[No abstract available] / Arts, Faculty of / History, Department of / Graduate

The Fraser river is an essential, multi-purpose resource involving the interests of every community in the lower mainland of British Columbia. Inevitably there is a continuing public dialogue about the use of the river and consequently about the water quality standards, management strategies and the technologies which will sustain the desired uses. This public discussion was recently focused upon the regional sewage treatment facilities under construction at Annacis Island in the lower main arm of the river. Planners need to refine their understanding of such public dialogue to help them in analysing environmental management policies, communicating with clients and educating communities about the best way to achieve their environmental goals. The study was exploratory and experimental. The primary aim was to identify and advance our understanding of the concepts and conceptualising processes which caused individuals, concerned about water quality standards in the lower Fraser river, to prefer different management strategies for the Annacis Island plant. The central hypothesis was that an individual's environmental management preferences could be more usefully explained and more accurately predicted in relation to his conceptualising preferences than in relation to aspects of his background experience such as occupation and education. The study was completed in four stages: 1. The repertory grid technique, developed by the psychologist George Kelly, as a means of investigating the ways in which an individual rationalises about his environment, was adapted to the Fraser river situation. Later it was applied as a major investigative technique within the questionnaire framework. 2. The literature about the Annacis Island case was reviewed and summarised to provide the empirical framework for the study. 3. A questionnaire was designed and administered, in person, to thirty individuals. Ten individuals were chosen to represent each of three public interest groups who had been vocal in the discussion about the Annacis Island plant. The groups involved were the fishing industry, environmental organisations and water quality managers. Information was solicited on three topics: a. The respondent's background experience, especially his use for the river, occupation and education. b. His management preferences for the regional sewage system, especially for the Annacis Island plant. c. His conceptualising preferences, especially the way in which he distinguished between attributes of the water environment. 4. The information created by the questionnaire was categorised and subjected to statistical analysis. The repertory grid technique was successful in eliciting information about the way in which people construe the river environment. Respondents demonstrated a universal preference for thinking about things found in the Fraser river in terms of four general distinctions: whether they were living or inert, man made or natural, did or did not harm the life in the river and either affected or were affected by the other things they contacted in the river. The respondents were most clearly differentiated by more specialised ways of thinking about the river environment. For example, they were distinguished by their preference for thinking in terms of ecological systems, management systems and abstract technicalities. Although these factors were not satisfactorily linked with management preferences they should be reconsidered in future studies. Conceptual complexity was the only factor decisively linked with management preferences. Those respondents who preferred to use a variety of concepts and information simultaneously were shown to have a greater preference for using both conservationist and innovative strategies in the management of the regional sewage facilities. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

This study investigates the relation between channel instability and sediment transport along an 80 km reach of lower Fraser River, British Columbia. The major processes governing instability, bank erosion and sedimentation were investigated by analyzing the patterns of morphologic change along the river over the last century. Morphologic changes were documented using historical maps and air photographs. The method of approach can be considered a "macroscopic" one since the investigation focused primarily on the gross patterns of change that occurred over periods of years to decades. It was found that this interval is the most appropriate time scale for investigating channel instability and sedimentation processes on a large stream such as the Fraser River. This is because the major features governing instability and sedimentation also develop over comparatively long time periods. Several examples are presented to illustrate how sequences of major channel instability have propagated along the river over periods of 10 to 30 years. These disturbances often initiated new patterns of sedimentation, local erosion and subsequent channel instability further downstream. The most common diagnostic feature associated with these travelling disturbances are relatively large, low amplitude, linguoidal-shaped "gravel sheets" that attach to more stable lateral bars and islands. These bars may cause strong flow impingement against previously stable banks and islands. As a result, rapid scour and erosion may be initiated even during periods of low discharge. Four different approaches were used to estimate the long term gravel transport rate along the river. These methods included direct measurements using trap samplers (carried out by Water Survey of Canada over a period of 12 years), a sediment budget calculation which related changes in transport through a reach to changes in the volume of sediment stored in the channel determined by surveys, a morphologic approach which used a simple model of sediment transfers through a reach, and finally theoretical bed load formulae. It was found that the sediment budget and the morphological model provided the most reliable and most generally applicable results. This was because the methods rely on observations of sediment movement over periods of years or decades. It was found that on Fraser River, the time scales of the major processes governing gravel bed load transport were also measured in years or decades. As a result, short term measurements such as from bed load trap samplers show only a poor correlation between transport rate and flow variables. Therefore, to estimate long term transport rates with these data, a very large number of observations is required to integrate the transport rates over time. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate

Temporal and spatial variations of the Fraser River plume, in the central Strait of Georgia (British Columbia, Canada), are monitored by continuous salinity sampling of the engine cooling water on two B.C. ferries. Travelling along two different routes between Vancouver Island and the mainland the ferries provide eight crossings per day both north and south of the river outflow. From each crossing, characteristic measures of the plume are extracted, such as the average salinity and the maximum salinity gradient. These parameters are then formulated as time series and used to compute cross-correlations and cross-spectra with the probable driving forces of wind and river discharge. The effect of the tides is examined using harmonic analysis. Periods of high river discharge lead to decreases in the average salinity for each section, and peaks in the magnitude of the maximum salinity gradient. The correlation of the plume characteristics (average salinity, maximum salinity gradient) on the southern section with the along-strait component of the wind is consistent with advection by the wind. Weak correlation is found between the plume characteristics on the northern section and the wind. Linear combination of the wind and the discharge variations reproduce the general trend of the average salinities but cannot explain the level of variability. A shift to a nonlinear combination of the wind and discharge improves this comparison. The phases of parameter fluctuations at tidal frequencies, on the southern section, agree with the expected effects of tidal currents and the modulation of the river discharge. The agreement is not as apparent for the northern section. The level of the discharge is seen to affect the tidal amplitudes of the salinity fluctuations on the southern section. A numerical model, previously developed to examine the effect of tidal forcing on the plume, is modified to input the hourly wind and daily discharge data record. Equivalent average salinities along the ferry section are outputed and compared to the observed ferry data. Good agreement is reached after manipulating the entrainment velocity and the momentum transfer from the wind to the plume. The tides are seen to add a tidal modulation to the general salinity pattern resulting from the combined effect of the wind and the discharge. Horizontal distributions from the model and from CTD cruise results agree fairly well with each another. / Science, Faculty of / Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Department of / Graduate

This study of precipitation is based on data in the 1955 Climate of British Columbia concerning the network of 106 stations which have been operated in the Fraser River Basin, Emphasis is on the description of precipitation characteristics, with cartographic representation of the data forming the basis of the explanations and discussion in the The first portion of the study concerns the concentration of annual and seasonal precipitation throughout the Basin, followed by a similar examination of mean annual and seasonal snowfall with observations concerning the proportion of annual snowfall in each season and the proportion of seasonal precipitation which occurs as snow. A parallel discussion of proportions for total precipitation, with emphasis on seasons and months of maximum and minimum, is concluded by an analysis of precipitation regimes in various parts of the Basin. The effect of the gaps in the Coast Mountains resulting in continental or coastal characteristics of precipitation, dependent on station location, is noted repeatedly throughout the thesis. Considerations of variability as well as the value and methods of checking homogeneity of station records are included with observations concerning years in which heavy or light precipitation was general in large parts of the Basin. An examination of all topics as they affect the thirteen sub-basins of the Fraser concludes the study. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate

No abstract included. / Arts, Faculty of / History, Department of / Graduate

This thesis investigates the potential application of a two-dimensional depth-averaged sediment transport and morphological model on a large braided river system and examines its capability to build a computational gravel budget and predict the morphological changes. The Lower Fraser River gravel reach is characterized by an irregularly sinuous single-thread channel split around large gravel bars and vegetated islands, and riverbed aggradation because of gradual gravel deposition over the years, bank hardening and channel confinement. Gravel removal from selected locations is considered as one of the viable management options to maintain the safety and integrity of the existing flood protection system along the reach. Therefore, any gravel removal plan in this reach requires a reliable sediment budget estimation and identification of deposition zones. It is also required to examine the possible future morphological changes with and without gravel removal and to assess its impact on design flood level. The main objective of this study is to build a computational sediment (gravel) budget for the 33 km long gravel reach that extends from Agassiz-Rosedale Bridge to Sumas Mountain near Chilliwack. In this study, a two-dimensional depth-averaged curvilinear mathematical model MIKE 21C was modified and applied to predict the gravel bedload transport and detect the change of morphology for the next 10 years period. A gravel transport formula was coded and added into the MIKE 21C model. Sediment transport code modification and application has been done side by side in a trial and error fashion. This is the first use of a conventional two-dimensional depth-averaged model for the entire gravel reach of the Lower Fraser River within affordable computational effort. The model application was successful in term of gravel budgeting, aggradation and degradation zones identification and long-term morphological change prediction, with some limitations and drawbacks. Further modification and model testing with recent bedload data is recommended.

The purpose of this thesis is twofold: first, to review the literature on economic impact analysis in general, and port-economic impact literature in particular; and second, to use this background to undertake an economic impact assessment. The case study for this thesis is Fraser Port, which is located along the lower reaches of the Fraser River in British Columbia's Lower Mainland metropolitan region. The port is administered by the Fraser River Harbour Commission. This thesis is about production, people, and the economic significance of Fraser Port. This thesis is not an analysis of economic impact theory, but a review and application of port impact identification techniques. All data and impacts presented relate to 1992. Ports perform a necessary function in a nation's trading system by providing a transshipment connection between land and water modes of transport. As such, the port is strategically connected to the production of the many goods passing through its facilities. For this thesis, the impact of the various commodities passing through the port is termed port-associated. The port also manifests its presence through its daily operations and generates numerous employment opportunities both within and beyond the confines of the waterfront. The economic impact driven by this activity is termed port-industry and most closely reflects the impact of the working waterfront. To complete the impact assessment of the port-industry category, a survey was undertaken to collect sales revenue and employment information. This data was then aggregated into specific industry sectors and a total economic impact was estimated using appropriate economic multipliers. The result was a picture of direct, indirect, and induced activity resulting from the daily operations of the port. The port-associated category was assessed in a slightly different manner. The value of each cargo was determined and, where appropriate, was assessed for the economic activity related to its production. This activity is not generated by the port, but is associated with Fraser Port through the use of its transshipment services. The results of the assessment reveal that the port-industry category generates approximately one quarter of a billion dollars of provincial gross domestic product (GDP). This led to a total GDP impact across Canada of close to $275 million. Employment amounted to about 2,113 full-time equivalent positions in B.C. and nearly 3,400 across Canada. In 1992, the total value of import and export cargo passing through Fraser Port was approximately $6.1 billion, $3.8 billion of which was international imports. The remainder, $2.3 billion, was made up of domestic outbound and inbound cargoes, and international exports. It is important to recognize that these two categories of port activity are measures of different effects. The results of the port-industry and port-associated categories should not be added to produce a total Fraser Port impact. Adhering to this recommendation will ensure that the figures, and thus Fraser Port, will not be misrepresented to the public.

In the canyon where the Fraser River flows through the Cascade mountains, migrating salmon supported a large, dense native population. By 1850 the Hudson’s Bay Company had several forts on other parts of the Fraser River and its tributaries but found the canyon itself inaccessible. Prior to the gold rush, whites rarely ventured there. Discoveries of gold in Fraser River in 1856 drew the attention of outsiders and a rush of miners, and led eventually to permanent white settlement on mainland British Columbia. Contrary to much historiography, these were not foregone results. Instead, the gold rush was a complex process of negotiation and conflict among competing groups as they sought to profit from gold discoveries. The Hudson’s Bay Company sought to gain and retain control of the resource by incorporating it into its trade and by excluding outsiders. But miners arrived by the thousands, and the Company was forced to try to regulate miners’ access to the resource. However, as a group, miners were cohesive and self-reliant; they had little need for outside intervention. The Hudson’s Bay Company was unable to regulate them while pursuing its own ideas of profit. The British government subsequently revoked the Hudson Bay Company’s trade license, and proclaimed British Columbia a colony. In efforts to impose its own ideals of order on the gold fields, the government introduced a new colonial administration which, following a chain of command extending from London through Victoria to the Fraser, sought to organize the population in the spaces of the Fraser Canyon. Government authority was reinforced by the legal system’s flexible responses to the diverse population’s activities it deemed illegal. By studying the interactions of natives, miners, traders, administrators, and the legal system, I have attempted to untangle the ways in which white men negotiated their particular racist and masculinist ideals and sought to impose them in the spaces of the Fraser Canyon.

This thesis investigates the potential application of a two-dimensional depth-averaged sediment transport and morphological model on a large braided river system and examines its capability to build a computational gravel budget and predict the morphological changes. The Lower Fraser River gravel reach is characterized by an irregularly sinuous single-thread channel split around large gravel bars and vegetated islands, and riverbed aggradation because of gradual gravel deposition over the years, bank hardening and channel confinement. Gravel removal from selected locations is considered as one of the viable management options to maintain the safety and integrity of the existing flood protection system along the reach. Therefore, any gravel removal plan in this reach requires a reliable sediment budget estimation and identification of deposition zones. It is also required to examine the possible future morphological changes with and without gravel removal and to assess its impact on design flood level. The main objective of this study is to build a computational sediment (gravel) budget for the 33 km long gravel reach that extends from Agassiz-Rosedale Bridge to Sumas Mountain near Chilliwack. In this study, a two-dimensional depth-averaged curvilinear mathematical model MIKE 21C was modified and applied to predict the gravel bedload transport and detect the change of morphology for the next 10 years period. A gravel transport formula was coded and added into the MIKE 21C model. Sediment transport code modification and application has been done side by side in a trial and error fashion. This is the first use of a conventional two-dimensional depth-averaged model for the entire gravel reach of the Lower Fraser River within affordable computational effort. The model application was successful in term of gravel budgeting, aggradation and degradation zones identification and long-term morphological change prediction, with some limitations and drawbacks. Further modification and model testing with recent bedload data is recommended.