It’s chilly work, but there’s no time to lose.
This winter, crews will haul sediment, logs and other obstructions out of area creeks choked with debris after flooding this summer.
Crews will work to reroute and clean up nine streams in the West Peace near Moberly Lake, and two more in the South Peace.
Shannon Anderson, deputy chief administrative officer with the Peace River Regional District, said the stream maintenance work could begin by the end of November.
“In some cases it’s re-routing creeks back to where they were, and cleaning out the bottoms where sediments have eroded in,” he said.
The creeks targeted for remediation include Boulder, Commotion, Stone, Bissett, Wildmare, and Fur Thief in the West Peace; Pys, La Bleu and Medicine Woman Creeks near Moberly Lake; and Bissette Creek and the Pouce Coupe River in the South Peace.
In other cases, riprap will be used to shore up the channels of streams that slipped their banks during the floods.
Stream maintenance was among the issues that exacerbated flooding which began after torrential rains June 15 and 16.
Highway 97 through the Pine Pass washed out in the floods, while regional district teams were forced to airlift supplies to people living on more than 200 properties in the region cut off by the rising waters.
Repairing roads and bridges damaged in the floods has cost the province around $15 million.
The province is in charge of stream and river maintenance, and will foot the $2.5 million bill.
Cleaning up the streams will require permission from around 40 property owners to access their lands.
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