto BC Works.
For the likes of UNBC’s two researchers, presenting their findings around climate change is the bigger picture.
“And with funding that is now long-term and secure for another five years, we can also continue monitoring climate change,” says Dr. Dery. “Climate change is slow, a lengthy process, and so that allows us, for instance, to track water temperature. “
The focus of the research over the course of the next five years will be the development of forecasting systems to predict river water temperatures along the main stream of the Nechako River.
