This report contains appendix field data from the Machmell Watershed Level I Fish Habitat Assessment, FRBC Contract # CCA - 855. Deliverables from this contract include:

• Volume II (this document) - detailing field data for the project
• Photo library (archived separately)
• Forms 5 and 6 (contained in this document), which are linked to the GIS map product for each tributary with a watershed code
• Fish capture summary (contained in this document).
• Volume I (separate document) - summarizing field data and outlining proposed sites and strategies for fish habitat restoration
• GIS map product, outlining field sites visited, fish collection sites, proposed restoration sites and overall fish distribution (provided separately)

Field crews were requested to gather information in a number of formats, including photo records, quantitative Habitat Survey Data Form (Form 4), a field log of features and points of note, and sketch diagrams of the areas surveyed. This document has bundled the different data types together, so that the results from each team’s survey is contained together. Where data forms are lacking, or easily misinterpreted, the reader is referred to the subjective information for further explanation. Data is bundled by field code, which is then electronically mapped.

• Tech. Circular #8 does not provide habitat evaluation standards for streams with 50 - 100m channel widths, as the Machmell is. Field studies indicated that fish (both adults and rearing juveniles) were concentrated in complex habitats near stable banks. Accordingly, professional judgements were based on Technical Circular #8 and applied to the stream margin areas only. The quality and quantity of juvenile rearing, substrate type and condition, LWD presence and in-stream cover does not apply to mid-channel habitat.

• A field was added to correlate the data with left or right stream bank (facing downstream) for the lower reaches of the mainstem.

• Adult salmon were seen holding in the mainstem. These may have been recorded as "glide" habitats in the notes; but the presence of the spawners were an indication that holding areas were not limiting, at least for larger fish. Accordingly, the condition of adult holding pool habitats refers generally to the mainstem, and secondarily to marginal habitats, where these exist.

• The water level in this system rose and fell significantly during the study, according to rainfall patterns (see Hydrology section). The effect of this during the study is that pool habitat was sometimes obscured in high water, as pools and glides merged together. Pool habitats were sometimes judged to be non-limiting in cases where glide habitats may be very similar to pools.

• Smaller tributaries were also affected by high water. where appropriate, some glide habitats were included in pool habitats for diagnostic purposes.

• Dominant substrate varied considerably across the inside channel width. In marginal areas in the lower reaches, it was often fine material, indicating degraded spawning habitat and gravel compaction and would be judged "poor". In fact, a large amount of gravel was located in mid-channel; however, it was still judged to be "poor" as the fine material in the margins (where fish congregated) was also an indicator of bank and channel instability.

• LWD data is subject to great interpretation by individual reviewers, especially so in rivers where large fluctuations in flow cause LWD to be high up on the bankfull area, or in large jams, so that its functionality and stability is questionable. In this case, the lower reaches had plenty of LWD, but it was not providing good cover in pools. To arrive at the habitat condition judgements in this case, photo records were used extensively.
• The fish habitat condition of stream sections in reaches 2-5 to 5 were judged from very limited field data, as the stream channel is at the bottom of a 100m canyon and was only marginally accessible, even with aircraft.

• The reader is reminded that judgements are in general categories, rather than precise calculations from individual data sets. Several forms of data were used to arrive at these judgements, including field data measurements, subjective field notes and sketches, as well as ground and aerial photos. Refer to the field data section for further details on specific areas.