Whistler’s much-loved River of Golden Dreams will get a glow-up to improve safety for users and make it more fish-friendly.
According to the Resort Municipality of Whistler’s (RMOW) general manager of climate action, planning and development services Dale Mikkelsen, the river between Alta Lake and Green Lake, which has been due for attention for some time, could finally get that attention in 2024.
“[There’s] a bunch of old log weirs that are really no longer viable. They’re actually impeding fish passage at this point in time, so we’ll be installing a new weir and fishway system just upstream of the 21 Mile Creek confluence,” said Mikkelsen at the Jan. 9 committee of the whole meeting in Whistler.
“Obviously this fish ladder system will create much better fish habitat [and] support our fish highway up the stream, but also we’ll be installing new light alarm systems to inform users of river closures due to safety concerns, spawning fish or low water,” he said.
“It’ll improve the overall River of Golden Dreams experience, not only for our little fishies, but for the humans that are floating down it in various ways.”
The RMOW has $192,000 budgeted for the project under the 2024 budget, passed in December last year. The funding comes from the general capital reserve, which is sourced from municipal taxes.
According to a communications official from the RMOW, the project aligns with two of the municipality’s strategic focuses: Addressing climate change, and smart tourism.
The funds will go towards replacing the old log weirs with prefabricated concrete weirs that will hold more water in the section of river upstream of the 21 Mile Creek confluence, keeping it open longer to shorten the need for a long portage season, with carrying and dragging watercraft across stretches of riverbank noted to damage the ecosystem for local flora and fauna.
The five-kilometre stretch of river is a popular draw for visitors to Whistler, starting at Alta Lake and flowing down to Green Lake through wetlands along the valley floor. In 2022, municipal staff noted it was seeing increased usage, with numbers doubling between 2015 and 2020.
Since then, while numbers have not risen above the highs of 2020 when it peaked at 116 users per hour, usage remains high in the summer months.
The overall project is a pricey one, coming in at $350,000 from the general capital reserve. Of that, $40,000 was spent in 2022, while 2024’s budget line item has $190,000 allocated.
“We are in the planning process and are optimistic the permit from the province will come in time for us to carry out the work this year, but until then we cannot say with 100-per-cent certainty that this is going ahead in 2024,” said the communications official.
“If the permits come through in time, most of the work will take place in the first two weeks of August. The work can only be done at that time as it is provincially regulated to protect the fish and their habitat. We will share details once all is confirmed.”
At the Jan. 9 committee of the whole, questions from council were minimal on the project, with only Councillor Cathy Jewett querying the light alarm system and whether it was for both high- and low-water levels (staff said yes), and whether there were still kokanee salmon spawning in the river (staff said they were unsure).
You can watch the full report to the committee of the whole on the RMOW website. The River of Golden Dreams update begins at 17:32.
