Southeast British Columbia Research Articles

Maternity Nurses and Midwives in a British Columbia Rural Community: Evolving Relationships

The purpose of this study was to examine the dynamics and evolution of inter-professional relationships between registered midwives and nurses in a rural community where midwifery has become well established over twelve years. Interviews explored the responses of maternity nurses, a nurse manager, and a public health nurse to the integration of midwives in a rural hospital in south east British Columbia. Factors which helped to bring resolution to early concerns were discussed, along with evolving understandings of roles and responsibilities. Participants reflected on the impact of midwifery on job satisfaction and on the character of the maternity unit. Initial concerns following integration included competence and liability, the history of unregistered midwifery in the community, and the loss of job satisfaction for nurses who had a diminished role in the care of labouring women. Nursing shortages and workload issues created some appreciation of the extra help provided by midwives, but also caused some inter-professional tensions. Although close and functional professional relationships developed, significant grey areas remain in the definition of shared roles and responsibilities with midwives.

Maternal Transfer and Effects of Selenium on Early Life Stage Development of Redside Shiner (Richardsonius balteatus).

Maternal transfer of selenium (Se) to developing fish eggs during vitellogenesis can cause larval deformity and mortality. Previous studies have shown wide variation among fish species in both the magnitude of maternal transfer (exposure) and the egg Se concentration causing effects (sensitivity). We studied maternal transfer and effects of Se on early life stage development, survival, and growth of redside shiner (Richardsonius balteatus), a small-bodied cyprinid that has been reported to have relatively high ovary:muscle Se concentration ratios. Gametes were collected from lentic areas in southeast British Columbia (Canada) with a range of dietary Se concentrations related to weathering of waste rock from coal mining. Eggs were fertilized and reared in the laboratory from hatch to the onset of exogenous feeding. Larvae were assessed for survival, length, weight, Se-characteristic deformities, and edema. Eggs from a total of 56 females were collected, with egg Se concentrations from 0.7 to 28 mg/kg dry weight. Maternal transfer varied among sites, with egg:muscle Se concentration ratios ranging from <1 to >4. We also found that sampling residual ovaries can overestimate Se concentrations in ripe eggs by up to a factor of 5.7. A correlation between larval weight and egg Se concentration was identified, although the relationship was weak (r2 < 0.1) and appeared to be a site effect. No other relationships were observed between larval endpoints and egg Se concentrations up to the highest concentration tested, indicating that the effects threshold for this species may be >28 mg/kg dry weight in eggs. These data indicate that redside shiner is less sensitive to maternally transferred Se than most other tested fish species. Environ Toxicol Chem 2023;42:2350-2357. © 2023 SETAC.

Considerations for furbearer trapping regulations to prevent grizzly bear toe amputation and injury

AbstractUnder the North American Model of wildlife Conservation, wildlife managers are encouraged to update management approaches when new information arises whose implementation could improve the viability of wildlife populations and the well‐being of animals. Here we detail an observation of several grizzly bears with amputated toes in southeast British Columbia between 2016‐2020 and assemble evidence to inform management strategies to remedy the issue. During the capture of 59 grizzly bears, 4 individuals (~7%) had amputated toes on one of their front feet. The wounds were all healed and linear in nature. Further opportunistic record collection revealed that similar examples of amputated toes occurred beyond our study area in neighboring mountain ranges and internationally. We found evidence that seasonal overlap between the active season for grizzly bears and the fall trapping seasons—for small furbearers with body‐gripping traps and for wolves with foothold traps—were frequently responsible for toe amputation. Photo evidence suggested that body‐gripping traps were the main trap type associated with toe amputation. Multiple options to reduce or eliminate the incidental amputation of grizzly bear toes exist, and the options have varying degrees of expected efficacy and require differing levels of monitoring. One option is to delay the start of the marten trapping season until December 1, when most bears have denned, instead of opening the season on or prior to November 1, when more than 50% of bears are still active. An alternative solution, such as a license condition that requests trappers narrow trap‐box entrances to exclude bear feet while still allowing entrance of target furbearers, has the potential to minimize accidental capture of bears, but the effectiveness of this approach is unknown. Finally, experimental toe extraction trials suggested that better anchoring traps was not a viable solution given that adult grizzly bear feet only came free from body‐gripping traps 20% of the time under maximum human force. At least 230 kg pull was required to consistently free toes from body‐gripping traps, which not all bears will be able to produce unless the cable is long and allows a running start. Solutions that do not involve season changes will require monitoring of efficacy and compliance to ensure success.

Construct a Paleo-Limnological Environment Based on Coal Petrography; Case Study, Two Selected Coal Seams, North Crowsnest Open-Pit Mine, Canada

The Crowsnest coalfield is a separated structural coalfield at the East Kootenay basin within southeast British Columbia. Selected Jurassic-Cretaceous two coals seam S-10 and S-C of the Mist-Mountain formation were investigated from the points of coal petrography to construct a Paleo-limnological setting. Twenty-two channel coal samples were assembled and measured from S-10 and S-C coal seams. Vitrinite reflectance measuring of the S-10 coal concern to low-volatile bituminous (1.61, on average). While the vitrinite reflectance measurements of S-C coal seam show an average value of 0.98 related to high-volatile bituminous. Petrographic analysis demonstrates that the S-10 coal seam appears to be rich in inertinite than the S-C coal seam that appears rich in vitrinite. Applying coal facies indices of Tissue Preservation Index, Gelification Index, Ground Water Index Vegetation Index and coal facies diagrams for the studied coal seams aid to suggest a condition of the depositional Paleo-environments. The results promote Paleo-depositional sites of telmatic to limno-telmatic setting of rheotropic systems swamp. The obtained results show a trend of increase in both herbaceous flora and anoxic waterlogged limo-telmatic setting toward the younger coal seam S-C than the older S-10 coal seam.

Seasonal movements of White-tailed Deer (&lt;i&gt;Odocoileus virginianus&lt;/i&gt;) in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia

Nineteen adult female White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus), fitted with very high frequency or global positioning system collars in the Rocky Mountains of southeast British Columbia, exhibited straight-line seasonal movements ranging from &lt;4 km to 109 km. Movement was almost entirely along the floor of both low- and high-elevation valleys, although there was some use of mid-elevation mountainsides during early winter. Spatial locations of deer spanned 891–2234 m above sea level. Seasonal movements of these deer from a single winter range extended to two provinces, three national parks, one provincial park, non-park provincial Crown land, and private land. Deer populations with similar movement patterns may be most effectively managed by considering their extensive movements and coordinating approaches across jurisdictions.

Estimating unrecorded human-caused mortalities of grizzly bears in the Flathead Valley, British Columbia, Canada.

Managing the number of grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) mortalities to a sustainable level is fundamental to bear conservation. All known grizzly bear deaths are recorded by management agencies but the number of human-caused grizzly bear deaths that are not recorded is generally unknown, causing considerable uncertainty in the total number of mortalities. Here, we compare the number of bears killed legally by hunters to the number killed by people for all other reasons, for bears wearing functioning radiocollars and for uncollared bears recorded in the British Columbia (BC) government mortality database for the Flathead Valley in southeast BC. Between 1980 and 2016, permitted hunters killed 10 collared bears and 12 (9 known, 3 suspected) were killed by people for other reasons. This ratio differed (p < 0.0001) from the uncollared bears in the government database where 71 were killed by hunters while only 10 were killed for other reasons. We estimate that 88% (95% CI; 67–96%) of the human-caused mortalities that were not by permitted hunters were unreported. The study area may have low reporting rates because it is >40 km on a gravel road from a Conservation Officer office, so reporting is difficult and there are no human residences so there is little concern of a neighbor contacting an officer. Our results are likely indicative of other places that are road-accessed but far from settlements. We discuss the implications of sampling individuals for collaring and the possible implications of wearing a collar on the animal’s fate.

Geoelectric Hazard Maps for the Pacific Northwest

AbstractMaps of extreme value, horizontal component geoelectric field amplitude are constructed for the Pacific Northwest United States (and parts of neighboring Canada). Multidecade long geoelectric field time series are calculated by convolving Earth surface impedance tensors from 71 discrete magnetotelluric survey sites across the region with historical 1‐min (2‐min Nyquist) geomagnetic variation time series obtained from two nearby observatories. After fitting statistical models to 1‐min geoelectric amplitudes realized during magnetic storms, extrapolations are made to estimate threshold amplitudes that are only exceeded, on average, once per century. One hundred‐year geoelectric exceedance amplitudes range from 0.06 V/km at a survey site in western Washington State to 9.47 V/km at a site in southeast British Columbia; 100‐year geoelectric exceedance amplitudes equal 7.10 V/km at a site north of Seattle and 2.28 V/km at a site north of Portland. Systematic and random errors are estimated to be less than 20%, much less than site‐to‐site differences in geoelectric amplitude that arise from site‐to‐site differences in surface impedance. Maps of 100‐year exceedance amplitudes are compared with the peak geoelectric amplitudes realized during the March 1989 magnetic superstorm; it is noted that some storms of relatively modest intensity can generate localized geoelectric fields of relatively high amplitude. The geography of geoelectric hazard across the Pacific Northwest is closely related to known geologic and tectonic structures.

Density-dependent signaling: An alternative hypothesis on the function of chemical signaling in a non-territorial solitary carnivore.

Brown bears are known to use rubbing behavior as a means of chemical communication, but the function of this signaling is unclear. One hypothesis that has gained support is that male bears rub to communicate dominance to other males. We tested the communication of dominance hypothesis in a low-density brown bear population in southeast British Columbia. We contrasted rubbing rates for male and female bears during and after the breeding season using ten years of DNA-mark-recapture data for 643 individuals. Here we demonstrate that male brown bears rub 60% more during the breeding than the non-breeding season, while female rubbing had no seasonal trends. Per capita rub rates by males were, on average, 2.7 times higher than females. Our results suggest that the function of rubbing in the Rocky Mountains may not only be to communicate dominance, but also to self-advertise for mate attraction. We propose that the role of chemical communication in this species may be density-dependent, where the need to self-advertise for mating is inversely related to population density and communicating for dominance increases with population density. We suggest that future endeavors to elucidate the function of rubbing should sample the behavior across a range of population densities using camera trap and genotypic data.

Nest Habitat Selection of Western Screech-Owls (Megascops kennicottii macfarlanei) at Multiple Spatial Scales in Southeast British Columbia

The interior Western Screech-Owl (Megascops kennicottii macfarlanei) has been assessed as a species at risk. Regionally, survival rates are low, particularly during nesting. This study uses forward stepwise logistic regression to assess habitat selection at the tree, patch (150m2), and stand scales for twelve nests (the largest sample in any one region). At the patch scale, nest sites had more coniferous cover (33% versus 16%) than random. At the stand level, owls selected medium-age forests within an agricultural landscape, highlighting the need to conserve these habitats. While black cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa) and trembling aspen (P. tremuloides) are important nest tree species, riparian forests with coniferous cover, particularly western redcedar (Thuja plicata), may be more important for nesting in regional populations than previously realized.

Social license to operate: Not a proxy for accountability in water governance

With the emergence of more collaborative, watershed governance arrangements and the engagement of various actors in decision-making processes, new questions emerge about the potential roles for these organizations and agencies in both upholding accountability, and in being held accountable. Therefore, this study explores the intersection between alternative collaborative watershed governance approaches, and the simultaneous emergence of the concept of social license as an accountability instrument in relation to water governance. Based on an empirical analysis of a case study in southeast British Columbia, where water quality contamination is primarily the result of coal mining, this study seeks to: (1) examine how social license is understood by a range of watershed actors; (2) better understand whether social license may be useful as a watershed-based or community accountability instrument as new collaborative modes of watershed governance emerge; and, (3) explore how social license may be enforced or enabled. Findings show how industry efforts to earn social license have created benefits, such as enabling community-based water monitoring, thereby building capacity for deeper community engagement in governance processes and a greater ability for the community to uphold accountability. However, we confirm that social license is not a proxy or silver bullet for enhancing accountability in collaborative watershed governance. Our findings reveal four specific limitations regarding the use of social license as a principle for accountability in collaborative watershed governance.

Predicting spatial variation in grizzly bear abundance to inform conservation

Understanding the spatial structure of populations is fundamental to effective assessment, planning, and management for species conservation. Because of their sensitivity and public interest, grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) are focused upon in some localized development issues and proactive conservation initiatives. Knowledge regarding the spatial context of regional grizzly bear populations is important, but often a defensible representation of probable population distribution, core areas, and connectivity is lacking. We describe the development and assessment of a regional landscape model of grizzly bear density and distribution. Our study region comprised 180,000 km2 and 20 management units of southeast British Columbia and southwest Alberta. Our meta-analysis was based on data from 20 independent grizzly bear population surveys across the region. While accounting for differing design parameters among surveys, we contrasted grizzly bear detections against sampling representation relative to scale-dependent landscape factors. Our predictors pertained to the influence of climate, terrain, land cover, vegetation indices, and human activity. Associations within survey areas were consistent with ecological influences on grizzly bear foods and human influences on grizzly bear mortality risk and landscape avoidance. A multiple logistic regression model based on independent components of ecological variation fit well the data pooled across the region and within individual survey areas. Average values of detection probability among survey areas predicted population density (R2 = 0.64 or 0.79 depending on one outlier). Our results support the application of our model across southeast British Columbia and southwest Alberta for assessment and planning that requires regional and local context of grizzly bear population abundance and distribution, and inference of core areas and population connections among them. For any geographic area, a population estimate can be obtained that is reflective of surveys used in the model. Spatial predictions for any defined population are likely to be more reliable than those extrapolated from tracking data of individual animals given limitations typical of such sampling. Ultimately, model output provides regional population context for environmental assessment, management, and conservation planning, nested within which should be finer-scale data and prediction where available. © 2016 The Wildlife Society.

Seasonal and Sex-Biased Survival of Adult Interior Western Screech-Owls (Megascops kennicottii macfarlanei) in Southeast British Columbia

In Canada and in British Columbia, the interior Western Screech-Owl (Megascops kennicottii macfarlanei) has been assessed as a species at risk primarily as a result of loss and degradation of low-elevation riparian habitat. Few data exist on population demographics of this subspecies. We analyzed annual survival of 19 radio-tagged adult owls from 2009 through 2013 using known-fate models. Time and sex dependence in annual survival rates were examined. The best approximating models suggested that female annual survival (28%) was lower than male survival (83%). Owl survival was lowest prior to incubation and during brood rearing, times when owls are most vocal. Mortality was attributed to avian predation and road mortality. Management practices to preserve habitat during the critical breeding period are encouraged in light of this research.

A geochronological framework for sedimentation and Mesoproterozoic tectono-magmatic activity in lower Belt–Purcell rocks exposed west of Kimberley, British Columbia

The Matthew Creek Metamorphic Zone (MCMZ) exposes what is inferred to be the lowest structural level of the lower Aldridge Formation in the Canadian portion of the Belt–Purcell Supergroup. Zircon, monazite, and titanite were dated using the U–Pb system by LA–ICP–MS. The detrital zircon populations of quartzite layers in these rocks define a provenance dominated by sources of Laurentian affinity with a minor component of non-North American ages between 1600 and 1490 Ma. Special attention was paid to monazite in sillimanite-grade metapelitic schists that was analyzed using in situ LA–ICP–MS techniques guided by BSE imaging and compositional mapping. Textural and geochronological evidence indicate that coupled dissolution–reprecipitation affected detrital monazite at 1413 ± 10 Ma. This was followed by prograde monazite growth at 1365 ± 10 Ma, synchronous with crystallization of the nearby Hellroaring Creek peraluminous granite at 1365 ± 5 Ma. Late-stage pegmatite emplacement and ductile shearing along the contact of the MCMZ and overlying rocks occurred at 1335 ± 5 Ma, interpreted as a period of post-collisional extension, core complex formation, exhumation, and decompression melting. The entire package was subsequently affected by a pervasive ∼1050 Ma hydrothermal overprint that partially reset U–Pb dates in monazite, zircon, and titanite contained in all lithologies examined. The lowermost Belt–Purcell stratigraphy in southeast British Columbia preserves a detailed record of sedimentary provenance and a long history of episodic collision and extension that must be reconciled with plate reconstruction models for the break-up of the Nuna supercontinent and assembly of Rodinia.

Assessing Nutritional Parameters of Brown Bear Diets among Ecosystems Gives Insight into Differences among Populations.

Food habit studies are among the first steps used to understand wildlife-habitat relationships. However, these studies are in themselves insufficient to understand differences in population productivity and life histories, because they do not provide a direct measure of the energetic value or nutritional composition of the complete diet. Here, we developed a dynamic model integrating food habits and nutritional information to assess nutritional parameters of brown bear (Ursus arctos) diets among three interior ecosystems of North America. Specifically, we estimate the average amount of digestible energy and protein (per kilogram fresh diet) content in the diet and across the active season by bears living in western Alberta, the Flathead River (FR) drainage of southeast British Columbia, and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE). As well, we estimate the proportion of energy and protein in the diet contributed by different food items, thereby highlighting important food resources in each ecosystem. Bear diets in Alberta had the lowest levels of digestible protein and energy through all seasons, which might help explain the low reproductive rates of this population. The FR diet had protein levels similar to the recent male diet in the GYE during spring, but energy levels were lower during late summer and fall. Historic and recent diets in GYE had the most energy and protein, which is consistent with their larger body sizes and higher population productivity. However, a recent decrease in consumption of trout (Oncorhynchus clarki), whitebark pine nuts (Pinus albicaulis), and ungulates, particularly elk (Cervus elaphus), in GYE bears has decreased the energy and protein content of their diet. The patterns observed suggest that bear body size and population densities are influenced by seasonal availability of protein an energy, likely due in part to nutritional influences on mass gain and reproductive success.

Paleoecological and Sedimentological Data from: “A Classification for Macroscopic Charcoal Morphologies Found in Holocene Lacustrine Sediments”

This dataset contains sedimentological and paleoenvironmental measurements from a 351.5 cm sediment core that was collected from Pyatts Lake, south-east British Columbia, Canada. Sedimentological data include: radiocarbon dates and age-depth model, magnetic susceptibility, loss-on-ignition values, and particle size distributions. Palaeoecological data include: macroscopic charcoal (>150 μm), charcoal morphotypes; aquatic macroremains; pollen spectra, conifer stomata, microscopic charcoal and total fungal spores. These data were used to investigate the potential for charcoal morphotype assemblages for paleoenvironmental interpretations in montane mixed conifer forests. These data were collected from analytical laboratory and optical microscopy analyses. Data are presented in a multiple tabbed spreadsheet. These data can be used for direct comparison with other sedimentological, vegetation, and disturbance histories during the Holocene and may be compared to prior geologic time periods in an analogue context. The charcoal data can be applied to syntheses of biomass burning from local to global scales and pollen data can be combined into pollen database analyses.

Can Wolbachia (Rickettsiaceae) explain female-biased sex ratios in mountain pine beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)?

AbstractWolbachia Hertig (Rickettsiales: Rickettsiaceae) is a genus of endosymbionts that are widespread in insects and can have important implications on population dynamics through cytoplasmic incompatibility or sex-ratio distortion. We considered Wolbachia as a possible explanation for female-biased sex ratios often observed in mountain pine beetle populations, Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae), a major pest species in western Canada whose most recent outbreak and range expansion has killed many millions of mature lodgepole pine, Pinus contorta var. latifolia Engelmann (Pinaceae). We used wsp primers to screen for Wolbachia in 10 mountain pine beetle populations with varying degrees of female bias in southeast British Columbia and southwest Alberta, Canada. We found no evidence of Wolbachia in these populations and suggest that other factors may explain the sex-ratio bias.

Terrestrial and Aquatic Mollusks of the Eocene Kishenehn Formation, Middle Fork Flathead River, Montana

The Kishenehn Formation of northwest Montana and southeast British Columbia hosts one of the most prolific and diverse assemblages of fossil nonmarine mollusks in North America. More than 76 taxa, of which 41 are newly described species, of middle Eocene to early Miocene terrestrial and aquatic gastropods have been collected and described. This paper reports on the discoveries made in the oldest part of the formation that is middle Eocene in age in the southernmost part of the Kishenehn Basin. Outcrops along the Middle Fork of the Flathead River from this area have yielded over 1400 specimens from which 62 taxa (37 terrestrial, 25 aquatic) were identified. Of these, eight are new species and nine were described elsewhere but were not previously reported in the formation. In terms of paleoenvironmental affinities, the fauna are divisible into three groups. Group I is a relict tropical wet fauna, existing in basinal waterways whose modern analogs live in the Caribbean and Central and South America. Group II is a subtropical, semi-arid fauna with modern analogs ranging from the north coast of the Gulf of Mexico, across the southern United States and northern Mexico to southern California and the Baja Peninsula. Group III is a humid, warm temperate fauna that was transported from mountains east of the basin and deposited in fan-delta and lake-margin settings. Modern analogs of these molluscan taxa are common in the east-central United States. The unusual coexistence of these climatically disparate groups of fossil mollusks is a manifestation of the large paleotopographic relief, perhaps greater than 2000 m, that existed between the valley floor and the mountains. The following taxa are described herein by the senior author (HGP) as new species: Bivalvia: Sphaeriidae- Sphaerium lentum, Pisidium triangulatum. Gastropoda: Proserpinellidae- Tozerpina elsae; Subulinidae- Obeliscus scalplockensis; Planorbidae- Ferrissia circus, Rhodacmaea crepida, Omalodiscus spira; Physidae- Physella olive; and one new subspecies: Gastropoda: Pupillidae- Pupilla hebes sinistra.

Spatial factors related to mortality and population decline of endangered mountain caribou

ABSTRACTMountain caribou are an endangered ecotype of woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) that historically occurred throughout the high snowfall regions of southeast British Columbia and the northwestern United States. The decline in caribou is thought to be due to apparent competition where increases in early‐seral conditions stimulate a numerical response in primary ungulate prey and their predators and these incidentally kill an unsustainable number of caribou. Based on the known location of death of 207 radio collared animals, we tested hypotheses pertaining to relationships between landscape composition and predator‐specific mortality of mountain caribou at 2 ecologically based spatial scales. Relative to landscape conditions within subpopulation boundaries (level 1) or within home ranges (level 2), caribou were at greater risk of predation at low elevations particularly within otherwise complex terrain (i.e., valleys) with more variation in overstory canopy closure and greater road densities. Caribou vulnerability to bears was also positively related to the variation in overstory age. Cougar predation was not related to roads or terrain complexity but occurred more often in landscapes with warmer aspects and greater proportions of stands of &lt;120 years. Wolf predation occurred primarily at low elevations at the broader scale and in association with roads at the finer scale. Our results indicate that caribou vulnerability to predation was a function of both static (e.g., terrain) and dynamic (e.g., overstory conditions) factors, but we did not find evidence that localized habitat fragmentation due to forest harvest influenced predation on caribou. This result is not inconsistent with the apparent competition hypothesis but suggests that habitat change largely functions at broader spatial scales involving landscapes that can be beyond those occupied by caribou, including the winter ranges of primary ungulate prey. These changes and the season‐dependent dispersion of other ungulates and their predators may largely influence mortality risk to mountain caribou. Although roads and forest fragmentation are interrelated, roads may further contribute to caribou predation by increasing the efficiency of movement of some predators and thereby increasing encounter rates with caribou. © 2013 The Wildlife Society.

Zinc-Lead Exploration project on Ruddock Creek deposit in Revelstoke area, southeast British Columbia, Canada

Zinc-Lead Exploration project on Ruddock Creek deposit in Revelstoke area, southeast British Columbia, Canada

Distributed temperature-index snowmelt modelling for forested catchments

► We adapt extended temperature-index snowmelt algorithms for forested catchments. ► A simple model for canopy interception reasonably predicts snow accumulation. ► Extended temperature-index algorithms can be as accurate as an energy balance model. ► Accounting for cold-content was required to realize the increased performance. ► One algorithm is also capable of simulating the diurnal cycle of meltwater outflow. This work was motivated by the need to understand the hydrologic consequences of rapid and widespread forest disturbance to assist forest management and operational forecasting. The objective was to compare three extended temperature-index-based melt models to a basic temperature-index model, as well as to the physically based snow model in the Distributed Hydrology-Soil-Vegetation Model (DHSVM). One model uses ad hoc parameterizations to represent the variation of the melt factor with slope-aspect, forest cover and time of year. The other two incorporate either potential direct or measured solar radiation; they were originally developed for open sites and were adapted to account for the effects of forest cover. The models were calibrated and tested using lysimeter data and spatially distributed snow surveys conducted at the Cotton Creek Experimental Watershed located in southeast British Columbia, Canada. A model for canopy interception that included a maximum canopy storage and a fixed sublimation rate provided reasonable predictions of peak snow accumulation. Accounting for cold content in the upper layer of a two-layer snowpack model was required to realize the increased predictive performance of the extended temperature-index melt models, compared to the most basic model. The model that incorporated measured solar radiation provided the best performance, and was almost as accurate as the DHSVM snow model. The model that uses potential direct radiation also performed well in spatial testing and, in addition, closely matched day-time highs and night-time lows of the measured lysimeter outflow. The model with ad hoc representations did not perform as well as the other extended temperature-index models outside the calibration period. Spatially distributed snowpack measurements assisted in constraining the parameters in the extended temperature-index models. Further research should test the extended temperature-index melt models at the catchment scale, particularly in catchments where there have been rapid and well documented changes in forest cover.