Quesnel River Research Centre manager Sam Albers samples water and sediment in Quesnel Lake.
When the tailings pond at the Mount Polley mine breached this summer, University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) students and staff were among the first people on site to monitor the impact of the environmental disaster.
UNBC operates the Dr. Max Blouw Quesnel River Research Centre (QRRC) – located approximately 10 kilometres from the mine – which is Western Canada's only research facility dedicated to landscape ecology research and teaching.
Since 2007, UNBC professors Ellen Petticrew and Phil Owens have overseen a landscape ecology research program at the QRRC, looking at how activities in the watershed, such as agriculture, logging and mining, affect natural systems and water quality.
"We have been studying this area for years, and our understanding of the watershed and our existing baseline data are able to inform the monitoring and sampling programs," says Dr. Owens. "For example, we know that the water level in the lake rocks back and forth, which means that the plume of suspended tailings and eroded fine sediment moves down-lake towards the river – as you would expect – but also flows up the lake towards important spawning habitat for salmon."
The UNBC team is using their specialized equipment to sample and monitor the very fine sediment in the plume, which extends over tens of square kilometres deep in Quesnel Lake. According to Dr. Petticrew, the lake was "relatively pristine" prior to the disaster.
UNBC will continue to research the impact of the tailings pond failure on the watershed, along with partners from the University of British Columbia and Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
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