Rivers Need to Flow
Barriers prevent the flow of water, causing problems. Some impacts may be obvious like changes to the quantity or quality of water. Other impacts may be less obvious, like sediment accumulation and fish migration.
Healthy streams need to flow. For watershed health, we work to remove or improve upon barriers every chance we get.
Below are the three biggest barrier culprits in the Lake Simcoe Watershed. The good news is that each of these problems have proven solutions.
Perched Culverts
Often culverts have been used to help streams pass under roads. Very often the size, design and placement have been inadequate, resulting in downstream erosion and perched culverts.
How can you tell you have a perched culvert? If the end of a culvert is hanging in the air, disconnected from the surface of the stream where the water flows.
We've learned a lot in recent decades. Climate change is bringing flashier storms meaning highly variable flows of water. This can lead to more significant downstream erosion, with potential impacts to other infrastructure. Perched culverts also warm up water temperatures, reduce oxygen, and prevent fish from being able to migrate upstream.
These are just some reasons we'd like all culverts to be adequate – for your needs, and the health needs of our rivers, streams and the entire watershed. If you're a landowner in the Lake Simcoe watershed, reduce your infrastructure risk, upgrade and take advantage of our restoration funding to make this happen.
Your first step is to book a site visit, where one of our restoration experts will discuss your project and offer solutions.
Ponds and Dams
Ponds are beautiful to look at but some can be problematic for the proper functioning of a healthy creek. When a pond is made in the path of a stream (known as an online pond) the ponds warms up the creek and reduces the water quality.
When a pond is made by installing a dam, fish can no longer swim upstream and spawn. Dams block fish migratory routes. Converting ponds back into creeks is the best way to fix these issues.
Have an online pond on your property? Imagine seeing schools of cold water species like Brook Trout right on your property. You can achieve this by taking your pond "offline", which might be as simple as redirecting the creek around your pond. If you're a landowner in the Lake Simcoe watershed, we can help. We can cover up to 50% of your project costs. Contact our restoration experts to get started.
River Restoration
Naturalizing a creek. Removing an online pond. Creating a wetland. The possibilities are endless.
River restoration projects can include community amenities and attractions.
Take a look at some of our recent restoration projects:
