Assessing and enhancing wetland species in the West Kootenay

Author: D. Quamme, R. MacKenzie, G. Lamoureaux, R. Durand, R. Johnson

The goals of the current project are: 1. Quantify wetland water resources based on mapping, water/sediment quality and a biological monitoring to assess the health of wetlands in the Slocan and Meadow Creek areas. 2. Support current wetland restoration work in these areas through monitoring and management recommendations. 3. Engage and encourage private landowner enhancements and community involvement. 4. Report findings to the Slocan and Meadow Creek Communities, the Kootenay Region and the Columbia Basin. The CABIN methods for sampling wetland invertebrates will be used to monitor restoration recovery in a 3-year context at FWCP-funded restoration sites including: Crooked Horn Farm (COL-F17W-1438) and Meadow Creek (The Nature Trust lands/Halleran property).

Floodplain wetlands (n=16) in our study included small ponds or side-channels located at low elevations (470-558 m) on the floodplain of the Slocan or Duncan Rivers. Four of these sites were constructed wetlands. These wetland sites (25m2) were dominated by sedges, cattails and grasses and were classified as marsh (Wm01, Wm02, Wm05) or shallow water (OW). Floodplain habitats were frequently dominated by canary reed grass and/or treed swamp habitats (Durand 2016).
There were 45 families collected from 2014-2017 in 39 samples at natural sites collected in the Slocan Valley and Meadow Creek areas. Chironomid (midge) larvae were the dominant family and comprised 35% of the abundance on average among all sites collected from 2014-2017. Other dominant Families included: Baetidae (small minnow mayflies), Ceratopogonidae (sandflies), Hyalellidae (amphipod), Sphaeriidae (sphaerid clams), Coenagrionidae (narrow winged damselfly), Planorbididae (rams horn snails), Dytiscidae (predaceous diving beetle), Lymenaeidae (pond snails) and Naididae (segmented worm). These families together comprised 73% of the abundance at all sites.
Total abundance and richness (count of genus) generally showed increases at restored wetland sites relative to references sites at floodplain wetlands from 2016-2017. Sampling at Crooked Horn Farm restoration site (SPA001) included pre-restoration monitoring in 2016 and post- restoration monitoring in the first year of the project. Three sites in Meadow Creek included one site located on private lands (MC001) constructed in 2015 and two sites located on the Nature Trust Properties (MC002 and MC003) constructed in 2016.
Sites within the Meadow Creek area may have been subjected to a spraying program using bacteria thuringiensis israelensis (BTi) for mosquito control. BTi is known to have direct negative effects on other insects within the order Diptera including chironomids with possible indirect trophic level effects on Odonata and avian species which rely on Dipterans as a food source. This could potentially depress the abundance of insect Dipterans (Nematocerans) within the restored wetland and natural reference sites. While this is a possible effect, the three reference sites from Meadow Creek monitored in 2017 were centered around the mean total abundance for all sites monitored from 2015-2017, sqrt(mean)=40.6 and within the HDI of 27.7-40.6 for this time.

Floodplain wetlands (n=16) in our study included small ponds or side-channels located at low elevations (470-558 m) on the floodplain of the Slocan or Duncan Rivers. Four of these sites were constructed wetlands. These wetland sites (25m2) were dominated by sedges, cattails and grasses and were classified as marsh (Wm01, Wm02, Wm05) or shallow water (OW). Floodplain habitats were frequently dominated by canary reed grass and/or treed swamp habitats (Durand 2016).
There were 45 families collected from 2014-2017 in 39 samples at natural sites collected in the Slocan Valley and Meadow Creek areas. Chironomid (midge) larvae were the dominant family and comprised 35% of the abundance on average among all sites collected from 2014-2017. Other dominant Families included: Baetidae (small minnow mayflies), Ceratopogonidae (sandflies), Hyalellidae (amphipod), Sphaeriidae (sphaerid clams), Coenagrionidae (narrow winged damselfly), Planorbididae (rams horn snails), Dytiscidae (predaceous diving beetle), Lymenaeidae (pond snails) and Naididae (segmented worm). These families together comprised 73% of the abundance at all sites.
Total abundance and richness (count of genus) generally showed increases at restored wetland sites relative to references sites at floodplain wetlands from 2016-2017. Sampling at Crooked Horn Farm restoration site (SPA001) included pre-restoration monitoring in 2016 and post- restoration monitoring in the first year of the project. Three sites in Meadow Creek included one site located on private lands (MC001) constructed in 2015 and two sites located on the Nature Trust Properties (MC002 and MC003) constructed in 2016.
Sites within the Meadow Creek area may have been subjected to a spraying program using bacteria thuringiensis israelensis (BTi) for mosquito control. BTi is known to have direct negative effects on other insects within the order Diptera including chironomids with possible indirect trophic level effects on Odonata and avian species which rely on Dipterans as a food source. This could potentially depress the abundance of insect Dipterans (Nematocerans) within the restored wetland and natural reference sites. While this is a possible effect, the three reference sites from Meadow Creek monitored in 2017 were centered around the mean total abundance for all sites monitored from 2015-2017, sqrt(mean)=40.6 and within the HDI of 27.7-40.6 for this time.