Horse Creek Crossing culvert

The Cochrane’s own lower end of a creek that doesn’t get much help or attention these days is Horse Creek. My travels have not included any trips to have a look at the Horse Creek Crossing on the railway tracks going out of the present-day town of Cochrane. However, Evan Martens was kind enough to send me a few photos of the site and it was really disappointing to see that the rail company has yet to resolve this issue, with the culvert that blocks fish migration upstream, including trout.

My attempts in the past, to get something done to resolve this matter involving the crossing were in vain, and I ended up being told by the rail company engineers that I would have to pay for the work that would involve replacing the culvert, which is ridiculous of course. All that was necessary was permission to modify the existing culvert and elevate the pool habitat directly below the crossing.

By simply elevating the pool habitat, the hydraulic drop would be eliminated and fish could migrate upstream. I have since, successfully completed the exact same project on a river crossing compensation contract, on the Athabasca River, so it does work!