British Columbia Timber Sales has a proposed
logging initiative in the Quartz Creek
Community Watershed of Ymir, BC, that may
compromise Ymir’s drinking and fire-fighting
water source. This project is meant to aid
Ymir in accounting for natural assets and to
provide guidance tools for management. This
project has been done for and along side the
Salmo Watershed Streamkeepers Society.

Natural Assets and GIS
Natural assets: Features and processes of the environment that provide goods and
services that would otherwise be provided by municipal governments at a cost.

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Methodology:

Data collection from Selkirk College directory, Data BC,
RDCK, BCTS, SWSS, and Environment Canada.
Digitized water treatment facility, natural assets
proposed logging plots, roads, and town water lines.
Collected hydrological data, provincially sourced.
Determination of economic, social, and cultural values
of water to Ymir.
Infrastructure and source replacement costs visualized
with assistance from the SWSS and the RDCK.

Limitations: No existing hydrological data-all estimations and representations.
Field work could not be conducted due to season. Due to time constraints, some
financial valuation aspects are missing from this project. The determination of
alternative source costs is not accurate as there are too many unknown factors.

Values:
Creek-drinking and fire-fighting water source.
Riparian-Water quality and source protection.
Forest-Runoff and flood control.

Average Yearly Discharge (m3/s)

0.103

*Water Usage (m3/s)

0.00108

Annual Runoff (m3/year)

3,251,353

*Water Usage (m3/year)

34,138

Seasonal Sensitivities in Flow

Winter & Summer

*Actual allocations are based of data from the RDCK. All other data are estimations,
courtesy of FLNRO?.

Project by: Allison Nagy
Selkirk College: IEP271

Date: 2019-03-21
Instructor: Tracey Harvey

Quartz Creek is Ymir’s only
economically feasible water source.
According to the RDCK, redirecting
the water source would exceed
$1,000,000 and cause an increase in
operating and pumping costs due to
location and elevation differences of
other water sources.
*Graphs are representatives of Quartz Creek. Courtesy of Environment Canada.