Work continues to progress on the Big Bar landslide site north of Lillooet (Image Credit: Department of Fisheries and Oceans)

By Chad Klassen

BIG BAR LANDSLIDE

More blasting planned at Big Bar landslide site as river levels remain low

Mar 26, 2020 | 5:10 PM

KAMLOOPS — The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) says work at the Big Bar landslide site north of Lillooet is going as planned, despite challenging conditions and the recent COVID-19 outbreak.

DFO says the contractor, Peter Kiewit Sons, is taking additional health and safety precautions on site, including limiting site access to lower the risk for workers.

Despite that, work continues around the clock as crews remove additional rock from the Fraser River. Kiewit is planning for more blasting next month to improve river access in multiple locations, needing to finish while the water levels remain low.

“Although Kiewit has been successful in meeting the winter work objectives, removing large boulders and debris, recent modeling done at low water shows that a mass of slide debris situated elsewhere in the river will cause heavy flows at high water, stopping fish passage,” DFO says in a release.

Crews on the Big Bar landslide site are working around the clock to try and get as much work done as possible while the Fraser River is still low (Image Credit: Department of Fisheries and Oceans)

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The landslide, which happened in October 2018, sent large chunks of rock crashing into the Fraser River north of Lillooet. The resulting slide left a five-metre high waterfall and was impassable for migrating salmon.

Last year, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans said more than 275,000 salmon managed to get past the slide. About 245,000 passed through naturally, while others were transported to their spawning grounds by helicopter and other means.

Meanwhile, a team of experts is already developing a contingency plan to move fish during high water when passage won’t be possible.

“The plans include constructing a ‘nature-like’ fishway, installing a pneumatic fish lift system, and developing a trap and transport option to collect salmon below the slide and release them up river,” the department notes.

As levels in the Fraser rise deeper into the spring, DFO will continue to monitor salmon migration and implement a contingency plan when necessary.