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Mount Polley Remediation Story

Mount Polley Remediation
From tailings spill to environmental recovery. Mount Polley is making things right.
This is the story of Mount Polley Remedition – from tailings spill to environmental recovery

Katie: “My name is Katie McMahen. I was born and raised here in Williams Lake and I was a member of the environmental team here at Mount Polley for a number of years. Although it was a really devastating event, as scientists we want to learn what we can out of this work that’s going on and so we’re studying methods for restoring functioning forest ecosystems, methods for rehabilitating the soil, and trying to improve best practices, really. Since day one, we’ve been doing a ton of environmental monitoring and really prioritizing fixing up the creek.

“So I love the forest, and I love working and rehabilitating the forest, so some of the coolest work we’ve been doing is not just the replanting of trees, but trying to trying to create the right conditions for those trees to thrive. So, managing the tailings, doing some techniques to really make nice little sites for the trees to grow and so that they had the proper soil conditions.”

Mount Polley remediation staff on site near Hazeltine Creek
Mount Polley staff have been working diligently for years to restore habitats, ecosystems, and the environment at Mount Polley and affected sites. The Mount Polley Remediation story is one of turn-around, innovation, and Canadian pride.

Gabriel: “My name is Gabriel Holmes, and I grew up in Likely, British Columbia, and I’m an environmental technician here, I’ve worked here since 2011. I’m really proud of reintroducing the fish into the creeks – there’s a whole bunch of things I could go on and on – but reintroducing fish into Hazeltine Creek was a real milestone, the success of the spawning last year of the rainbow trout and Hazeltine Creek, a real milestone. The vegetative communities that are developing in our terrestrial landscapes in riparian areas and then of course this year, seeing a number of sockeye salmon in Edney Creek. I’m really proud to see that occur because that’s one of our end goals that we were trying to accomplish and to see them utilizing the system today, it’s fantastic.”

Katie: “I’m super proud of the work that we’ve done here. One of the biggest challenges has just been the scale of the work that we’ve had to do, and so considering it’s only five years now since the breach, just the sheer amount of work that’s been done in those five years is amazing. When I look back it feels like way longer because I can’t believe how much we’ve done.

“We’ve really set a high precedent for what needs to happen following an incident like this and that the type of work that can be done and should be done to clean up sites. There’s a lot of information that needs to get out there about what what’s the actual environmental conditions and the fact that we have thriving rainbow trout in the creek and tons of wildlife and animals using the habitat that we’ve created. It’s going to take some years for everything to grow, but these ecosystems are well on their way to recovery.”

Mount Polley environmental technician surveys sites near Polley lake. Remediation efforts have come a long way and are almost complete. The recovery project has cost Mount Polley’s parent company more than $70 million.
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Remediation

First Nations partners in Mount Polley remediation efforts

The Mount Polley remediation efforts have been underway for years. These efforts have benefited tremendously from the hard work of Mount Polley staff, Mount Polley’s First Nations partners, and local contractors and consultants from nearby Williams Lake. We think that its especially important to highlight the work of First Nations partners as the complementarity of environmental stewardship and responsible resource development is one that we are working to get right. We seek to accomplish this in partnership with all who have a stake in the natural wonder of where we live and work.

Mount Polley remediation efforts have helped restore habitats around Polley lake
Mount Polley remediation has helped restore recreational fishing on beautiful Polley Lake

Mount Polley has remediation partnerships with the T’exelcemc Nation, the Xat’sull First Nation, along with the Secwepemc Nation. First Nations partners have advised and been integral to the remediation of Hazeltine Creek and other affected areas near the Mount Polley site.

Mount Polley partnership with Xat’sull First Nation working to strengthen the shoreline of Hazeltine Creek

Seed gathering and revegetation

Revegetation has been an important part of remediation. For example, members of the Xat’sull First Nation collected willows cuttings for subsequent planting as stakes. As a result, this work enchanced and strengthened the shoreline of Hazeltine Creek. These efforts are part of the 600,000 native shrubs and trees that have been planted. This planting was done in riparian and uplands areas near and at the affected sites. It was important to plant native species to the area. Seeds from vegetative species local to the affected area were incubated and grown in nurseries. Subsequently, these were planted when grown. The practice of seed gathering and spreading has been done on an annual basis. Along with nursery efforts, Mount Polley’s work has been extensive. The remediation project is working to restore the natural ecosystem and native vegetative species. These species include the Red Osier Dogwood and Douglas fir are now thriving.

Restoration of the vegetative species at the creek shorelines has been important for building fish spawning habitats. Thousands of rainbow trout have spawned in Hazeltine Creek. These trout now make up part of the natural habitat in Polley lake. The fish from Quesnel lake and Polley lake are safe to eat.

Mount Polley tailing spill to Mount Polley recovery

As a result, we’ve turned the corner since the Mount Polley tailings spill in 2014. Indeed, the Mount Polley remediation efforts have allowed the site to turn the corner into recovery. In a few short years, with a significant investment of over $70 million, Mount Polley is making things right and is developing new methods and refining best practices along with First Nations partners. Mount Polley is doing this to show that while Canada’s resource development sector gets it right most of the time, when it doesn’t, it makes it right.

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Remediation

Mount Polley recovery and remediation adds perspective

Mount Polley environmental team member surveys remediated sites
Mount Polley environmental team member surveys remediated sites

A lot has been written about the Mount Polley spill of 2014, though not so much about the remediation efforts which have been quietly underway for years to great effect. Mount Polley recovery and remediation continues. So far, over $70 million has been invested to make things right at the site and the affected areas. Let’s put Mount Polley into perspective. Local habitats are being restored. Fish spawning habitats have helped repopulate rainbow trout populations in Quesnel lake and Hazeltine Creek. The fish are biting are Polley lake!

Mount Polley tecnicians survey creek shoreline
Mount Polley is making things right

Additionally, the project has been one that has followed scientific best practices. The Mount Polley remediation effort has restored vegegative coverage in the affected areas and is seeing local wildlife thrive at the site. The project has been carried out in coordination of Mount Polley Remediation staff along with First Nations partners.

Above all, responsible resource development means setting things right in the rare instances they go wrong. We’re proud of the work that has been done and we’re showing the world that Canada leads in taking responsibility and in developing remediation practices. Truly, Mount Polley recovery and remediation means no less than just that.

Indeed, Canada has a rich traditional of resource development and environmental stewardship. We hope to maintain that legacy and the work accomplished at Mount Polley reflects commitment to that ideal.

We’d like to highlight an article that adds much needed perspective. Dr. Lyn Anglin has written about the remediation efforts at Mount Polley. Dr. Anglin was President and CEO of Geoscience BC. She was the Chief Science Officer and VP Environmental Affairs at Imperial Metals until she retired in 2018. Dr. Anglin was also on the Advisory Council at Resource Works.

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Mount Polley recovery receives widespread praise

Fishing on Polley lake
Life returns to normal at Mount Polley, Polley lake, and Quesnel lake
Mount Polley’s remediation efforts have set a high standard in the industry as the company has taken a tailings spill and turned it into environmental recovery. Mount Polley’s efforts have been praised and labeled ‘second to none’.

“My name is Walt Cobb. I’m mayor for the city Williams Lake. We’re a resource-based community. I mean without industry we would be nothing. I mean we’ve been pretty fortunate that we’re diversified, fairly diversified. We’ve got forestry, we’ve got agriculture, and of course we’ve got mining.

“When when anything that serious happens, everyone is concerned.

“But it was a concern of the damage that was done, of course, but since then it’s a whole new story. [Mount Polley’s parent company] spent millions and millions of dollars cleaning up what had happened. I’ve been out there probably at least four times, and there is no comparison today to what what you they continue to show on the media around when the breach happened.”

Watch the whole video for more.

Mount Polley recovery efforts are almost complete. Mount Polley remediation has been praised as 'second-to-none' by experts in the field.
Mount Polley wetland restoration and revegetation
An aerial drone shot of Mount Polley remediation efforts that shows creek shoreline restoration, revegetation, and fish habitat installation.
Mount Polley creek rebuild, revegetation, and fish habitat installations