The Cowichan River has changed course in a section of more than 600 metres between Little Beach and Skutz Falls.
Ladysmith Search & Rescue are reporting on their Facebook page that the river now flows through the forest in that area, leaving the old stream bed where is used to flow dry.
“The river is no longer passable for drift boaters, and it’s extremely dangerous for tubers as the main flow now goes straight into logjams,” Ladysmith S&R said. “Kayakers and other paddlers would have to portage along the dry stream bed.”
Fortunately, operations at Lake Cowichan’s The Tube Shack, the region’s popular tube company that offers tubing adventures along the Cowichan River, should not be impacted by the change in the river’s course.
The course that tubers from The Tube Shack, which begins operations on June 28 this year, take ends at Little Beach, well before the section that has changed course.
Jamie Tudway-Cains, Cowichan S&R’s search manager and past president, said it’s not unusual for the Cowichan River to change course.
A rainstorm during the winter of 2020 caused water levels to rise in the river and cut a new channel that diverted the river just below the “washout” run in the 5400 block of West Riverbottom Road.
This most recent course change, however, appears to be caused by low river flows this spring.
When water levels drop, rivers can become more prone to avulsion, where they shift their channel to a new path, or their erosion rates might change, potentially leading to changes in meander patterns.
Tudway-Cains said when rivers change course, it’s usually around a bend in the river, causing the river to begin flowing through the adjacent land.
He said once a river changes course, it’s unlikely to return to its previous route, but it's hard to predict.
“The change is as permanent as a river can be,” Tudway-Cains said.
“Water will always follow the path of least resistance.”
Asked if the new river course will ever be amenable for boats and tubers to flow through safely, Tudway-Cains said he expects debris and logjams will continue to build up in that area for some time, so portaging along the dry stream bed is recommended for now.
Ian Morrison, the Cowichan Valley Regional District's director for Cowichan Lake South/Skutz Falls where the river course has changed, said no homes or other structures are threatened due to the issue.
He said he doesn’t expect most people who use the river for recreational activities like tubing, canoeing and kayaking in the upcoming summer months will be impacted as they typically disembark from the river at Little Beach, which is well before where the river changed course.
“It’s the normal course of things,” Morrison said. “As water levels drop in the river, it sometimes takes on a new route.”
