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2011 PEI Watershed Management Fund Final Reports

  1. Introduction
  2. Board of Directors
  3. 2011 Project Work Plans (from Applications)
  4. 2011 Season Year End Report: Work Completed
  5. Work Not completed
  6. Watershed Planning Activities/Results
  7. Educational Activities
  8. Financial Report (as required by Section 5(b)(ii) of the Contract)

Introduction

In early 2011, an effort was put forward to amalgamate the watersheds found along the south shore of Prince Edward Island, thus creating the new South Shore Watershed Association Inc. “SSWA”.

The South Shore Watershed Association is composed of five sub watershed divisions.

1. Desable River (4177.5 Ha) - MacIvors Point (337.4 Ha)

2. Westmorland River (4460.5 Ha) – Victoria (612.85Ha)

3. Tryon River (5248.6 Ha)

4. Richard Point (939.4 Ha) - Augustine Cove (777.4 Ha) - Prevost Cove (327.5 Ha) Cape Traverse River (1833.9 Ha)

5. Seven Mile Bay (4264.8 Ha)

In past years, only the areas of DeSable River (DREAM) and Tyron (TRWC) had active community based watershed Organizations. By May of 2011, we had four active groups (we have yet to establish a group to represent the area of Seven Mile Bay).

Board of Directors

Representing: Desable River - MacIvors Point

Cindy Newson

Harry Smith – SSWA Treasurer

Representing: Westmorland River – Victoria

Dale Mayhew – SSWA Vice Chairman

Peter Bower

Representing: Tryon River

Barbara Clement – SSWA Secretary

Myles Lord

Representing: Richard Point – Augustine Cove – Prevost Cove Cape Traverse River

Dona Waddell

Ralph Dawson – SSWA Chairman

2011 Project Work Plans

There were no formal work plans made for the 2011 work year in the newly formed watershed groups, as SSWA did not amalgamate until May 6th 2011

D.R.E.A.M. – 2011 Work Plan

Task/Activity / Details / Timeline / Responsibility
Stream Restoration / Continue stream restoration from McKenna Road. This will consist of installing brushmats, selective debris removal and alder patch-cutting / July-September / Restoration: Summer Employees and community volunteers
Tree Planting / Riparian zones, private land, parks Alders will be removed in sections and replaced with hardwoods / May-September / Tree planting will be completed by private landowners, DREAM volunteers, DREAM summer employees etc.
Alder Management / Removal and conversion to shade tolerant riparian forest / June-September / Summer Employees
C.A.M.P. (Community Aquatic Monitoring Program)/CABIN Program / Research into estuary water quality issues and remediation strategies / May-September / Organization: Fisheries and Oceans
DREAM volunteers and summer employees will take part
Communication Activities / Project signage, development of website, Facebook/Twitter, photo contest, birding events, tours etc / 2011 / This will be a collaboration between DREAM directors, members, community volunteers, government (provincial/federal), and summer employees
Youth Involvement / Encouragement of youth involvement in watershed management (i.e. youth fishing day) / 2011 / This will be a collaboration between DREAM directors, the watershed community and local schools
Wildlife Habitat Enhancement / Erecting nesting platforms, constructing nest boxes for cavity nesting birds, brush piles for small animals / May-October / DREAM volunteers and members, summer employees
Management Plan / Continue with the development of the watershed management plan / Ongoing / Watershed coordinator
Amalgamation/Partnership / Continue to work with the Tryon watershed group/province towards amalgamation (SSWA) / 2011 / DREAM and Tryon Watershed Group

Tryon River watershed Cooperative 2011 Work plan

Jan 1 – March 31 / Materials collection and site preparations :
Collection of Island Christmas trees to be recycled as brush mat material. To date, we have received 9 loads of Christmas trees estimating around 1000-1200 trees which have been donated and delivered by Label construction to be used in our project in the spring. These trees will prevent the need to cut live trees. Label construction, with the cooperation of local land owners, have instituted may time saving advantages by delivering the trees to areas which will be easily assessable in the spring, preventing us from having to reload the trees and move them to locations.
Management Plan :
Review and refine 5 year Management and beaver management plan
Amalgamation :
Finalize plans for South Shore Watershed Association
April 1 – May 31 / Estuary project :
Starting point data :
Consult with environmental engineer as to the size, location and angle of the brush mats to have the greatest effects
Consult with the shellfishery association as to the location of leases so they will not be adversely effected by the brush mats
Measure water depths and photograph area to document project starting point.
Stream restoration:
Survey steams which were cleaned of debris last season to schedule needed work, locate and document any new fish blockages , install brush mats if the river has settled on it course
Check beaver dam that was evacuated this winter to confirm the absence of beaver, schedule dam breach
Tree Planting:
Trees are distributed to local residents for planting.
Areas requiring additional trees in the riparian zones are located , landowner permission obtained, and trees planted by TRWC
Trees from former years are checked for winter damage and pruned as required
Ives Pond Sediment Basin :
Basin will be checked for depth, emptied as required, and the spoils stabilized
June1 – Aug 31 / Estuary project :
Formation of the brush mats:
This is the bulk of the work for our project. Due to the risk of environmental disasters, the work will all be done by hand, making it very labor intensive. This will be done in two phases, with two work crews, one working in the woods, and the other working at the estuary.
One crew will be responsible for obtaining more materials for the brush mats. This crew will be working in the woods, cutting and delivering trees. We have the bulk of the needed trees supplied, but these trees all range between 4 – 7 feet tall, we will be requiring taller trees, 15 – 25 feet tall to added stability to the brush mats. We have a donated area of tall thin fir trees which will be used for this task, as the trees are too close together and need to be thinned.
The other crew (personal will be rotated through both crews) will be responsible for delivering the materials from the bank to the area of the brush mats, assembly and stabilization of the brush mats. The trees will be floated on rafts at high tide to the mat areas. The silt, which can be up to 12 feet deep in some areas is very unstable and dangerous to walk on, therefore the trees will be delivered on high tide and secured during low tide, when a board walkway can be used. Much of the work will be in anchoring these mats so they cannot be moved by ice and tides during the winter months. Conifers will be forced trunk first into the silt, using their lower branches as anchors. The tall trees will be laid along the conifers and secured with rope. Large anchors will be driven into the silt and the entire mat secured.
Aug 1 – 31 / As the mats stabilize and fill with silt, grasses will be planted to establish new banks. The estuary project will be documented, and the estuary will be vacated before the incoming migrating waterfowl so to cause as little disturbance as possible
September – Dec / End of season spring redds check and fall round up.

2011 Season Year End Report

Work Completed

This has been a very busy and eventful year for the watersheds. This is our first year functioning as the South Shore Watershed Association Ltd., with the amalgamation being finalized last May.

South Shore Watershed Association Ltd. (SSWA)

SSWA received $35000.00 in funding from the Watershed Management Fund, with a three year contact for the same. During the 2011 season, it had four functioning watershed groups out of the five groups proposed during amalgamation.

Full time staffing: Two watershed coordinators were hired, Kellie Lockhart (myself) as Project Coordinator, responsible for overseeing projects, student staffing and permitting and Kelley Arnold as Planning Coordinator, responsible for public relations (Crapaud Exhibition) and communications (SSWA newsletter and web site) and watershed planning.

Student staffing: The students functioned as two work crews. We received funding for one EDA supervisor position – Stephen Ferguson, two Canada Summer Jobs positions – Zack Thompson and Jordan Johnston, and two Jobs for Youth positions- Zack Bell and Logan Inman. One work crew composed of Stephen, Zack B and Jordan worked in the East. While Zack T. And Logan worked in the West. Zack T. and Logan were supervised by Tyler Bernard, a student supplied to us through the Department of Environment Energy and Forestry.

I will report on each watershed individually starting in the west.

1. Seven mile Bay

We have not received any local interest in environmental concerns from this area. We will hold a place on our board for when such interest arises in the future.

2. Augustine Cove Watershed

This watershed now includes the areas of Cape Traverse River, Prevost Cove, Augustine Cove and Richard Point, It has been dubbed the Augustine Cove watershed because, that is where the majority of the work has taken place this first season, but does not have a formal name.

This year, the areas of Webster’s pond and above were examined. Webster’s pond is in good condition, with some deep holes, although it is filling in from above due to the in flush of sediment. At one time there was a fish ladder for access to the pond from below, but the ladder has since collapsed, and the wooden bottomed culvert directly below the ladder has no fish passage. It would not make any sense to attempt to repair the ladder without first repairing the culvert, so this will be placed on the scheduling for future projects.

The pond could still function as a grow-out area for migratory fish, so it was suggested to concentrate our efforts in the area above the pond, so it will be restored when the ladder project is undertaken. The area above the pond was alder and willow ridden, and blocked with sediment.

There is a series of culverts leading to the top spring area, most of these culvert do not have fish passage issues. One requires baffles to deepen the water flow at low periods to allow fish passage, and one was completely blocked from its ends being crushed down. It was replaced in a partnership agreement between the farmer and the watershed.

Chainsaw and debris removal was performed in the area directly above the pond to Kevin Murphy’s land upriver. The blocked sediment could now flow downstream. We did not want the sediment to collect in the pond, so we applied to have a bypass sediment basin established above the pond. This application was declined as there was no suitable area to place the spoils. An alternative plan was enacted, where we placed some matting in sub tributaries going into the pond, thereby increasing flooding of the canary grass above the pond. This will allow the sediment to drop out on the canary grass while still maintaining some access to the pond.

In order to combat the ever reviving alders, we preformed patch cuttings. Areas 5m X 5m were cut free of alders and planted with red maple and berry bushes to shade and slow the growth of the alders while supplying food for the local populations.

It was hoped that the culvert requiring baffles would be corrected this year, but this has to be done through Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal and was not done.

3. Tryon Watershed (Tryon River watershed Cooperative)

In the spring, the watershed was surveyed for any trees or blockages which had come down during the winter in the maintained zones from the top of Lord’s pond to the springs at the top of the West branch of the Tryon River. Minor work was required, so concentrations were focused on our major project of the year

The Estuary Project

This is a four site project with the focus on: collection of sediment, stabilization of banks, deepening of channels and the collection of sea lettuce.

Site One:

Located by the Abateau Bridge, work commences in late may. Christmas trees which were placed in storage for the winter were moved to the location. Long poles were stuck into the ground, Christmas trees, donated fir trees and longer poles were attached to these upright to form a large mat. The mat was completed and secured by August and this phase of the project went into the monitoring stage. By November monitoring over a foot of sediment was caught on the mat and a two foot channel was dug on the outside of the mat. An unexpected result was the temporary construction of nursery habitat for small fish which moved in to the mat for shelter.

Site Two:

Located by Best’s Bridge this is a mat with a gap in the middle forcing the tides over the mat and through the gap as the tide recedes. This mat was very successful in catching sea lettuce, but did not catch near the amount of sediment as site one.

Site Three:

Located at the end of the Tryon Point Road, this is a bank stabilization project, comparing the effects of break waters (brush, cement, or sand stone) bank coverings (brush or jute mesh) and the success of salt tolerant bushes in bank stabilization. Thirty five bushes of three different varieties (wild rose, bay berry, and service berry) were planted and monitored with 34 of the 35 still being alive as of October 2011.