Naver Creek Work To Start

By 250 News

Ice jams along Naver Creek in January of 2005 forced the evacuation of Hixon

It has been a year and a half since a huge ice jam threatened flooding and prompted the Regional District to issue a Local State of Emergency and evacuate residents from Hixon.

Since then, a 40-thousand dollar consultants’ report has identified 50 sites along Naver Creek that need some kind of attention -- from urgent to low priority -- to mitigate the risk of flooding.

There is a lot of work to be done, but  some repairs to the shoreline along Naver Creek in Hixon are expected to begin this week.  The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has cleared the way for an extension  on working on the Creek.   Normally, the window of opportunity  would have been closed by  this time in the season so as not to interfere with the fishery, but the DFO  has approved some late repairs.

Regional District of Fraser Fort George Director Art Kaehn says  in addition to the $50 thousand dollars the Regional District budgeted  this year for repairs, CN Rail is also willing to offer some assistance.  The exact nature of the rail line’s help is not yet clear, but CN has indicated it would like to be involved and the community is looking at what  the railway can do.

It will take about a week to install rip-rap along three properties, including the fair grounds, which border on the creek.  The Fraser Basin Council  is coordinating the Naver Creek project which is estimated to cost $800 thousand by the time all the necessary work has been done.  Kaehn says  the work will be done bit by bit.

"We’re working on doing as many little projects as we can over the next few years," says Kaehn, who adds the type of work to be done along Naver Creek will  eventually change. "The work will shift to more bio-engineering type work which involves vegetation and planting  to restore the banks of the creek."

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