The West Kootenay Watershed Collaborative advocates for protecting water at its source. We seek to create a watershed protection and decision-making template incorporating models of probability and causality in sensitive snow forests. The UBC Hydrology Lab partnership is entering its second year of fieldwork on Redfish Creek and is waiting for further matching funding to begin a project on Laird Creek. Our project uses the most current work in forest hydrology while deepening the knowledge base within our watershed communities, and working to partner with First Nations.
We have established a three-year pilot project with the Dr. Younes Alila’s Forest Hydrology Research Lab, UBC – Vancouver, Department of Forestry to interrogate and revitalize hydrological models. This new climate driven research; focuses on land-based operations to inform actions to mitigate the effects of flooding, sliding and forest fires projecting into the future. This work will initially focus on Laird and Redfish Creeks, tributaries of the West Arm of Kootenay Lake, with the intention of extrapolating to similar watersheds throughout the region.
