Quamichan Watershed Stewardship Society

The Quamichan Watershed Stewardship Society has formally dissolved and is no longer an active organization. You can still explore the archives below to see the impactful work they completed.

About the Quamichan Watershed Stewardship Society (QWSS)

About Quamichan Lake

Close-up of a small bird with blue head and reddish-brown body perched on a thin branch.

The Quamichan Watershed Stewardship Society (QWSS) — also known as “Quamichan Stewards” — is a registered charity whose mission is to encourage and support activities to promote the watershed health and water quality of Quamichan Lake. QWSS was formed as a sub-committee of the Cowichan Land Trust in the spring of 2006 to respond to the continuously declining health of Quamichan Lake. The Quamichan Watershed Stewardship Society is a registered Charity (BN 82868 0892 RR0001).

Quamichan is the largest lake in North Cowichan

  • The drainage basin is approximately 17.33 square km

  • There are approximately 15 surface inlets into Quamichan Lake

  • One major outlet located at Quamichan Creek discharges into Cowichan River 1.6 km south of the lake

  • Surface area 773 acres (312 hectors)

  • The length is 3.1 km and width 1.2 km

  • The Lake Volume estimate: 13,770,000,000 liters

  • Estimated turnover: once per year

Close-up of a meadow with purple and yellow wildflowers and tall green grass, with trees and a walking path in the background.
A calm lake reflecting a mountain and trees in the distance, with some bushes and grass in the foreground.

QWSS Focuses

Agriculture & Farm Fields

  • Addition of zeolite to animal feeds - reduces runoff and makes manure more efficient to use

  • Using zeolite as a nutrient trap at the edge of fields

  • Plant trees and shrubs at the edge of fields to trap nutrients

Human Activity

  • Including garden and lawn fertilizer, hard surfaced paths and drives, lack of rainwater storage on site.

  • Some of this can be impacted by education.

  • Could change zoning to reduce runoff from sites

Zoning & Regulatory Changes

  • Runoff management built in to zoning and building permits

  • Charging for storm water runoff - combine stormwater with sewer utility

  • Increase the use of row or townhouse development - reduce footprint and related soil disturbance and leave more room for runoff water treatment

Construction Site Management

  • Change the timing of excavation and construction to the summer

  • Do a better job of reducing runoff

Open grassy field with a metal gate in the foreground, trees on the right and left, a lake in the distance, with mountains and partly cloudy sky in the background.

Erosion

  • Erosion from runoff creeks, ditches beside roads and channeled water draining large areas of development

  • Review the maintenance practices that contribute to erosion i.e. cleaning all vegetation

  • Add foliage and boulders to slow down the streams

Expansion of Sewered Area

  • Be more active with sewer expansion

  • Require septic inspections or assessments to ensure they are working

Illustration of a person fishing in a river with mountains, trees, and a large sun in the background. A heron stands in the water near the riverbank. The text 'Quamichan Stewards' is at the bottom.

  • 2004

    • Informal "Friends of Quamichan Lake Formed" by Roger Hart and Jim cosh

    • Assembling information from Provincial Environment -Deb Epps, Rick Norton - UBC

    2006

    • Fine Bubble aeration review by Ken Ashley

    2007

    • Holding "Lake Information Events"

    2008

    • Incorporate "The Quamichan Watershed Stewardship Society"

    • Completed "Outlet Management Plan" relating to water levels - DVG Engineering

    • Services $6,000

    • Started Review of Lake under "Eco Action Federal Funding" $185,485

    • Phosphorus Loading Study for Quamichan Lake in Duncan, B.C. by Meara Crawford, Environmental Protection Division, British Columbia Ministry of Environment

    2009

    • Received Registration as a Canadian Charity

    2012

    • Develop Wetlands Settling Ponds on Gary Oak Reserve $10,000

    • Start Fishing Derbies - 2014 - 2014

    2014

    • Complete construction of Trout Refuge fine bubble aeration, with support from North Cowichan, Duncan Rotary Club and Cosh donations $17,800

    • Quamichan Creek trout habitat study - $5,000

    • Start study of runoff management

    2017

    • Municipality of North Cowichan Quamichan Lake Water Quality Task Force* - history and exploration of possible solutions

    2021

    • Commence application of Zeolite and Limestone to reduce nutrient runoff on fields

    2022

    • Assess Zeolite and Limestone application results and plan future applications

  • The name of the society is The Quamichan Watershed Stewardship Society

    1. The purposes of the society are:

    • To promote, conserve, protect and enhance the quality of the human and natural environment(s) of Quamichan Watershed;

    • To raise awareness of Quamichan Watershed as an important asset within the North Cowichan and Vancouver lsland Communities;

    • To promote the sustainability of the Quamichan Watershed for the benefit of current and future generations;

    • To raise money, acquire funds and other assistance, and to own, acquire, and take by purchase, donations, devise, or otherwise, land or personal property and expend, gell, exchange, mortgage, lease, let, improve, or develop same the purposes of the society;

    • To do everything incidental and necessary to promote and attain the foregoing purposes and periodically to reassess these purposes. Accordingly, the purposes are alterable in accordance with the Society Act.

    3. The operations of the Society are to be carried out chiefly in the Cowichan Valley, in the Province of British Columbia. This provision is altenable in accordance with the Society Act.

    4. On the winding up or dissolution of this society, funds or assets remaining after all debt has been paid shall be transferred to a charitable institution with purposes similar to those of this society, or, if this cannot be done, to another charitable institution recognized by the Canada Revenue Agency as qualified under the provisions of the lncome Tax Act of Canada. This provision is unattainable in accordance with the Society Act.

    5. The purpose of the society shall be carried out without purpose of gain for its members, and any profits or other accretions of the society shall be used by promoting its purposes. This provision is unalterable in accordance with the Society Act.

    • Jim Cosh

    • Per Dahlstrom

    • David Groves

    • Bruce Holms

    • Sarah Nelles

A landscape featuring a tree trunk on the left, a rainbow arching over a body of water, with dry plants and bushes in the foreground and a forested shoreline in the background.
Scenic landscape with a lake, forested hills, and mountains in the distance under a partly cloudy sky.

Studies & Reports.

Brochures & Recommendations.

A black and white photograph of Quanichan Lake in Duncan, British Columbia, featuring trees in the foreground and mountains in the background.
An old sepia-toned photograph of a rural landscape with a river in the foreground, two people in a small boat on the river, and hillside buildings in the background, with trees and a mountain in the distance.
Black and white aerial photograph of a large lake surrounded by patches of forest and farmland.
Black-and-white photograph of a lakeside scene with tall trees, mountains in the background, and calm water, titled "Quantiaman Lake Duncan B."