Study Focus
Porter Creek and Hidden lake is a unique system. The creek begins with a spring (Polar Seas Char farm is located adjacent to the spring) flows approximately 4 km past the city dump to the Alaska Highway where the dump road begins. The creek flows down Rabbits Foot Canyon, under the Alaska highway, past the Super A store and along Versluice Meadows. The route of the creek has been redirected so that it flows around the edge of the Meadow, Under Holly street and into Hidden lake which grounds drains. A creeks that begins with a spring and flows into a lake that drains by exfiltration is unsual.
Since 1990 Hidden Lake and Porter Creek have been subject to considerable pressures. The flow of water into the lake has been interrupted by Porter Creek overflowing into Versluice meadows. This has happened because the level of the meadow has been lowered because of soil stripping activity. Many areas of the meadow have been lowered as much as two meters. In winter, disturbance to creek snow cover has created overflow. The water that was flowing into Hidden Lake has now been diverted into the Meadow. Hidden lake has dried up during the winter over the past six years.
In order to understand the dynamics of the lake and creek system we needed to understand the balance of the water inflow and drainage from the lake. We have undertaken a bathometric survey of Hidden Lake and have been monitoring the flow of Porter Creek using both a wier and a flow meter to determine flow rates.
The ES class conducted a bathometric study on Hidden Lake in 1994 by setting out a grid on the ice when ther lake was frozen , drilling ate each 10 meter interval and recording the depth from ice levels.. On our second session, a week later, the lake had drained completely, so we drilled a 10 meter long by 30 cm wide trench through the ice ate the deepest part of the lake. The ice was bridged from the lake bottom so were able to observe an area of the lake bottom covered by fish that had died. We took 135 of these fish for observation. !08 of these fish were rainbow trout and the remaining 26 were Arctic Char that had escaped from Icy Waters Fish Farm and one slimy sculpin.
Porter Creek and Hidden lake is a unique system. The creek begins with a spring (Polar Seas Char farm is located adjacent to the spring) flows approximately 4 km past the city dump to the Alaska Highway where the dump road begins. The creek flows down Rabbits Foot Canyon, under the Alaska highway, past the Super A store and along Versluice Meadows. The route of the creek has been redirected so that it flows around the edge of the Meadow, Under Holly street and into Hidden lake which grounds drains. A creeks that begins with a spring and flows into a lake that drains by exfiltration is unsual.
Since 1990 Hidden Lake and Porter Creek have been subject to considerable pressures. The flow of water into the lake has been interrupted by Porter Creek overflowing into Versluice meadows. This has happened because the level of the meadow has been lowered because of soil stripping activity. Many areas of the meadow have been lowered as much as two meters. In winter, disturbance to creek snow cover has created overflow. The water that was flowing into Hidden Lake has now been diverted into the Meadow. Hidden lake has dried up during the winter over the past six years.
In order to understand the dynamics of the lake and creek system we needed to understand the balance of the water inflow and drainage from the lake. We have undertaken a bathometric survey of Hidden Lake and have been monitoring the flow of Porter Creek using both a wier and a flow meter to determine flow rates.
The ES class conducted a bathometric study on Hidden Lake in 1994 by setting out a grid on the ice when ther lake was frozen , drilling ate each 10 meter interval and recording the depth from ice levels.. On our second session, a week later, the lake had drained completely, so we drilled a 10 meter long by 30 cm wide trench through the ice ate the deepest part of the lake. The ice was bridged from the lake bottom so were able to observe an area of the lake bottom covered by fish that had died. We took 135 of these fish for observation. !08 of these fish were rainbow trout and the remaining 26 were Arctic Char that had escaped from Icy Waters Fish Farm and one slimy sculpin.