Workday Report - January 10, 2015 - Emerson Creek

Winter Water Work

Note:  The video at the end of this article is a little long (approx 14 minutes) but it's well worth the time to watch because of the unique nature of this "long forgotten" stream and its future value in the restoration of the Mill Creek watershed.

We began our day by gathering our eight volunteers at Indiana Road West, near Cayuga, where we loaded all our equipment onto two 4WD trucks. Frozen ground can be a blessing, saving us a mile-long hike in the open. Bill Christmas was finally able to attend after a long absence for health issues, to take videos and give some guidance.

We quickly realized that one of our volunteers, local landowner Matt Lessard, who became available on short notice, would be an important addition to the crew. Matt’s profession requires him to operate a chainsaw and it was he who did most of the heavy lifting here. Matt owns the section of Mill Creek on Town Line Road West at Taquanyah.

We proceeded to clean out several stream blockages and relocate the materials to best advantage, while exploring and rating the various spring sources for suitability as spawning sites. Most of these “upper” stream sources will need some technical adjustments to enable their use by the brook trout for spawning.

Two of our volunteers had never seen this stream before and they were amazed at the value of this small creek “That nobody even knew about locally”. Seeing all these springs popping up out of the ground in winter was exciting. Another newcomer was impressed at how much was accomplished in such a short time. “Hey, it’s cold out here and we work hard just to keep warm” was the reply. What a wonderful group to be a part of, he told us. He wants to come back for our next work day.

As an interesting side note: We told several others to stay at home and keep warm, because we had enough manpower already committed. Such enthusiasm is contagious, like a good disease! We hope you like the photos and the video. We had fun, especially Matt Burley, local Ted Knott Chapter member, who took a spill while moving a heavy log in the water with Wade. Chest waders helped keep him dry. At least we all had a good laugh.

We will schedule another day while we can still drive to the site, to repair and upgrade our successful sediment fencing. We will also be assisting TUC technical staff in measuring the oxygen levels in all these springs

We will let you know the date. Thanks for helping,

Wade Dowling Habitat Haldimand co-author with Bill Christmas TUTKC