Freshwater Fish Habitat Accessibility MODEL – Pacific Salmon and Steelhead

The Freshwater Fish Habitat Accessibility MODEL- Pacific Salmon and Steelhead predicts the potential extent of accessible freshwater habitat for Pacific Salmon species and Steelhead in BC. Using the BC Freshwater Atlas as the mapping base, the model presumes that in watershed groups where a given species is known to occur, the species can potentially access any stream that is either: - downstream of a known, validated fish observations for the given species OR - has no known barrier to fish passage downstream AND - has no segment steeper (for at least 100m) than the known swimming ability of the given species anywhere downstream This product is an ACCESSIBILITY MODEL only – it represents only the streams that Pacific Salmon and Steelhead could potentially use for migration, based on known/modelled barriers and the given species swimming ability. The model accounts only for natural barriers and connectivity – other essential characteristics for defining fish habitat are not included. For example, streams modelled as accessible may not have flow sufficient for supporting fish. As such, this model is not appropriate for use in operational applications. It is more appropriate for landscape level assessments and planning exercises. Site specific projects such as riparian buffer delineation require field assessment, stream measurements and fish sampling.