Temporary Road Closures Coming For Strathcona And John Hart Dams

The community is being reminded that roads across the John Hart and Strathcona dams are temporarily closed for maintenance work.

Brewster Lake Road is closed at the John Hart until April 14th, 24/7. Work started there yesterday. Today, work begins at the Strathcona Dam, closing that road daily, 8am to 5pm, until April 6th.

Meantime, higher flows within Elk Falls Canyon for steelhead migration and spawning are on their way.

BC Hydro is set to start a 15-day fish migration and spawning flow down Elk Falls Canyon to benefit steelhead.

In the evening of March 30 - this Thursday night - the base flow will be increased and held through the morning of April 16.

The flow modifications are intended to help steelhead access good spawning habitat from the generating station up to Elk Falls.

Temporary safety signage along the trails within the Elk Falls Canyon area will be in place and the public is being to stay away from the water flow above Elk Falls.

People can still view the falls from the safety of the suspension bridge and the lookout.

A forecast for the Campbell River system for the February to September period.

The initial forecast in February showed water inflows into the watershed to be about 90% of normal.

The forecast was updated in early March and dropped to 82% of normal.

March to date has been well below normal, with water inflows into the reservoirs currently the second lowest in 60 years of record, with a chance it may set a new record low.

This will be the seventh March in a row where water inflow conditions have been lower than normal.

The February to September forecast updated in April will likely result in a further reduction.