Toxic spill hits Cheakamus River

Posted January 2006

Courtesy of Fisheries and Ocean Canada’s “Steamtalk”, Autumn 2005

Work has begun to try to restore salmon stocks in the Cheakamus River after damage resulting from a large spill of caustic soda. The spill occurred on August 5, 2005 when a CN train derailed 30 km north of Squamish and the contents of a rail car entered the river. The Cheakamus flows into the Squamish River, which in turn empties into Howe Sound. It supports chinook, coho, chum, pink and steelhead salmon, as well as resident trout and other fish.

While Search and Rescue teams notified residents and issued public health bulletins, volunteers and DFO staff were attempting to assess damage to fish. “I cannot understate the effect this has had on fish populations,” said Caroline Melville, a member of Squamish Streamkeepers. “I would say a very high percentage of fish in the mainstream Cheakamus and lower Squamish are dead.” Juvenile coho, chinook, and chum, three age classes of steelhead, sculpin, and lamprey suffered severely.

Thanks to the alertness of Carl Halvorson at the North Vancouver Outdoor School (NVOS), some fish habitat and important fish stocks were saved. Halvorson shut off intake valves that divert Cheakamus water to three restored fish-rearing channels located on the school property. He was tipped off by a contractor working on a stream restoration project at NVOS, who had been monitoring the railway ’s radio frequencies. Carl contacted DFO, and it was decided to risk cutting off the water flow in an attempt to protect the juvenile fish from the worse effects of the caustic soda release. Post-spill observations showed that most of the juvenile salmon and trout on the NVOS property and on Squamish Nation side-channels downstream have survived the spill. DFO Biologist Matt Foy credits Carl with possibly “saving the coho stocks in the Cheakamus” with his fast reaction.

A steering committee and a technical advisory committee have been formed to assess environmental impacts and projected cleanup costs. Members include CN, Squamish First Nation, B.C. Ministry of Environment, Environment Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and the District of Squamish. CN will allocate funds to cleanup work once a plan is in place. In the meantime, the company has agreed to contribute $250,000 to the Pacific Salmon Foundation in support of local restoration efforts. CN is also helping to fund an initiative by DFO staff and Squamish First Nation members, who have begun a special collection of eggs from returning adult salmon. These will be hatchery-incubated to boost survival rates. DFO facilities such as the Tenderfoot Creek Hatchery will care for the eggs until they are ready to be released back into the Cheakamus River as smolts this spring. Pink and chinook eggs will be collected from adults taken at NVOS, from Moody’s Channel on the Squamish Nation Cheakamus Reserve, and from nets set in the river itself. These two species had already entered the Cheakamus to spawn when the spill occurred.

Preliminary information suggests that adult coho and chum salmon that will enter the Cheakamus River later this year have not been significantly affected. Linda Williams of the Squamish First Nations led a healing song during the announcement of recovery funds. She said the derailment was another sign that the Earth is out of balance. This type of accident raises awareness about the fragility of our ecosystems, and how better safeguards need to be in place to prevent such incidents on our waterways.

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