RMOW preps upgrade to River of Golden Dreams

As the surge of floaties continues, the Resort Municipality of Whistler is looking to upgrade the River of Golden Dreams (ROGD).

At its July 4 meeting, council authorized staff to apply to the B.C. Destination Development Fund to support a project enhancing the resort’s popular lazy river.

The municipality’s goal for the enhancement project is two-fold: protect the ROGD’s ecosystem by creating better habitat for fish and wildlife, and enhance the visitor experience by improving river usability for recreational boaters.

To accomplish that, the project envisions two key components: removing the current log weirs, and constructing and installing a “nature-like” fishway and weir to increase water levels throughout the canal.

The log weirs are believed to impede fish passage, and the furthest weir downstream is “causing sedimentation build-up and backwatering, which is inhibiting stream gradient, and therefore, reducing the potential for spawning habitat,” reads a report to council.

The nature-like fishway and weir will be paired with a pull-out dock and trail funnelling users onto the Valley Trail. Users will have to complete a 260-metre portage when downstream conditions are unsuitable or unsafe for boat travel.

The total cost of the project is estimated at about $520,000, with about $21,000 of that already spent on geotechnical reviews and engineering designs.

With that portion ineligible for grant funding, the total being requested from the B.C. Destination Development Fund is $498,604.

The critical project components, including removing the old weirs and installing the new infrastructure, are estimated to cost about $347,000, and are included in the RMOW’s 2023-24 project budget lists.

Other project components, like widening the Valley Trail, adding signage and improving accessibility, are expected to cost an additional $170,000, and will only be completed if the grant application is successful.

The municipality plans to begin work on the project in August.

The work is overdue, as user numbers on the ROGD have exploded over the past half decade or so.

“Over the past few years, user numbers per hour have doubled in the River of Golden Dreams, with the growth in users and increase in impacts being observed in the canal section in particular, which are amplified during low-water events,” said RMOW environmental supervisor Tara Schaufele, in a presentation to council last summer.

“The public who unknowingly end up in the river during low water and spawning season can have a negative experience. In these instances, people are forced to walk in the stream bed or scrape the bed with their boats, which can be detrimental to the fish and is not a good experience for the user and to many users, can lead to visitor dissatisfaction."

The current log weirs were installed in the 1990s without a full assessment. As a result, as time has passed, they have become less effective at increasing the quantity of water to usable levels for canoe passage during drier seasons.

"I see the kind of use this river is getting, and it makes me really sad," said Councillor Cathy Jewett, last summer.

“I just hope that people can use it with more respect because we're loving that river to death.”

-with files from Robert Wisla