A crane operator works clearing trees from around Mill Creek in Kelowna, April, 2018.

(JOHN MCDONALD / iNFOnews.ca)

KELOWNA - Mill Creek may have behaved itself this spring by mostly staying within its banks but that’s likely thanks to the remedial measures begun in haste in late March.

That’s when the city got the go-ahead from the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resources to begin dredging and cutting back trees and vegetation, starting first in the mouth of the creek beside the Bennett Bridge.

The application had been made based on the previous year’s devastating flood, which was supposed to be a 1-in-200-year rarity, but it didn’t hurt this year either with a 200 per cent of normal snow pack in the mountains around the city and an early-season heat wave in May.

Director of infrastructure Alan Newcombe said what work they managed to accomplish before the water got too high seemed to work well and there were no reports of serious flooding on the 12.5 kilometre stretch between Okanagan Lake and Edwards Road.

A change approval granted the city by the ministry under the Water Sustainability Act allows the city to continue the work until August 2019.

“The works that were started are not anywhere near being complete,” Newcombe said. "We have more work to accomplish including vegetation removal, restoration work, stump removal, compensation planting and stream enhancement measures.”

The work is being guided by an environmental management plan designed by Dobson Engineering.

Amongst other things, the plan addresses concerns about fish habitat and wildlife — top concerns are the yellow-breasted chat and the great basin spadefoot toad — as well as possible First Nations archaeological sites.

While classified as an urban stream, Mill Creek can still play host to a number of sensitive species including the tiger salamander, sandhill crane, Western screech owl, Western red bat, painted turtle, American bittern, great blue heroin and bobolink.

Long term, the city has been buying up land along Mill Creek and is trying to return riparian areas to a natural state wherever possible, under the Mill Creek flood plain bylaw.

“Despite being substantially impacted by current and historical land uses, Mill Creek continues to provide value as habitat for a variety of fish and wildlife species,” the report notes.

Mill Creek was the subject of a local state of emergency this year which has only just been lifted.

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News from © iNFOnews, 2018