Climate change and resource development impacts in watersheds: Insights from the Nechako River Basin, Canada

Abstract

Few studies to date examine the cumulative effects of climate change and resource development on social‐ecological systems, such as watersheds. In partnership with a watershed alliance we endeavoured to understand the interplay of climate change and resource exploitation impacts in the Nechako River Basin, which drains an area of 52,000 km2 in northwestern Canada as part of the Fraser River Basin. Existing regional climatic studies show a clear warming trend over the last century and a projected mean temperature increase of ∼2°C for the 2050s. Watershed stakeholders determined that hydroelectric development and forestry activities interrelate particularly closely with climate impacts related to ecosystem function, water supply, and (resultantly) community well‐being. Mining and oil and gas development do not currently represent a high level of concern, but will become problematic with future resource exploitation or climatic changes. The process was effective in grounding specific, day‐to‐day realities of climate change. The results illustrate the importance and challenge of considering both impact sources in tandem, and should inform ongoing regional planning and monitoring efforts. A major barrier to performing this type of assessment with regional stakeholders is communicating, cross‐referencing, and visualizing the interrelationships between climate change and resource development, which are independently highly complex. Les changements climatiques et le développement des ressources dans les bassins versants : leçons tirées du bassin de la rivière Nechako, Canada À ce jour, peu d'études se sont intéressées aux effets cumulatifs des changements climatiques et du développement des ressources sur les systèmes socio‐écologiques, tels que les bassins versants. Nous avons entrepris, en partenariat avec un regroupement d'organismes de bassin versant, de comprendre l'interaction entre les effets des changements climatiques et du développement des ressources sur le bassin de la rivière Nechako qui draine les eaux d'un territoire couvrant 52 000 km2 et faisant partie du bassin de la rivière Fraser dans le nord‐ouest du Canada. Les études climatiques régionales réalisées à ce jour montrent une nette tendance au réchauffement au cours du siècle dernier et une augmentation de la température moyenne projetée de ∼ 2 °C à l'horizon 2050. Les parties prenantes du bassin versant ont établi que les activités de développement hydroélectrique et de foresterie sont intimement liées avec les effets du climat agissant sur la fonction écosystémique, l'approvisionnement en eau, et finalement le bien‐être communautaire. Les secteurs de l'extraction minière et de l'exploration pétrolière et gazière ne suscitent actuellement pas de fortes inquiétudes, bien qu'ils risquent de poser problème à l'avenir avec l'exploitation des ressources ou les changements climatiques. Le processus a permis d'identifier des réalités particulières liées aux changements climatiques. Les résultats font ressortir l'importance et le défi de tenir compte simultan...

Determining contemporary and historical sediment sources in a large drainage basin impacted by cumulative effects: the regulated Nechako River, British Columbia, Canada

“…Frequent forest fires occur in the NRB; the most significant recent events prior to 2015 occurred in 2010 in the Cheslatta Lake area (2916 km 2 burned) and near Cut Off Creek in 2004 (104 km 2 burned). Also, large areas of forest have been cleared for agricultural activity (Nener and Wernick 2000;Picketts et al 2017). As described above, the main anthropogenic impact on water and sediment dynamics within the Nechako River is the Kenney Dam, which was built in the early 1950s, and the subsequent water management policies.…”

Scenarios of climate change and natural resource development: Complexity and uncertainty in the Nechako Watershed

“…The Canadian Geographer / Le Géographe canadien 2020, 64(3): 475-488 Table 1 Relationships between climate impacts to ecosystems and water supply, and types of resource development in the Nechako Watershed. Summarized from Picketts et al (2017).…”

“…There are close linkages with the fields of climate change adaptation, resource management, watershed management and cumulative impacts. The purpose of this paper is to further explore these interrelationships, building on past work on climate and resource development in both the Fraser and Nechako Watersheds (e.g., Sanderson et al 2015; Islam et al 2017), including work by Picketts et al (2017), that identified and rated key current intersections between climate change impacts and resource development (Table 1). We attempt to address a range of plausible future possibilities, primarily through the application of scenarios, and reflect on the utility of scenarios, which are broadly used in planning and management, in this context.…”

Addressing the Environmental, Community, and Health Impacts of Resource Development: Challenges across Scales, Sectors, and Sites

“…The range and scope of possible 'upstream' drivers of change that trigger this cascade are extensive. Climate change can be seen to overlay and compound most drivers of landscape change [43]. Halseth et al note that some natural resource management decisions, such as the allocation of mineral rights or land leases, set in motion a series of pre-determined activities that lead towards a particular type of development debate and trajectory [9].…”