Located at the North end of Pitt Lake, the Red Slough is a network of channels and ponds that provides a remarkable opportunity for bird watching and wildlife viewing, while fly fishing for cutthroat trout.
In the spring or fall it is not uncommon to see deer or black bears come out to feed along the water's edge. A cougar sighting is a rare possibility, and the shoreline vegetation always seems to be alive with birds.
The following excerpt from 'An Ecological Inventory of Red Slough, Pitt Lake, B.C.' prepared by ECL Envirowest Consultants Lt. for the provincial government, gives a detailed account of the area - illustrating both how rich it is, and how fragile. The report calls for special management approaches to minimize the impact of logging around what can best be described as a fly fishing naturalist's paradise.
The Red Slough is close to Vancouver, but remains isolated because it can only be reached by boat, after a long trip down Pitt Lake.
"Various small scale logging events have occurred throughout the study area since the turn of the century. A lack of effort to reforest logged areas is the likely reason that forest stands on the valley bottom are dominated by deciduous trees species including red alder, bigleaf maple, and to a lesser extent black cottonwood. The understory vegetation is generally dense beneath deciduous canopies and is largely dominated by salmonberry with lesser amounts of vine maple and red elderberry...
"In addition to Red Slough, which is considered to be a small river, several important salmon spawning streams occur within the study area. The Red Slough mainstem and unnamed tributaries...provide spawning habitat for salmonids. ...(and) Important rearing habitat for resident and anadromous salmonid species and steelhead/rainbow and cutthroat trout. ...species of special management concern that likely utilize portions of the Red Slough system include the red-listed white sturgeon and pygmy smelt and the blue-listed bull trout.
"The streams within the study area largely occur on floodplain or delta areas and have their upstream portions on steeply sloped escarpments. Tributaries entrenched within narrow gullies typically have high stream gradients and are particularly susceptible to erosion and debris torrenting. Stream reaches occurring on the valley bottom have low gradients and are susceptible to increased sedimentation from upslope erosion and flooding on the valley floor. An increase in erosion and sedimentation would result in the degradation of rearing habitat and the potential elimination of limited spawning areas.
"Black-tailed deer common in the area... the high abundance of salmonberry and red elderberry provides excellent food source during spring and summer for black bears...
"Beaver and muskrat active....31 bird species were identified during field studies....salamanders, newts, bullfrogs....wolverine, fisher...shrew moles...cougars...
"The Red Slough mainstem and unnamed tributaries...provide spawning habitat for salmonids. Portions of the Red Slough mainstem, side channels, back channels and its tributaries provide important salmonid rearing habitat. These streams are all considered sensitive to impacts associated with timber harvesting within the Red Slough catchment area. The primary concern is for the effects of an increase in the proportion of fines associated with disturbed soils and road surfaces....
"The removal of forest cover affects the hydrological regime of streams by increasing the rate of runoff and the severity of peak flows. An increase in severity would affect water quality by increasing the amount of streambank and channel erosion, resulting in a greater discharge of fines into the watercourse. The forested portions of the steeply sloped areas within and upslope of the study area are particularly important as they function to intercept rainfall and improve infiltration into the soils, where water is then slowly released into the streams. Exposed soils on the steep slopes are highly susceptible to erosion.
"Selective or small patch cuts may satisfy biodiversity objectives and allow for the limited removal of timber. Physical disturbance to shrub-dominated communities in wet depressions should be avoided....
"Timber harvesting rates and volumes in steeply sloped areas should provide a wide margin of safety for each individual catchment area by limiting the proportion that is maintained in an early stage of hydrologic recovery and avoiding harvesting timber in areas with high surface erosion and/or mass wasting potential. A terrain hazard assessment should be done in steeply sloped area before harvesting is considered.
"Conventional timber harvesting methods with the forests in the Red Slough study area would likely result in the degradation or loss of limited salmonid spawning and rearing habitat in the Red Slough mainstem and its associated tributaries.
"Timber harvesting activities within the floodplain communities adjacent to Red Slough would negatively affect water quality, particularly during flood events (especially spring inundation) with conventional logging techniques. Should timber harvesting be considered in floodplain communities, the objectives should be to minimize the amount of exposed soils and include the maintenance of a high proportion of the existing canopy cover.
"Alternative silviculture system strategies that minimize the area of exposed soils should be considered within and adjacent to the study area (helicopter and horse logging, selection cuts, etc.)
"The use of tracked heavy equipment should be avoided or minimized within and immediately upslope of areas subject to flooding and/or adjacent to watercourses.
"The construction of roads in proximity to, and across watercourses within the floodplain and wetland environments of the study area would impact fish habitat through alteration of channel hydraulics, and subsequently erosion and sedimentation regimes...
"Road construction along the surveyed alignment has a high potential to negatively affect fish habitat. Potential impacts are associated with road failures, mass wasting, increased surface erosion and sedimentation, and the direct loss of fish habitat at stream crossings.
"The construction of roads within the gully in the northeastern portion of the study area and adjacent upslope of high gradient should not occur.
"Road construction in areas subject to flooding should not occur."
"The accumulation of woody debris on the tidal lake delta marsh severely limits the productive capacity of the north shore of Pitt Lake, both in terms of achieving a plant species assemblage representative of historic native communities and sustaining life history functions for a myriad of fish and wildlife species. Woody debris smothers and scours marsh vegetation and underlying substrates. The accumulation of woody debris appears to be a chronic problem, and is largely attributable to log storage and sorting activities within the immediate area and to the active transport and discharge of wood debris from the upper Pitt River into Pitt Lake.
"Log storage within Pitt Lake should not be permitted above the local low water elevation. This would prevent impacts to foreshore marsh and mudflats. "Containment booms should enclose all log sorting activities within Pitt Lake. ....woody debris that is not partially or wholly grounded or buried, should be removed and disposed of in accordance with criteria set forth by the B.C. Ministry of Environment....A woody debris management program for the north shore of Pitt Lake should be established..."
