Newly created Mission Creek floodplain gets high-water baptism

KELOWNA – Mission Creek’s newly created floodplain is already doing what it was supposed to do, diverting high water during the spring freshet.

Unseasonably high and overnight low temperatures in the last week have sent water surging down Mission Creek and project engineer Don Dobson says high water has already cut a channel through the new floodplain and back into the main creek.

He’s been involved in some similar projects on the Okanagan River but says pulling back dikes to restore natural function are still relatively rare.

“It’s pretty exciting to see it in action, to actually see the natural functions of the stream,” he adds.

Dobson expects the first peak flow of Mission Creek tonight, April 22, with more peaks coming in the next month as the melting upland snow packs continue to feed the spring freshet.

The Mission Creek Restoration Initiative cut down the existing dikes on one hectare of land aquired through land assembly and then constructed 570 metres of new dikes around it, widening the channel from 40 m to 150 m in that section of the creek. The project has multiple partners including the provincial government and the City of Kelowna and first began planning in 2002.

Extensive farming in the area during the last century saw the lower portion of Mission Creek shortened from over 30 kilometres of multiple highwater channels reduced to12 km with one main channel, speeding up creek flow and destroying fish habitat.

“When there was wide distribution through multiple channels, there was much more capacity and the damage from a flood was typically less,” Dobson says.

Restoration work on the floodplain will continue this summer when high waters have receded, he says.

Find more stories on Mission Creek Restoration Initiative here


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John McDonald

John began life as a journalist through the Other Press, the independent student newspaper for Douglas College in New Westminster. The fluid nature of student journalism meant he was soon running the place, learning on the fly how to publish a newspaper.

It wasn’t until he moved to Kelowna he broke into the mainstream media, working for Okanagan Sunday, then the Kelowna Daily Courier and Okanagan Saturday doing news graphics and page layout. He carried on with the Kelowna Capital News, covering health and education while also working on special projects, including the design and launch of a mass market daily newspaper. After 12 years there, John rejoined the Kelowna Daily Courier as editor of the Westside Weekly, directing news coverage as the Westside became West Kelowna.

But digital media beckoned and John joined Kelowna.com as assistant editor and reporter, riding the start-up as it at first soared then went down in flames. Now John is turning dirt as city hall reporter for iNFOnews.ca where he brings his long experience to bear on the civic issues of the day.

If you have a story you think people should know about, email John at jmcdonald@infonews.ca

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