the salmon river watershed - Learning Centre

Blackwell Lake has been proposed as a Protected Area under the Provincial Government's
Protected Area Strategy. This lake is considered to be representative of the grassland plateau
type lakes found in the region.
Fishing Lodges
Commercial fishing lodges exist at Salmon Lake, operated by the Douglas Lake Cattle Ranch
and at Bolean Lake. Douglas Lake Ranch is currently constructing additional cabins and is
marketing the camp as a year round recreational resort.
Future Trends and Implications for Sustainability
As population increases in the watershed, more people can be expected to participate in
outdoor recreational activities. Apart from the tourist areas near Salmon Arm and the two
fishing lodges, there are few commercial recreational facilities in the watershed. As stated
above, there are no major developments planned.
Logging roads provide the majority of the access to the forest recreation sites and many of the
lakes and hunting areas in the watershed. One potential issue is the decommissioning of old or
abandoned logging roads. Some recreationists would like to maintain these roads for access
to recreational areas - trails, etc., while some people argue that these roads could invite
greater use of areas that are environmentally sensitive. It depends upon the expected demand
and the capacity of these areas to tolerate recreational use.
B.C. Environment manages the fishing lakes and streams within the watershed through fishing
regulations which set limits on type of gear and timing. While Salmon and Bolean Lakes
receive the most fishing pressure, there does not appear to be a management concern over
fish stocks in these lakes. The same applies to hunting in the watershed.
2.2.5 Other Resource Uses
Mining
Based on a limited review of MINFILE map information from the Ministry of Energy, Mines and
Petroleum Resources it is apparent that the Salmon River watershed contains rocks with
industrial, precious and base metal properties. However, this database is not exhaustive and
should not be used as the only basis for predicting the mineral potential for an area.
The only producing mine in the watershed is the gypsum/anhydrite quarry at Falkland owned
by LaFarge Canada. The gypsum deposits were first staked in 1894 with production beginning
in 1926. Production continued until 1956 during which time 1,133,875 tonnes were produced.
During the period 1976-1980 gypsum and anhydrite were mined intermittently from seven
quarries and trucked to the Lafarge Canada Cement plant east of Kamloops. Recently,
employment at the plant has been 42 in 1992, 1993 and 1994. Production in 1992 was 9,049
tonnes, 1993 - 10,215 tonnes and 1994 - 21,385 tonnes. According to a 1991 MINFILE report,
the gypsum is "virtually mined out", however there are still deposits of anhydrite in deeper parts
of the quarries.
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