Last week of the project

Sadly, the summer has ended and today is the last day of student work. With the weather this week work has been difficult out on the river but the crew managed to get as much as they possibly could do done. They installed the last two digger logs and installed 4 deflectors. 

We had a few other events happening this week. We had the information session/open house for the Cheticamp River Project. We had our consultants, Charlie MacInnis and Danielle Goff-Beaton, come down to give a presentation in the afternoon. The evening portion was a more informal sessions where people dropped in to ask questions about the project. The event was successful with lots of great questions asked about the project. 

Our second event that we had this week was the river tour and bbq. We were serving free hot dogs and a drink for people to come out and learn about our organization and about the student projects. There was lots of activity around the bbq and the students enjoyed chatting with the public out the projects that they were working on.

This brings us to the conclusion of the summer. After this, Antoine, Rachelle and Jeremy will be returning to High School, Logan will be off to study to become a boiler maker in Sydney, and Lauren will return to St. Francis Xavier University for here 4th year in the Aquatic Resources program. The CRSA would like to thank them for all the hard work that they put in this summer and wishes them the best of luck with the upcoming year!

Week 7! August 11-15

The summer is sadly winding down, with only one more week of work for the students for the Chéticamp River Salmon Association. This week involved a lot more restoration work, monitoring, and the release of our Striped Bass survey! 

On Monday, our chainsaw operator, Albert Deveau, was there to help us cut a few trees for digger logs, and we were able to install one of those on this day. On Tuesday, rock deflectors were installed on Farm Brook. These deflectors help direct the river flow to where it should be going, which also creates stronger water movement. 

On Wednesday, more digger logs were put in which creates pools downstream and supports a riffles upstream (which is great for the Atlantic Salmon!). On Thursday, another digger log was successfully put in on Aucoin Brook, and Friday consisted of doing some ecological monitoring along Aucoin Brook and finishing up some unfinished structures.

Overall, it was a great week :). Remember to check out our Striped Bass survey! You could win a $100 gift certificate from a local restaurant of your choice. Simply fill it out, and return it to the drop off envelope on the bulletin board at the Chéticamp CO-OP, or email it back to x2011tdb@stfx.ca

Survey link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/0zl51r83z2zd5o1/2014%20striped%20bass%20survey%21.docx

2014 Striped Bass Survey!

Are you an angler in the Chéticamp area? Simply fill out our survey for a chance to win a $100 gift certificate to a local restaurant of your choice!

Our survey regards the current population of the Striped Bass in the Chéticamp area, and the possible impacts on the Atlantic Salmon and Speckled Trout species. 

Simply fill out the 3-page survey, and send it back to us- or fill it out and drop it off at the marked “drop off” envelope located on the bulletin board at the Chéticamp CO-OP. 

If emailing the survey back, please send it to x2011tdb@stfx.ca 

Thank you for your time!

SURVEY LINK: https://www.dropbox.com/s/0zl51r83z2zd5o1/2014%20Striped%20Bass%20Survey%21.docx   

Week 6: August 4th -8th!

This week was a short one at the Cheticamp River Salmon Association, but it was a very busy one. We had a new student join us, Jeremy Camus, to help out until the end of the summer. Most of this week was dedicated to finishing up some of last week's jobs such as building the 3 log high extension and other bank logs as well as installing new digger logs! The digger log essentially acts the same as a tree would if it fell into the river with the purpose of supporting a riffle upstream and to create a pool downstream that will not fill in in order to enhance trout and salmon habitat and to promote aquatic habitat diversity. This week the students installed three digger logs with more being installed next week.

On Thursday Dr Barry Taylor, a biology professor from St. Francis Xavier University, came up for the morning to teach the students about benthic invertebrates that live in the river. He showed us some common techniques used to collect samples and showed us some of the most common species that are found in most of Nova Scotia's streams. The students were very interested and were surprised about how many small creatures live on the river!

Come back next week as there will be more photo's of digger logs as well as pictures of new deflectors going in!

Week 5! July 28-August 1

Week #5 for the Chéticamp River Salmon Association was very exciting, because we had new tools to work with that allowed us to further our restoration work as well as ecological monitoring along Aucoin Brook.

The week was started off by heading out to a spot along Aucoin Brook, with help from chainsaw operator Albert Deveau, where bank logs were placed last week. Here, we began to build a long log wall along a portion of the bank where there is extensive damage from erosion. The log wall will help stabilize the bank, and help to prevent further damage by erosion.

Dragging a part of the soon-to-be log wall into place.

On Tuesday, we were very excited to try out a tool that Adopt-a-Stream was lending us for the week called a sandwand. The sandwand is a piece of equipment that allows you to clean up unwanted sand and silt from a river or stream when there is large abundances of it. Will, from Adopt-a-Stream came out to show us how to hook everything up, as well as how to use the sandwand. We used the sandwand on Wednesday and Thursday as well, completing 3 large sites along Aucoin Brook. Now, these sites have a clean rocky bottom, which is exactly where fish like salmon seek out to spawn in.

As you can see, there are lots of different parts to the sandwand!

Logan and Matthew enjoying using the sandwand!

On Wednesday and Thursday we also did some ecological monitoring along Aucoin Brook, using a probe that measures things such as water pH, salinity, dissolved oxygen, water temperature, etc. We also record things such as water depth, bank width, blockages, vegetative cover, varying substrates, and presence of fish, among other things! We plan on recording this information in different sections in over 10 areas along Aucoin's Brook. Recording information like this is important because it allows us to see the changes that occur each year, and lets us know how we could possibly improve any areas that may need structures put in, or blockages taken out.

Antoine recording results from the probe and other important ecological information.

Friday consisted of continuing work on the log bank wall that was started on Monday. Overall, it was a great week, and we got a lot accomplished!

Week 4 - July 21st - July 26th

 This week at the Cheticamp River Salmon Association has been a busy week on the river. At the beginning of the week, the students were installing bank logs along the side of Aucoin Brook. Bank logs are important structures because they protect vulnerable and eroding stream banks from further damage. On Monday the students, along with the help of Albert Deveau, our chainsaw operator, continued the project that was started last week.

Rachelle Aucoin and Logan LaPierre securing the bank log in place.

Rachelle and Logan drilling the holes for the rebar.

The finished product.

For the majority of the week, the students have been installing brush mats. Brush mats are installed with the purpose of taking silt out of the water in order to stabilize point bars and eroding banks. Last year, there were many brush mats installed by the CRSA. Going back to those sites we can see the positive impact that these structures have had on improving the river. Over the last few days the students have been hard at work installing 4 more.

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Rachelle putting the branches in place.

Brush mats being secured in place by the baler twine.

Day two of brush mats.

Logan and Antoine Aucoin looking for branches.

On Thursday we had the pleasure of having Brendan O'Brian with us from the Clean Foundation helping us out for the day. In the morning we went around to a bunch of different sites, showing him the different projects we have been working on for the last few weeks. In the afternoon the whole crew went out to help clear out some blockages along Fiset Brook.

Albert cutting away at the blockage.

Antoine and Matt Burns removing the logs.

Antoine, Brendan O'Brian, and Albert.

Jillian Baker moving the debris further off the side of the bank so it won't get washed back in again.

Removing some of the smaller material in the blockage.

This spider came crawling out of the blockage.

The area just after we finished for the day.

Keep coming back next week as we have some exciting things in store for you!

Week 3! July 14-18

Week #3 was another busy week for the Chéticamp River Salmon Association. Early in the week, blockages were removed along the Aucoin Brook, with help from chainsaw operator Albert Deveau. There was lots of large woody debris that needed to be taken out of the brook because it was creating barriers for fish to get around! Some hand-rocking was also done on Monday as well to stabilize banks along the brook. On Tuesday, we began to cut a walking trail near the brook for easier access to do our restoration work as well as easier access for anglers to get to fishing spots in the area. On Wednesday, for the first time in many years, the Chéticamp River Salmon Association did tree planting! We planted 300 trees in different areas alongside the Aucoin Brook where riparian vegetation was thin or absent. The trees consisted of White Spruce and Yellow Birch, and will hopefully help the brook in many ways! On Thursday, the walking trail was finished, and the first bank log of the summer started to be put in place. Bank logs are installed along vulnerable and eroding banks to prevent soil and sediment from entering the watercourse. Finally, today more hand rocking was done to further stabilize the bank. It was a busy week with the Chéticamp River Salmon Association, and we have lots more in store for week #4!

Chainsaw operator Albert Deveau

Rachelle Aucoin and Logan Lapierre taking a break after completing the walking trail!

Antoine Aucoin and Logan Lapierre removing debris. 

Tree Planting 2014!

Yesterday, the Chéticamp River Salmon Association was pleased to plant 300 tree seedlings in different locations along the Aucoin Brook. The seedlings were a mixture of Yellow Birch and White Spruce, and they will create protection and increase species populations in the coming years. Trees are great to have along river/stream sides because they create shade, reduce erosion, enhance water quality, and create habitats- among other things! The old areas of thin vegetation will hopefully soon turn into riparian buffers.

Some of the Yellow Birch & White Oak seedlings before being planted.

Preparations for Cheticamp River project are underway!

The Cheticamp River Salmon Association is officially partnering with Parks Canada on a habitat restoration project on the Cheticamp River. This work is important as a number of runs and riffles on the lower river are critically over-widened, resulting in fish passage problems during periods of low water. In order to encourage the main channel to narrow and deepen in these problem areas, the habitat restoration plan calls for the installation of large rock deflector bars (or groynes). Not only should this work improve habitat in the over-widened sections, it should also increase access to many kilometers of important upstream spawning and rearing habitat.

Construction of the bars is  not scheduled to begin until sometime later this summer (likely early to mid August), but preparations for the work are already well underway. For example, an access trail has been cut to allow heavy machinery (e.g., excavators) to place the rock material, and many truckloads of boulders have already been delivered to storage locations close to the work sites.

Check back for more updates on this exciting project as the summer progresses!

Week 2! July 7-11

Week two was a very busy and productive week for the Chéticamp River Salmon Association. On Monday, we welcomed Matthew Burns to the Association, who is an Aquatic Resources graduate from St. Francis Xavier University. Matthew is pleased to be spending his summer helping to lead restoration work on Aucoin Brook, as well as helping to work on other projects. As Matthew was introduced to the Chéticamp River Salmon Association, other crew members removed old beaver dam blockages to help improve fish passage. On Tuesday, the second half of First Aid training was completed. On Wednesday, the crew traveled to Mabou where we participated in a training session put on by Adopt-a-Stream. The morning was spent in the classroom learning about the basics of habitat restoration, the different structures that can be put into rivers, why they are put in, as well as how. In the afternoon, everyone went out onto the river and were shown how to put a digger log in, and got to put one in as a group. On Thursday, more beaver dam blockages were removed, alders were trimmed back, and garbage was removed from a section along the Aucoin Brook. On Friday, some of the crew headed out to Aucoin Brook where they removed large rocks clogging up digger logs, did some hand-rocking to strengthen the flow of the brook, and other repairs to help improve it.

One of the old beaver dams on Aucoin Brook before removal, making a large barrier for the fish to get through.

After taking the beaver dam out- it is no longer a barrier, and fish will be able to pass through again!

Week 1! July 2-4

Week #1 was a very fun and exciting week for the Chéticamp River Salmon Association, as three summer students joined the team! Wednesday was an orientation day, where the projects for the summer were discussed as well as an overview of what the Chéticamp River Salmon Association is as well as why we do the work we do. Also on Wednesday, the crew completed an Occupational Health and Safety course. Thursday was the first half of basic First Aid training, where necessary skills and information were learned, so our workplace can be as safe as possible! Friday morning the students were given a presentation on the basics of habitat restoration, as well as an overview of the different aquatic species they may encounter while working in the river. On Friday afternoon, everyone was pleased to mountain bike through the Cape Breton Highlands National Park. During the ride, we stopped along the river where Réne Aucoin showed us all how to fly fish! It was a great first week, and everyone is looking forward to an exciting summer!

The president of the Chéticamp River Salmon Association, Réne Aucoin showing one of the new summer students, Logan Lapierre a thing or two about fly fishing.

A returning crew member of the Chéticamp River Salmon Association, Antoine Aucoin, making a cast.

Welcome Lauren! And 25,000 tiny trout..

The Cheticamp River Salmon Association is happy to welcome its newest employee, Lauren Grant. Lauren, a third year Aquatic Resources student at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, is joining the Association for the summer. Lauren is looking forward to helping lead the CRSA's summer habitat restoration work on Aucoin Brook, and will also be helping out with other projects.

Lauren was a good sport and didn't hesitate to help out on her first day on the job. :)

As Lauren just happened to start on a trout stocking day, she happily tagged along, having an opportunity to visit some of the local watercourses she will be working on, while also helping drop off fish. Mark Larade, long-time member of the CRSA, was also a huge help with the stocking. Since he was the only one wearing rubber boots, we made him do most of the work.

Thanks, Mark! And welcome, Lauren. :)

Mark releasing a net full of trout on Aucoin Brook

From fishing derbies to fly casting: helping get youth fishing!

The Cheticamp River Salmon Association is happy to continue to support youth angling and create opportunities for young people to fish. This year, the Association once again held its spring fishing derby, as well as its annual fly casting workshops for local students.

The fishing derby, held on Sunday, June 8th, at Petit Lac in Grand Etang, was one of many similar events that took place across the province as part of Nova Scotia’s sportfishing weekend. Twice a year (spring and winter), the province holds sportfishing weekends as a way to encourage more people to try the sport by allowing Nova Scotians and visitors to fish without a general license.

As part of the derby at Petit Lac, the Cheticamp River Salmon Association awarded prizes for the largest trout caught by an angler under 16. Luke Aucoin (age 5) took first place with his impressive 3 pound catch. Not far behind, Clemont Poirier’s 2 pound 14.9 ounce trout narrowly edged out Chris Poirier’s 2 pound 14.7 ounce fish for second place.  Local businesses generously donated prizes to award the young anglers for their top catches.

Luke Aucoin with his first place trout.

On Tuesday, June 10th, Master Fly Casting Instructor Lewis Hinks and John Hart, former President of the Margaree Salmon Association, helped Grade 8 students from Cheticamp learn how to fly cast. The students learned how to tie basic knots, practiced dry casting, and eventually got to try their hands at hooking a fish. 

Lewis Hinks helping students perfect their casts.

John Hart demonstrates how to tie basic knots.

Despite the fact that the trout weren't cooperative - only one student successfully landed a catch - the students learned a lot, had fun trying out a new sport outdoors, and will hopefully try fly casting again in the future!

Public meeting - Tuesday, April 8

Join us for a meeting on Tuesday, April 8th to discuss our recently completed project funded by Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation (ECBC), as well as some of our plans for 2014. We will be meeting at 6:30 p.m. at Le Petit Chady in downtown Cheticamp. Tea, coffee, and light snacks will be available. Everyone is welcome so, if you're interested in hearing about what we've been up to, and what we're planning, come join us! 

Plans are underway for a busy 2014 field season

The Cheticamp River Salmon Association is in the process of drafting plans and submitting funding applications for its 2014 field season. In addition to its regular habitat restoration program on Aucoin Brook and other smallish brooks around Cheticamp, the Association has also set its sights much bigger for this year: the Cheticamp River!

The Cheticamp River has one of only two healthy spring salmon runs left in Nova Scotia (the other is North River, Victoria Co). The Association has long recognized the importance of work on the Cheticamp River, however, given that it flows almost entirely through Cape Breton Highlands National Park, working on the Cheticamp River can be logistically difficult. Fortunately, Cape Breton National Park has agreed to partner with the Association in order to jointly tackle some of the problems that Atlantic salmon face during their spring migration.

Although there are a number of issues worth addressing on the Cheticamp River, the CRSA is hoping to work with the Park to improve fish passage on the lower river in a section where the main channel has become severely over-widened. Although we are tempted to share more information at this time, given that this exciting new project is funding-dependent (we are keeping our fingers crossed), we will share additional details if the Association is given the green light. Stay tuned!

In the meantime, below is a picture of part of the over-widened lower Cheticamp River (directly above the Cabot Trail bridge).

Photo credit: Archie Doucette, Cape Breton Highlands National Park

Behold, the bridge!

A set of poorly placed culverts on Aucoin Brook has been bothering the Cheticamp River Salmon Association for years. In 2008, the culverts were assessed by Parks Canada staff, and the findings were not good: the positioning and size of the culverts created barriers to fish passage. During periods of low flow, the height of the culverts created an obstacle to migrating fish, and during periods of high flow, the velocity of the water through the culverts also posed problems for fish attempting to move upstream. The trouble with the culverts did not stop there, however. For example, the culverts caused sediment to back up and they were also prone to creating blockages of woody debris that have contributed to flooding over the roadway. So, the culverts had to go.

This year, the Cheticamp River Salmon Association was finally able to obtain the funding necessary to complete this important project. Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation covered the majority of the costs, with the Atlantic Salmon Conservation Foundation and Nova Scotia Salmon Association's Adopt-a-Stream program providing important contributions as well. Local volunteers, including Michel Aucoin and Ernie Ball, were also integral to the success of this project.

The pictures below document some of the important stages of the project, led by Darrell Taylor and Laurie Cranton of MAC Cran Ltd.  

'Tis the season for turkeys, and trout!

It is the time of year for making plans for Thanksgiving meals and for taking advantage of opportunities to get out in nature and enjoy the colourful leaves. Fall is also time for more trout stocking (the Cheticamp River Salmon Association is involved with both spring and fall stocking). 

Joel helping to transport the fish off the truck.

Yesterday, members of the Cheticamp River Salmon Association were at bodies of water between St. Joseph Du Moine and the boundary of the Cape Breton Highlands National Park, releasing thousands of healthy young sea trout. 

Special thanks to Association volunteer Joel Camus, for helping to release the fish, as well as coordinate the stocking.  

Lenny and Joel taking a load of trout down to Grand Lac.

In they go! Joel releasing trout into Aucoin Brook.

Week 6: August 5th - 9th

Week 6: August 5th – 9th was a not-so-great week for the Chéticamp River salmon association. Because of the Natal Day holiday on Monday, and heavy rainfall Monday night, which resulted in high water levels Tuesday, both days were spent indoors catching up on office work. Wednesday morning, the group was shocked to see the damage on Aucoin’s Brook done by the heavy Monday night rainfall: the river banks overflowed, resulting in water flowing through the forest, digger logs were ripped out of the river, bank logs and cribs were destroyed, but most shockingly, the river took a new course just above the area of heavy sediment build up, leaving the original channel for the forest, and reconnecting to the original channel just above the culvert bridge. The group spent all day Wednesday, as well as Thursday morning, assessing the damage, and coming up with a plan of action. Amy, from Adopt-a-Stream, as well as Charlie and Danielle from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, were contacted, and it was decided that nothing would be done downstream from where the brook leaves the original channel until the water levels dropped and the area was surveyed. Thursday afternoon the group worked with Albert Deveau to removed digger logs that were severely damaged and cleaning up debris on Aucoin’s brook. The group spent Friday morning assessing the damage on Fiset brook near Le Platin. It was discovered that there are some serious problems on Fiset brook that need immediate attention, but have been put on the back burner because of the priority work on Aucoin’s. The group spent Friday afternoon on Aucoin’s brook removing blockages as a result of the “great flood”.

Week 7: August 12th - 16th

Week 7: August 12th – 16th. With the summer quickly coming to an end, the Chéticamp River Salmon Association is very busy finishing up this year’s work. Monday, the group worked towards getting Aucoin’s brook back into a single channel along sections of the brook where several channels had been formed as a result of the flood. The group finished the afternoon with the filling of several hundred sandbags that would be used to redirect the brook’s current during the installation of the new bridge on Aucoin’s brook. Tuesday morning the group continued work on Aucoin’s getting the brook into a single channel. Half the group then worked with Danielle from DFO on surveying the section of the Chéticamp River just above the park bridge, while the other half of the group returned to Aucoin’s brook with Charlie, also from DFO, to decide whether or not to return the brook into the original channel or to let it follow its new path. Finally, the group finished the day off with more sandbags. Wednesday, the group was glad to welcome Tylor Harris as the newest member of the CRSA work crew. The group started the day by reinforcing a section of the road used to access the river that had been damaged during the flood. With the help of chainsaw operator Albert Deveau, the group then cut, prepared and transported lumber for 2 digger logs, as well as two 2 reflectors to the sections of the river where they would be installed. The installation of one of these digger logs was started, but not completed. Thursday, the CRSA yet again welcomed another worker: Rachelle Aucoin was with us for the day. The group started the day off by saving fish that had been trapped in puddles as a result of the flood. The group then finished the installation of the first digger log, finished a second one, and dragged a log that had previously been cut to its installation location. Friday, with the help of chainsaw operator Albert Deveau, the group cleared debris upstream from the guardrail bridge up to the falls and removed a large crib that had been severely damaged during the flood.

Week 8: August 19th - 23rd

Week 8: August 19th – 23rd was an extremely productive week for the Chéticamp River Salmon Association. Monday and Tuesday the group worked on clearing debris and blockages, and getting the new channel on Aucoin’s brook into a stable channel. Wednesday, the group spent the day finishing up work on the brush mats near the section of Aucoin’s brook that passes near the Gypsum Mines trail. A second layer of brush was installed on 3 of 4 brush mats that were previously installed and a 5th brush mat was put in. Amy from Adopt-a-Steam also visited to inspect the work over the summer. Thursday the group finished up several odd jobs on Aucoin’s brook. Three reflectors were installed, maintenance was done on one digger log and a second digger log was installed. Friday, with the help of Albert Deveau, the group continued clearing debris from the new channel on Aucoin’s brook. Because of rainy conditions in the afternoon the group finished the week with an afternoon of office work.