Bonaparte River Steelhead Habitat Compensation Project
To support steelhead trout populations, including rearing and spawning, CP began a habitat enhancement project along 100 metres of the Bonaparte River in British Columbia in 2017. Due to a spring flood event in 2011, this site was subject to severe erosion, resulting in degraded instream habitat important to migrating steelhead.
The habitat enhancement project generated approximately 1,200m2 of habitat improvements, with key features for steelhead rearing and spawning, including suitable stream grade, beneficial groundwater attributes and nearby tributary and side channel habitat. All of this provides an opportunity to combine natural and constructed features to create hydraulic variability and habitat complexity that will improve year-round steelhead habitat values such as groundwater intrusion, residual pools, instream riffle and boulder cluster features, and connectivity to other nearby suitable steelhead habitats.
Read more in Environmental Footprint.