Lower Norton’s Creek
Norton’s Creek 2011 site
Lower Norton’s Creek from Bidwell Road to the Bridge at Bragmore Bay Lane has seen decreased velocity over the years. This decreased velocity caused large amounts of detritus to gather on the creek bed which covered valuable spawning gravel, most notably for a brook trout population which a large community based reestablishment project has been based around. The buildup of sediment is also detrimental to invertebrates and fry and other forms of life. The reduced velocity is due to two factors, the first was a man made channel that was created and had rerouted roughly half of the water in this stretch of the creek and the other is uncontrolled beaver activity.
The project involved a beaver management plan which was carried out by the landowner along with the reconstruction of banks by blocking off large beaver channels and blocking off the opening to the man made channel. Finally in areas where erosion and constant flooding had widened the creek we built artificial banks out of a layer of cuttings, cedar slabs, geotextile, hay erosion control blanket topsoil, fence posts and grass seed.
Additionally, Manitoulin Streams with the assistance of local school children, landowners and volunteers stocked 10,000 eyed brook trout eggs in Norton’s Creek in December of 2011. The eyed egg stocking was not included in the below figures and would account for 70 volunteers and would be roughly 280 hours of volunteer time.
This project had 7 volunteers from the Board of Directors of Manitoulin Streams participate in planning and actively volunteering at rehabilitation sites. The total number of hours volunteered for this site is 51.4. . Funding contributions toward the construction of the project include CFWIP and NOHFC.
Lower Norton’s Creek from Bidwell Road to the Bridge at Bragmore Bay Lane has seen decreased velocity over the years. This decreased velocity caused large amounts of detritus to gather on the creek bed which covered valuable spawning gravel, most notably for a brook trout population which a large community based reestablishment project has been based around. The buildup of sediment is also detrimental to invertebrates and fry and other forms of life. The reduced velocity is due to two factors, the first was a man made channel that was created and had rerouted roughly half of the water in this stretch of the creek and the other is uncontrolled beaver activity.
The project involved a beaver management plan which was carried out by the landowner along with the reconstruction of banks by blocking off large beaver channels and blocking off the opening to the man made channel. Finally in areas where erosion and constant flooding had widened the creek we built artificial banks out of a layer of cuttings, cedar slabs, geotextile, hay erosion control blanket topsoil, fence posts and grass seed.
Additionally, Manitoulin Streams with the assistance of local school children, landowners and volunteers stocked 10,000 eyed brook trout eggs in Norton’s Creek in December of 2011. The eyed egg stocking was not included in the below figures and would account for 70 volunteers and would be roughly 280 hours of volunteer time.
- 300 sq metres of shoreline created, stabilized or improved.
- Work conducted along a 600 m stretch total.
- 5 artificial fascine type banks created.
- 6 beaver channels and 1 man-made channel blocked to velocity.
- One modified PVC pipe to create a beaver baffler to prevent blockage by beavers.
- 300 sq metres of grass seed application.
This project had 7 volunteers from the Board of Directors of Manitoulin Streams participate in planning and actively volunteering at rehabilitation sites. The total number of hours volunteered for this site is 51.4. . Funding contributions toward the construction of the project include CFWIP and NOHFC.