The B.C. government has given conditional approval to a run-of-river power project in the Upper Lillooet River Valley that received widespread public opposition, including from provincial wildlife biologists concerned over grizzly bear habitat.

Environment Minister Terry Lake and Energy, Mines and Natural Gas Minister Rich Coleman have attached 37 conditions to Creek Power’s three related run-of-river hydro facilities 40 to 60 kilometres northwest of Pemberton producing a total of 121 megawatts of power.

Among the conditions:

• Maintain minimum in-stream flow requirements for North Creek, Pebble Creek and the Upper Lillooet River.

• Maintain for the life of the project a dedicated, publicly available project website to ensure public awareness of ongoing activities and construction schedules.

• Make all monitoring reports prepared during operations available to the public on the website.

• Monitor temperature and ice conditions for the life of the project.

• Undertake construction activities outside of identified sensitive periods for wildlife.

• Contribute to the province’s regional grizzly bear monitoring program and participate in provincially led access management planning.

• Implement a grizzly bear management plan, and other wildlife management plans, as part of a broader human-wildlife interaction plan.

The run-of-river hydro project poses a significant risk to a recovering population of grizzly bears in southwestern B.C., a provincial biologist warned in documents filed with B.C.’s Environmental Assessment Office.

Scott Barrett, ecosystems section head with the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, predicted “multiple residual and cumulative effects to grizzly bears, creating high risk to recovery.”

In response to the province’s conditional nod to the project, Gwen Barlee of the Wilderness Committee said Friday that the majority of the conditions are weak and unlikely to result in meaningful mitigation of environmental impacts. She fears for fish stocks, including coho and trout, in the Lillooet drainage and a significant reduction in water flows over “iconic Keyhole Falls.”

The Environmental Assessment Office found that the project is not expected to result in significant adverse effects, based on the mitigation conditions.

“To say that this project will not have significant adverse effects disregards a mountain of evidence that has emerged about the environmental impacts of private run-of-river projects,” said Barlee.

Creek Power Inc. is two-thirds owned by Innergex Renewable Energy and one-third by Ledcor Power Group.

Innergex spokesman Bas Brusche said the company “absolutely” accepts the government conditions and realizes that “people in the community will be watching us” and expect the highest standards.

The company expects to start construction on the Boulder Creek and Upper Lillooet facilities in 2013 and on the North Creek facility in 2014.