🗺️ Government Hydrology & Fish Data · Kootenay / Columbia Basin

River Health & Fish Data Hub

Live BC & Canada government datasets for mapping river hydrology, fish density, river-health research, and access points — the building blocks for a "which rivers are healthy / fish-dense / low-pressure" map. The map below pulls real layers straight from BC's open WMS services; the cards below are the source datasets you'd build on.

Live layer map (BC Open WMS)

Toggle government layers over the Creston–Kootenay region. Data streams live from openmaps.gov.bc.ca — the same endpoints you'd embed in your own Leaflet/Mapbox site. Zoom in for points to render.

Pan/zoom around Creston, Cranbrook, Nelson. Layers © Province of B.C. (DataBC).

Data sources to build on

How to build your river-health map

1 · Lay the hydrology base

  1. Start with the Freshwater Atlas Stream Network (1:20,000) as your river skeleton — it's directionalized & connected, ideal for ranking reaches.
  2. Add Watershed Boundaries to group reaches into sub-basins you can score.
  3. Overlay real-time hydrometric flows to flag high/low-water reaches.

2 · Add fish density signal

  1. Join Known BC Fish Observations & Distributions (FISS) to streams — species presence + observation density per reach.
  2. Pull fish stocking records (Go Fish BC) for lakes — recent stocking = reliable density.
  3. Use NuSEDS / Salmon Space where anadromous counts exist.

3 · Score "health" & pressure

  • Health proxies: Fisheries Sensitive Watersheds, nutrient-restoration study reaches, FWCP project areas.
  • Barriers: Obstacles to Fish Passage + PSCIS crossings flag fragmented (often lower-density) reaches.
  • Pressure proxy: road/access density & rec-site count near a reach = higher angling pressure.

4 · Mark access & embed

  1. Add Recreation Sites & Trails BC + boat launches as access points.
  2. Consume everything via WMS/WFS in Leaflet, OpenLayers, or ArcGIS JS — or BC's open Simple Map Kit (SMK).
  3. Style each reach by a combined score (density Ă— health Ă· pressure).