Open to: All BCIA Registrants and Externals with BCIA Guest Accounts

Join the Cariboo Central Interior Branch for an engaging lunchtime presentation exploring the successful restoration of the Cottonwood Island Park side channel in Prince George. This collaborative project demonstrates how community partnerships, scientific monitoring, and ecosystem restoration can work together to improve critical salmon habitat.

Originally conceived in 2021 as a University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) class assignment, the project identified the Cottonwood Island Park side channel as an opportunity to restore fish habitat after high water events repeatedly stranded salmon in isolated pools with critically low dissolved oxygen levels. Through several years of water quality monitoring, habitat assessments, and collaboration between local organizations, government agencies, funders, volunteers, and industry partners, the project evolved into a major habitat restoration initiative completed in December 2025.

During this presentation, attendees will learn about the project's development from concept to construction, including the scientific evidence that supported restoration, the importance of partnership building and funding, and the techniques used to reconnect the side channel to groundwater and restore year-round fish habitat.

Learning Objectives

• Understand how scientific monitoring informs restoration planning and decision-making.
• Learn how dissolved oxygen and water quality data were used to identify habitat limitations for salmon.
• Explore the collaborative approach involving community organizations, Indigenous and government partners, students, volunteers, and funding agencies.
• Gain insight into the design and construction process used to restore natural channel function.
• Review the ecological outcomes achieved through habitat restoration and current post-construction monitoring efforts.
• Discuss lessons learned that can be applied to future habitat restoration projects.

By the end of the session, participants will have a greater understanding of the planning, partnerships, funding, monitoring, and restoration techniques involved in implementing a large-scale fish habitat restoration project.

Presenter

Jesi Lauzon
Operations Coordinator, Spruce City Wildlife Association

Jesi Lauzon is the Operations Coordinator with the Spruce City Wildlife Association, where she oversees conservation and habitat restoration initiatives throughout the Prince George region. Jesi has played an integral role in coordinating the Cottonwood Island Park Side Channel Restoration Project, working alongside community organizations, government agencies, volunteers, and funding partners to restore valuable salmon habitat. She will share the project's journey from its origins as a university class assignment through monitoring, design, construction, and ongoing stewardship efforts.