Our Society respectfully acknowledges that the Tsolum Watershed that we cherish and protect flows through the unceded traditional territory of the K'omoks First Nation, the traditional keepers of this place.
Our Goals are to:
The Tsolum River Charter:
The Tsolum River Watershed is a fresh water ecological system; a vibrant, sustainable amenity providing an optimistic future for urban and rural quality of life.
Our watershed connects us to the planet we live on; it is where the ocean, river and land interconnects from the most upstream mountainous sources through all land, water and air interactions and all wild and human interactions to and from the estuary and ocean.
The Tsolum River Restoration Society is the steward of a natural resource. We hold that the ecosystem is both sacred and property of the commons. It is ours to cherish, restore and maintain forever.
At the Tsolum River Restoration Society we believe that:
In order to direct and plan future activities, to complete and fully engage with our community, agencies, industry, governments, experts, funders and each other and to have lines of communication and responsibilities clearly defined the following Organizational Structure defines these parameters.
History:
The Tsolum River Task Force (TRTF) grew out of many years of dedicated work by citizens concerned about water and watersheds of the Comox Valley. As early as 1969 the Comox Valley Chapter of the Steelhead Society began to ask why fish were not rebuilding in the Tsolum. In 1992, DFO’s Salmonid Enhancement Task Group, the Comox Valley Environmental Council and other local organizers held the "Water Lifestream of the Comox Valley" forum to discuss the health of local watersheds and other water related issues. The result of this forum was the production of the report titled " Water- Lifestream of the Comox Valley" (1993), which raised community awareness of watershed issues.
The Comox Valley Watershed Assembly was a local forum that convened monthly to discuss watershed issues. At these meetings focus groups were formed to discuss concerns presented to the Assembly, and to develop solutions to these problems. The Assembly was very effective in bringing watershed issues to the public and instrumental in the formation of many watershed stewardship groups. In 1995, the "Tsolum Team" was formed at a Watershed Assembly meeting and in 1997, the "Healing the Tsolum" workshop was attended by over 200 local residents. At a meeting the following day, the TRTF formed with the goal of restoring the Tsolum River to historic levels of health and productivity.
The TRTF took its message to the Provincial Minister of Employment and Investment (Mines and Energy), the Honourable Dan Miller, and to the Minister of the Environment, the Honourable Cathy McGregor to request funding and support for the TRTF’s efforts to clean up the problem of minesite pollution, to address the problem of low summer water flows in the river and to restore fisheries habitat throughout the watershed. In response to this call for action, the Ministers directed the TRTF to apply to Fisheries Renewal B.C. and the Environment Youth Team for assistance with this task.
In the spring of 1997, funding was received from DFO for the Tsolum River Restoration Project to be administered by the Comox Valley Project Watershed Society, with the supervision of the project under the control of the Steering Committee of the TRTF. (Reprinted from the “State of the Tsolum River” report, 1999)
By the summer of 1998 it had become clear that the TRTF was not functioning as it had over the past year. Agency and industry members were not as forthcoming in their comments and participation and action orientation began to grind to a standstill. It was revealed that Provincial/Federal orphaned minesite remediation had become a legal issue with Notices of Remediation Orders being issued to other minesite locations in the province. The Britannia Mine site near Squamish began to hit the media. As the remediation had taken a turn towards the courts, agencies and industry were instructed by their legal counsels to not speak openly about the minesite issues. The loss of the freedom to speak openly restricted the Task Force to the point where it became redundant. In October 1998 the Tsolum River Restoration Society was formed.
Since that time the TRRS continued to push for remediation of the minesite with a resolution passed in January of 2001 that the Society would not support any further studies - that the issue had been studied enough and all the data led to “Source Control” It was moved and carried that the TRRS would push for a complete cover of the site.
A bold step had been taken on behalf of the citizens of the Comox Valley who have suffered the economic losses for over 40 years of pollution. It was further decided that addressing low flows, habitat restoration, stock enhancement, community awareness and protection of the watershed would be our focus while working towards source control proceeded. With the demise of many of the funding sources this work has slowed but continues.
In 2003 a unique partnership was formed; industry, all levels of government, the Pacific Salmon Foundation and the Tsolum River Restoration Society worked together to implement a Passive Wetland Treatment Project. The project was immediately successful in reducing toxic copper levels in the river but all agreed it was a relatively short-term solution.
Since 2004 the partnership continued to press forward with long-term source control.
At the end of 2007 a plan to cover the site found agreement, a final design document was completed in 2008, the needed $4.5 million dollars in funding was secured and the partnership announced the project with Quantum Murray taking the lead.
The TRRS now turns its focus to other limiting factors and are mounting a biophysical assessment of the entire watershed, the publication of an updated "State of the Tsolum River Report" and a Recovery Plan for the watershed that details our work over the next decade.
Our Goals are to:
- Promote sustainable stewardship of the Tsolum River Watershed
- Protect the Tsolum River from activities that may damage the health of the Tsolum River Ecosystem
- Restore and/or mitigate for lost or damaged habitat
- Achieve minimum flows that support aquatic species in all life stages
- Work towards assisting agricultural producers with farm friendly resource restoration
- Protect the riparian corridor of the Tsolum River and its tributaries
- Where necessary stabilize meander to protect existing infrastructure
- Enhance stocks when possible but only until populations build to self-sustaining levels
- Monitor and maintain dissolved copper concentrations in the Tsolum River watershed from below 7 ug/L to a maximum of 11ug/L
- Work to involve and engage youth as long-term Stewards
The Tsolum River Charter:
The Tsolum River Watershed is a fresh water ecological system; a vibrant, sustainable amenity providing an optimistic future for urban and rural quality of life.
Our watershed connects us to the planet we live on; it is where the ocean, river and land interconnects from the most upstream mountainous sources through all land, water and air interactions and all wild and human interactions to and from the estuary and ocean.
The Tsolum River Restoration Society is the steward of a natural resource. We hold that the ecosystem is both sacred and property of the commons. It is ours to cherish, restore and maintain forever.
At the Tsolum River Restoration Society we believe that:
- science is the underpinning of our changing and growing understanding
- new information will continually demand current understanding and ever-changing approaches
- how we use the land, air and water are key factors in keeping the system healthy
- each person brings a history, culture and knowledge to the table and shall be welcomed, heard, respected and recorded.
- we are a part of a larger community, region, province, country and world and that our research will encompass all that has gone before; our learning and successes will be shared with this larger community
In order to direct and plan future activities, to complete and fully engage with our community, agencies, industry, governments, experts, funders and each other and to have lines of communication and responsibilities clearly defined the following Organizational Structure defines these parameters.
History:
The Tsolum River Task Force (TRTF) grew out of many years of dedicated work by citizens concerned about water and watersheds of the Comox Valley. As early as 1969 the Comox Valley Chapter of the Steelhead Society began to ask why fish were not rebuilding in the Tsolum. In 1992, DFO’s Salmonid Enhancement Task Group, the Comox Valley Environmental Council and other local organizers held the "Water Lifestream of the Comox Valley" forum to discuss the health of local watersheds and other water related issues. The result of this forum was the production of the report titled " Water- Lifestream of the Comox Valley" (1993), which raised community awareness of watershed issues.
The Comox Valley Watershed Assembly was a local forum that convened monthly to discuss watershed issues. At these meetings focus groups were formed to discuss concerns presented to the Assembly, and to develop solutions to these problems. The Assembly was very effective in bringing watershed issues to the public and instrumental in the formation of many watershed stewardship groups. In 1995, the "Tsolum Team" was formed at a Watershed Assembly meeting and in 1997, the "Healing the Tsolum" workshop was attended by over 200 local residents. At a meeting the following day, the TRTF formed with the goal of restoring the Tsolum River to historic levels of health and productivity.
The TRTF took its message to the Provincial Minister of Employment and Investment (Mines and Energy), the Honourable Dan Miller, and to the Minister of the Environment, the Honourable Cathy McGregor to request funding and support for the TRTF’s efforts to clean up the problem of minesite pollution, to address the problem of low summer water flows in the river and to restore fisheries habitat throughout the watershed. In response to this call for action, the Ministers directed the TRTF to apply to Fisheries Renewal B.C. and the Environment Youth Team for assistance with this task.
In the spring of 1997, funding was received from DFO for the Tsolum River Restoration Project to be administered by the Comox Valley Project Watershed Society, with the supervision of the project under the control of the Steering Committee of the TRTF. (Reprinted from the “State of the Tsolum River” report, 1999)
By the summer of 1998 it had become clear that the TRTF was not functioning as it had over the past year. Agency and industry members were not as forthcoming in their comments and participation and action orientation began to grind to a standstill. It was revealed that Provincial/Federal orphaned minesite remediation had become a legal issue with Notices of Remediation Orders being issued to other minesite locations in the province. The Britannia Mine site near Squamish began to hit the media. As the remediation had taken a turn towards the courts, agencies and industry were instructed by their legal counsels to not speak openly about the minesite issues. The loss of the freedom to speak openly restricted the Task Force to the point where it became redundant. In October 1998 the Tsolum River Restoration Society was formed.
Since that time the TRRS continued to push for remediation of the minesite with a resolution passed in January of 2001 that the Society would not support any further studies - that the issue had been studied enough and all the data led to “Source Control” It was moved and carried that the TRRS would push for a complete cover of the site.
A bold step had been taken on behalf of the citizens of the Comox Valley who have suffered the economic losses for over 40 years of pollution. It was further decided that addressing low flows, habitat restoration, stock enhancement, community awareness and protection of the watershed would be our focus while working towards source control proceeded. With the demise of many of the funding sources this work has slowed but continues.
In 2003 a unique partnership was formed; industry, all levels of government, the Pacific Salmon Foundation and the Tsolum River Restoration Society worked together to implement a Passive Wetland Treatment Project. The project was immediately successful in reducing toxic copper levels in the river but all agreed it was a relatively short-term solution.
Since 2004 the partnership continued to press forward with long-term source control.
At the end of 2007 a plan to cover the site found agreement, a final design document was completed in 2008, the needed $4.5 million dollars in funding was secured and the partnership announced the project with Quantum Murray taking the lead.
The TRRS now turns its focus to other limiting factors and are mounting a biophysical assessment of the entire watershed, the publication of an updated "State of the Tsolum River Report" and a Recovery Plan for the watershed that details our work over the next decade.
Link to Blog about history of the Tsolum River logjam
We recently were contacted by Marilee Wein who is writing a blog about her family members, one of whom was hired to come to the Tsolum River to help remove a giant log jam created by transporting original growth logs down the Tsolum River in the early 1900's. Read this fascinating account here.