The Taylor River and its tributaries provide important spawning and rearing habitat for coho (Oncorhynchus kisutch) and sockeye (O. nerka) salmon, as well as resident cutthroat (O. clarki) and rainbow/steelhead (O. mykiss) trout. As the main drainage of the Sproat Lake watershed, the Taylor River supports one of the largest recreational salmonid fisheries on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
In the late 1990s, investigative studies highlighted that anthropogenic activities in the Taylor River watershed (primarily resource extraction, road building, and recreational use), had resulted in the loss of connectivity between the main stem of the Taylor River and stable off-channel habitat (Chapman Geoscience Ltd. 1999). This loss of salmonid spawning and rearing habitat was identified as one of the main factors limiting salmonid production in the watershed.
In response to these assessments, restoration projects were undertaken to increase the amount of suitable spawning and rearing habitat for salmon populations in the watershed. British Columbia Timber Sales Strait of Georgia Business Area (BCTS) proposed to maintain and monitor the restoration sites in exchange for freshwater habitat bank credits. Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) approved the restoration site for inclusion into the BCTS Habitat Bank in 2012. Today, the restoration site is known as the Mosquito Creek (formerly, Taylor Glulam) Habitat Bank and the project area provides roughly 1,700 linear meters of off-channel habitat.
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