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edit[The Coquitlam River (/koʊˈkwɪtləm/ or /kəˈkwɪtləm/) is a tributary of the Fraser River in the Canadian province of British Columbia.
The river's name comes from a Halkomelem word meaning "stinking of fish slime". A traditional story tells of the Coquitlam people selling themselves into slavery during a winter famine. While butchering salmon for their masters they would be covered with fish slime.
Each year hundreds of salmon return to spawn in the Coquitlam River.
Part of the Port Coquitlam Traboulay Trail and the Trans Canada trail run alongside this river. The Indian reserves of the Kway-quit-lum people of the Coquitlam Indian Band are also located along the river.] old part.
The Coquitlam River (/koʊˈkwɪtləm/ or /kəˈkwɪtləm/) is a tributary of the Fraser River in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The river's name comes from the word Kʷikʷəƛ̓əm which translates to "Red fish up the river". The name is a reference to one of the many salmonid species that once occupied the rivers waters.
The river is an 18km meandering river with 30 tributaries and various morphological features. Due to the size and area of it's location, the river has a history of disastrous floods.
The river is home to various mammals, birds, fish, and plants as well as the people of the Kwikwetlem first nations. The Kwikwetlem first nations were the first humans to live in the area followed by settlers thousands of years later. After settlers arrived the river would soon be altered many times for the resources it holds. The most recent changes are the generation of hydro-electricity with a dam.
The rivers long history and importance have led to conservation efforts by various organizations. Some attempts have been made to rejuvenate the salmonid species with hatcheries and direct human intervention to assist wild salmonids. The area is also known to have some species which are on the BC Species at Risk Act and The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) lists.
Setting
editThe Coquitlam river is located within the Coquitlam River Watershed which has a total area of 238 km2 and formed during the last glacial advance.[1][2] The watershed is split into 2 section, the upper and lower Coquitlam River Watershed. Its headwater is at Disappointment Lake, which is in the Coast Mountains near Indian Arm. It flows south into Coquitlam Lake, a reservoir behind the Coquitlam Dam. The Coquitlam River then continues past the dam flowing south until it reaches the Fraser River at the border between Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam.
The Coquitlam river spans a total of 18 km from the dam to its outlet and gets fed from 30 tributaries.[2] The river is a meandering river with various features such as large boulders, riffles, undercut banks, sidebars, islands, oxbow lakes, large woody debris and small woody debris.[3] The sediment that is carried in the river is composed of glacial sands, gravel, clays, silts and some boulders.[3] The primary source of this sediment is Or Creek which supplies large amounts of cobbles, sand and silts.[2][3] The Coquitlam River is also located in a coastal wester hemlock biogeoclimatic zone.[3][4]
This climatic zone and its position on a mountain means that it has a mean annual precipitation of 3498 mm.[3] The mean discharge is roughly 14.35 m3/s, however due to the high annual precipitation, the discharge can increase to anywhere between 20 m3/s and 50 m3/s.[3] These high discharge events have been known to last a couple days following larger precipitation events. The River also has a long history of flooding with the largest known flood on record occurring in 1921.[2] This flood resulted in a discharge of 665 m3/s and the second largest flood occurred in 1961 with a discharge of 476 m3/s .[2]
Redo biogeoclimatic zone map reference: https://www.sfu.ca/geog/geog351fall07/Group06/webmap.html
Possible sources: google earth for measurements, bc hydro for geology info: https://www.bchydro.com/content/dam/BCHydro/customer-portal/documents/corporate/environment-sustainability/water-use-planning/lower-mainland/coqmon-8-yr8-2019-03-04.pdf, Coquitlam river watershed report for background stuff, bc biogeoclimatic zone map: [./Ftp://ftp.for.gov.bc.ca/HRE/external/!publish/becmaps/PaperMaps/BGCmap.2018.08.pdf Ftp://ftp.for.gov.bc.ca/HRE/external/!publish/becmaps/PaperMaps/BGCmap.2018.08.pdf]
watershed size: https://wateroffice.ec.gc.ca/report/historical_e.html?stn=08MH002
- ^ "Disclaimer for Hydrometric Information - Water Level and Flow - Environment Canada". wateroffice.ec.gc.ca. Retrieved 2021-03-22.
- ^ a b c d e "2008 CRWS Phase I: Background and Research – Coquitlam River Watershed Rountable". Retrieved 2021-03-22.
- ^ a b c d e f G3 Consulting Ltd. (G3). 2016. COQMON#8 Lower Coquitlam River Substrate Quality Assessment (2012-2015). Prepared for BC Hydro and Power Authority by G3 Consulting Ltd., Surrey, BC. 26p + Appendices.
- ^ Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development. 2018. Biogeoclimatic Zones of British Columbia. [./Ftp://ftp.for.gov.bc.ca/HRE/external/!publish/becmaps/PaperMaps/BGCmap.2018.08.pdf Ftp://ftp.for.gov.bc.ca/HRE/external/!publish/becmaps/PaperMaps/BGCmap.2018.08.pdf]