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- The Fraser River is fed by a multitude of tributaries. In the Coast Range, streams flow through temperate rainforest. © Chris Linder/ iLCP
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- Dr. Bernhard Peucker-Ehrenbrink (left) and Britta Voss collect water samples from the Fraser River at Lillooet. © Chris Linder/ iLCP
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- Every spring, the Fraser watershed swells with rainwater and snowmelt. At this campground, the Blackwater River surges through the forest. © Chris Linder/ iLCP
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- Britta Voss extracts a water sample from the Bowron River, cloudy with sediment from the spring freshet. © Chris Linder/ iLCP
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- Logging is a major industry in British Columbia. But clear-cutting increases erosion and soil temperature, which can make rivers inhospitable to salmon. © Chris Linder/ iLCP
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- The mountain pine beetle epidemic, which is raging unchecked due to a string of mild winters, may eliminate up to 80% of the native pine forest. © Chris Linder/ iLCP
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- Dr. Peucker-Ehrenbrink's team samples close to the headwaters of the Fraser, Robson River. The bluish color in the water is caused by 'glacial flour', rocks ground up by the glaciers coming off Mount Robson. © Chris Linder/ iLCP
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- Dr. Peucker-Ehrenbrink uses a 'dipper' to extract a water sample from the fast-flowing Robson River.
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- The Fraser's largest tributary is the Thompson River, which meets the Fraser main stem at Lytton. The mixing of the two rivers (darker Thompson water at right) is clearly visible from the air. © Chris Linder/ iLCP, with aerial support from LightHawk
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- Exposed soil from clear-cutting or mountain pine beetle infestation results in major changes in river chemistry. © Chris Linder/ iLCP, with aerial support from LightHawk
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- Near the delta, the Fraser River passes through industrial areas and farmland, picking up chemical waste and excess nutrients. © Chris Linder/ iLCP, with aerial support from LightHawk
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- In the Strait of Georgia, the muddy Fraser water spills into the ocean, resulting in this sharp line of contrasting colors. © Chris Linder/ iLCP, with aerial support from LightHawk
Dr. Peucker-Ehrenbrink's team samples close to the headwaters of the Fraser, Robson River. The bluish color in the water is caused by 'glacial flour', rocks ground up by the glaciers coming off Mount Robson.The Fraser River watershed, located in the Canadian province of British Columbia, includes the rain-soaked peaks of the Coast Range, the Canadian Rockies, and the dry sagebrush prairie ecosystem in between. The Fraser is unique—it escaped the flurry of dam building that has altered nearly every other large river on the planet. Yet, the Fraser faces other threats. The mountain pine beetle epidemic, which is raging unchecked due to a string of mild winters, may eliminate up to 80% of the native pine forest. As these dead trees are harvested, the exposed soil will receive more of the sun’s heat, which will increase the temperature of the river water. If the water temperature exceeds 20 degrees C, salmon will no longer return to the Fraser—dubbed “the World’s Greatest Salmon River”—to breed. Pollution from logging and pulp mills and excess nutrient input and contamination from mining operations also impact the health of the river.
The Fraser River is fed by a multitude of tributaries. In the Coast Range, streams flow through temperate rainforest.
In the same way a doctor can monitor a patient’s health by analyzing their blood chemistry, scientists can assess the “health” of a river watershed by studying the chemical composition and other properties of the water. Scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole Research Center, and their international colleagues founded the Global Rivers Group to monitor the health of major rivers worldwide, from the Fraser to the Congo.
In May 2011, when the Fraser swelled to overflowing with meltwater and rain, Dr. Bernhard Peucker-Ehrenbrink and graduate students Britta Voss and Sarah Rosengard traveled the length of the river, from the delta to the headwaters, taking samples from both the main stem and critical tributaries along the way. Their data, supplemented by more frequent measurements made by students from the University of the Fraser Valley, will be used to assess how the river and its watershed are changing—for better or worse—over the coming years.
Chris Linder specializes in communicating science to the public using photography and multimedia. Chris holds a Master’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program and maintains a part-time affiliation with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution as a Research Associate. Since 2002, Chris has focused on communicating the stories of scientists working in the Arctic and Antarctic. His education and training as an oceanographer give him a special insight into photographing marine science. He has spent over a year of his life on expeditions to the polar regions.
July 18, 2011, 10:08 am
