Giving muskellunge a home in Blair Creek.
Returning Blair Creek to its old channel and developing good quality spawning and nursery habitat for muskellunge
Task
The four-laning of Highway 69 would require the realignment of Blair Creek which is a significant watercourse with muskellunge habitat. Obtain and implement a Fisheries Act Authorization under the Fisheries Act.
Client
The Ontario Ministry of Transportation required a detailed design and constructible plan that would allow for the construction while improving fish habitat.
Challenge
With very limited available space, we were required to find a new alignment for Blair Creek to allow for the highway construction. The final product needed to be as good as the original channel.
Solution
FRi Ecological Services looked at the site and identified the old original river channel that had been bypassed years ago that had much more natural meander characteristics.
Result
By returning Blair Creek to its original channel, it lengthened the stream, created seasonally flooded wetlands that provided excellent nursery habitat and the stream looked completely natural within a year after construction. The work met all the requirements of the Fisheries Act Authorization.