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. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Civil Engineering, Department of / Graduate

A study of the potassium status of some Lower Fraser Valley soils was undertaken in order to supply data which would aid in the interpretation of fertility experiments and chemical tests for available soil potassium. Since the rapid chemical tests for available potassium now used in the Lower Fraser Valley leave much to be desired, several promising methods were studied and compared to a standard ammonium acetate extraction gravimetric analysis method for determining exchangeable potassium. The Morgan and Spurway rapid methods for available potassium estimation were not found precise or accurate enough for the purposes of the study. A technique described by Peech and English, which involves extraction of available potassium with normal sodium acetate of pH4.8 and subsequent precipitation of potassium as the di-potassium sodium cobaltinitrite in formaldehyde-isopropyl alcohol solution was tested. A modification of this method was adapted to estimation by the photometer and results for exchangeable potassium, although lower, correlated well with those of the standard determination. A technique which is more rapid and better adapted to studies in which potassium is the only cation to be tested is that described by Bray, who recommends extraction with sodium nitrate and precipitation of potassium with sodium cobaltinitrite in ethyl alcohol solution and subsequent photometric determination. This method extracted slightly more potassium than that of Peech but also showed a high correlation with the standard method used. Both and Bray and Peech procedures were found adaptable to line chart estimation for routine soil testing work. The Bray method was compared to the standard ammonium acetate-gravimetric procedure in potassium fixation and release studies in limed and unlimed soils. Two upland soils and three recent alluvial soils, on which fertility experiments with oats had been conducted, were studied. A greenhouse experiment using lettuce was designed to indicate any existing relation between chemical studies and plant response. In the laboratory fixation was induced by alternately wetting and drying the soils at 110⁰ C. All soils were found to have high fixing potentials when measured by both extraction methods, although the fixation was higher when determined by the standard method. The effect of lime on fixation in both the laboratory and greenhouse soils was determined. The soils generally showed an apparent release of potassium when measured by the ammonium acetate-gravimetric method and a fixation by the sodium nitrate technique. These differences were considered to be due to the relative replacing powers of Na+ and NH+ when Ca++ or H+ dominate the exchange complex. Thus the extraction of potassium by Na+ may be inhibited when calcium is the complementary ion on the colloid. The potassium status of the upland soils was less affected by lime than the lowland soils when fixation or release due to lime was measured by either method. The soils studied failed to release any potassium from the fixed form when leached of their exchangeable potassium and stored for three months in a moist condition, or when wetted and dried at 110 C. No relation was found to exist between exchangeable potassium or the relative potassium fixing and supplying powers of the soils, and oat response to potassium in the field or lettuce growth in the greenhouse. / Land and Food Systems, Faculty of / Graduate

Distress over pollution of natural water courses by industrial and domestic wastes is causing national concern. However, wastes must be disposed of by some method and these natural water courses have been and still are obvious sources for disposal. By careful study of the natural capacity of rivers and streams for assimilation of wastes, they can be used for disposal as long as this capacity is not exceeded. One method of determining this capacity without destroying the water course is by modeling the system mathematically to determine limits of pollution. This thesis contains the results of a preliminary study on the effect of the new Annacis Island Treatment Plant on coliform concentrations in the Fraser Estuary from Barnston Island to Garry Point. Mathematical formulas predicting coliform concentrations were used to computer simulate coliform profiles on the river. These results were then compared to present measured concentrations in the Estuary. Once a correlation between measured and simulated concentrations was established the effect of future discharges to the system could be simulated on the computer. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Civil Engineering, Department of / Graduate

Assessments of the mesoscale variability of the insolation over the lower Fraser Valley have been hampered by the inadequate spatial resolution of the available pyranometric data. At present, the establishment of a dense ground-based observing network is economically infeasible. The adaptation of geostationary satellite data for estimating insolation is an attractive alternative. The ability of a simple physically-based model (Gautier et al., 1980) to resolve the hourly mesoscale insolation variability is evaluated. The satellite-based estimates are shown to be more coherent than the observed insolation. Discrepancies are attributed to the spatial averaging inherent in the satellite methodology. The estimates are found to be insensitive to spatial averaging down to a 3 x 3 pixel (about 13 km₂ ) scale. The effects of spatial averaging are believed to occur at smaller spatial scales. The satellite-based estimates generally display a good correspondence with the observed insolation. Maps of the mean hourly estimated insolation are obtained with a high degree of accuracy due to small systematic modelling errors. The inability of the model to distinguish between snow and cloud, and its sensitivity to variations in surface albedo introduce artifacts in maps of the clear sky insolation. On the other hand, the mesoscale variability of individual hourly fields cannot be resolved using 'the satellite-based approach. Errors for these estimates are so large that they obscure the variability of the insolation field. The usefulness of the mapping procedure appears to be limited to assessments of the average insolation. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate

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. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

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. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate

Wood debris has been a natural component of the Fraser River system for centuries. However, with the development and expansion of a diverse forest industry in British Columbia, the volume of waterborne logging wastes being discarded into the river has gradually increased to the point where logging slash, uncontrolled sawlogs, trimmed log ends and dislodged bark now present a serious problem to the users of the Lower Fraser and its shorelands. Where water pollution can be defined as any residual discharge into a watercourse which causes both a deterioration in the quality of the receiving waters and some form of related social costs, sawlogs and other types of wood debris present a rather unique example of a pollutant to the Lower Fraser River. From this perspective, the available literature on pollution control provides an appropriate methodology for defining and analyzing the issues and problems associated with the presence of this material in the waterway. In 1972, uncontrolled sawlogs accounted for 9.2 million cubic feet of wood debris or roughly 80 per cent of the total debris load in the river. These logs were responsible for approximately 4.5 million dollars in costs to fishermen, pleasure boat owners, harbour authorities, and private logging companies. While it is realized that there are substantial additional costs related to the environmental impacts of sawlog debris, more studies are needed to determine the significance of these impacts on / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

The purpose of this study is to examine the social opportunity cost of preserving specified recreation sites along the lower Fraser River. In achieving this purpose it does the following: 1. it examines the institutional arrangements whereby land is allocated to specific uses, 2. it identifies the potential recreation sites for possible preservation, 3. it assesses the nature and extent of the conflict between recreation sites and existing and potential industrial shoreland use, 4. it develops an analytic framework for examining the social opportunity cost of preserving recreation sites, 5. it applies the framework to determine the benefits which the region might forgo if it were to preserve the recreation sites identified. An examination of the institutional setting found that private markets alone may not provide recreation facilities in the lower Fraser in accordance with society's willingness to pay for them. Public institutions have evolved to regulate the market, however, and an analysis of the social opportunity cost of preserving recreation sites is made in order to assist decision makers in future shoreland allocations. For this analysis to be meaningful it was necessary to identify specific recreation sites, and to determine the nature and extent of the conflict between these and industrial use. Thirty-two major recreation sites were identified. About two-thirds of these were found to conflict with potential industrial needs for shoreland designated industrial by the Regional Plan, and with log storage activities of the forest industry. Ideally a technique for allocating shoreland to recreational or industrial uses should be based on an assessment of the benefits and costs of alternative land uses. However, an opportunity cost approach is all that is practicable at this time because of the difficulties associated with evaluating present and future recreation demands. A qualitative approach to the evaluation was devised because past attempts to measure social opportunity cost were not appropriate in this situation where concern was primarily with demand far into the future. The analysis focussed on the rental value differences between industrial use of shoreland and upland, the supply and demand for industrial shoreland, and the cost of log storage alternatives. The analysis produced four main findings. First, most firms do not attach a significantly higher rental value to shoreland than to upland sites. Second, the supply of waterway access is much greater than anticipated industrial demand, and the opportunity cost of preserving land with recreation potential is zero in the short run. Third, the study area has sufficient land designated industrial that a small reduction for the preservation of recreation sites will net affect the land market. Four, seasonal storage leases and bundle booming can be implemented to free recreation sites of stored logs without incurring a net opportunity cost. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

The Fraser Estuary was investigated five times under varying flow regimes. The surface distribution of dissolved manganese consistently exhibited a maximum value at a salinity ranging from 4 to 12 ppt. Experimental results and field data suggest this peak does not result from the desorption nor dissolution of riverborne suspended particulate manganese. The excess metal is derived from the estuarine bottom sediments. Desorption or dissolution of manganese from the estuarine bottom sediments resuspended due to the advancing salt wedge enhances the dissolved manganese concentration in the bottom waters, especially in the toe of the salt wedge. This manganese enrichment may also be influenced to a lesser extent by the concurrent release of some interstitial water with enriched dissolved manganese concentrations due to the in situ reduction of amorphous manganese oxides. The subsequent entrainment and mixing of water from the toe of the salt wedge into the outflowing river water causes a downstream increase in the dissolved manganese content, and eventually determines the peak manganese concentration and salinity. Further downstream mixing with saline waters having relatively low manganese levels causes surface concentrations to decrease. Thus, the dissolved manganese distribution can be explained in terms of two conservative dilution curves which intersect at the manganese peak. The dissolved oxygen generally behaves conservatively in both the surface and bottom waters of the Fraser Estuary. The removal of alkalinity may occur at low salinity, however, alkalinity exhibits conservative behaviour through most of the salinity range. The surface distribution of pH can be replicated theoretically only when mixing in the surface is considered as a two step process. The alkalinity behaves conservatively in the surface waters of the Strait of Georgia. The pH and dissolved oxygen display seasonal variations related to primary productivity and mixing processes. The distribution of dissolved manganese in surface waters of the Strait of Georgia is determined mainly by the dilution of Fraser River water. Bottom waters have enhanced dissolved manganese concentrations due to reductive remobi1ization of manganese from the sediments. Concentrations of dissolved manganese at mid-depths are determined by seasonal variations in the stability of the water column. Depth profiles of suspended particulate manganese indicate increasing concentrations with depth. This may result from the oxidative precipitation of manganese and/or the resuspension of bottom sediments. / Science, Faculty of / Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Department of / Graduate

The quality of surface runoff in an urbanized watershed was studied in order to determine the effects of land use and hydrologic conditions. Sampling sites were established so as to be representative of varying land uses and were monitored over a six month period so as to reflect changing flow conditions . Twelve sites, sampled weekly, were established in the Brunette River Basin, an urban watershed located in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. Water samples, taken at each site, were analyzed for nineteen water quality parameters. Information relating to the hydrology and land uses of the basin was taken from established sources. Multiple regression and analysis of variance techniques were used to relate the land use and hydrology of the basin to the water quality. Total phosphorus, suspended solids and turbity concentrations were directly related to the percentage open space. Specific conductance and the nitrogen compounds were directly related to the percentage residential land. Eight parameters, but particularly turbidity and suspended solids, were dependent on stream discharge. The sensitivity of the data varied from site to site depending on the characteristics of the contributing areas. Discussion was directed toward the spatial and temporal nature of the data, the variance in the data, and the associated problems of scale. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate