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  • Spawning
  • West Nose Creek Willows
  • Jumpingpound Creek
  • Bighill Creek
  • The Middle Bow River
  • Willow Habitat Unit
  • Millennium Creek's Trout
  • Planting The Water's Edge
  • Horse Creek Crossing
  • Tree Wrapping For Beavers
  • West Nose Ground Water
  • Big Spring Creek
  • The 2022 Trout Hatch
  • Bighill Creek Vandalism
  • Lateral Margin Habitat
  • Bio-Engineering Habitat
  • Ranch House Spring Creek
  • Examining a Pool Habitat
    • Millennium Creek Project
  • Examining a Pool Habitat
  • Millennium Creek Update
  • Stream Tender Magazine
  • Indigenous Opportunities
  • BVHD Website
  • Stream Tender Magazine 2
  • Creek Maintenance
  • Spawning Channel
  • Building a log v-weir
  • Bighill Creek Movie 2023!
  • Bighill Creek Anthology
  • Caddis Fly Larvae
  • Ghost Bay Re-contouring
  • Millennium Creek's Pools
  • Mill. Crk Spawning 2014
  • Mitford Trout Pond Deeper
  • Spawning Under Bridge
  • Head Start Planting Tech.
  • Update - BVRR&E Program
  • Canmore Creek Project- 98
  • Smith Dorrian Bull Trout
  • More
    • Home
    • Guy Woods Blog
    • Urban Trout Hatchery
    • Spawning
    • West Nose Creek Willows
    • Jumpingpound Creek
    • Bighill Creek
    • The Middle Bow River
    • Willow Habitat Unit
    • Millennium Creek's Trout
    • Planting The Water's Edge
    • Horse Creek Crossing
    • Tree Wrapping For Beavers
    • West Nose Ground Water
    • Big Spring Creek
    • The 2022 Trout Hatch
    • Bighill Creek Vandalism
    • Lateral Margin Habitat
    • Bio-Engineering Habitat
    • Ranch House Spring Creek
    • Examining a Pool Habitat
      • Millennium Creek Project
    • Examining a Pool Habitat
    • Millennium Creek Update
    • Stream Tender Magazine
    • Indigenous Opportunities
    • BVHD Website
    • Stream Tender Magazine 2
    • Creek Maintenance
    • Spawning Channel
    • Building a log v-weir
    • Bighill Creek Movie 2023!
    • Bighill Creek Anthology
    • Caddis Fly Larvae
    • Ghost Bay Re-contouring
    • Millennium Creek's Pools
    • Mill. Crk Spawning 2014
    • Mitford Trout Pond Deeper
    • Spawning Under Bridge
    • Head Start Planting Tech.
    • Update - BVRR&E Program
    • Canmore Creek Project- 98
    • Smith Dorrian Bull Trout
  • Home
  • Guy Woods Blog
  • Urban Trout Hatchery
  • Spawning
  • West Nose Creek Willows
  • Jumpingpound Creek
  • Bighill Creek
  • The Middle Bow River
  • Willow Habitat Unit
  • Millennium Creek's Trout
  • Planting The Water's Edge
  • Horse Creek Crossing
  • Tree Wrapping For Beavers
  • West Nose Ground Water
  • Big Spring Creek
  • The 2022 Trout Hatch
  • Bighill Creek Vandalism
  • Lateral Margin Habitat
  • Bio-Engineering Habitat
  • Ranch House Spring Creek
  • Examining a Pool Habitat
    • Millennium Creek Project
  • Examining a Pool Habitat
  • Millennium Creek Update
  • Stream Tender Magazine
  • Indigenous Opportunities
  • BVHD Website
  • Stream Tender Magazine 2
  • Creek Maintenance
  • Spawning Channel
  • Building a log v-weir
  • Bighill Creek Movie 2023!
  • Bighill Creek Anthology
  • Caddis Fly Larvae
  • Ghost Bay Re-contouring
  • Millennium Creek's Pools
  • Mill. Crk Spawning 2014
  • Mitford Trout Pond Deeper
  • Spawning Under Bridge
  • Head Start Planting Tech.
  • Update - BVRR&E Program
  • Canmore Creek Project- 98
  • Smith Dorrian Bull Trout
A Story of a very tiny trout stream

Millennium Creek

It doesn't take a lot of water to serve an important purpose for wild trout! Small consistant flows of cold, clean water, with some added nutrient to boost a fast growing young trout's life. A safe habitat to live in, before they are forced into their start in the bigger water of the Bighill Creek. A nursery stream!

A new start for a creek in distress

The Restoration program

In the beginning, before human settlement in Cochrane, Alberta, the small spring creek that is locally known as Millennium Creek, was most likely a trout stream. The creek is once again a trout stream today. This happened in recent years, when a restoration program took on the challenge of bringing life back to the col

Phase One - Cutting a new channel

Changes in the gradient

Before the project of restoration was started, the science was completed and some baseline data gathered, the creek itself had been altered on the lower end, when the town of Cochrane's old water treatment plant had an intake pipeline that crossed the lower end of Millennium Creek, which had created a damming effect on the stream, causing the loss of gradient for some distance upstream.


This situation was further exacerbated by a culvert installation for a town path system just a little further upstream, so both of these situations had played a major role in the stream's history of being understress from development. The stream is part of a unique eco-system, so it deserves to be brought back to life!


The damming effect and loss of gradient upstream created a silt catchment area on the full length of the stream channel, eventually filling in the once existing narrow channel, with a wide, almost stagnent channel. The stream was then very shallow with a mucky bottome and up to 7 metres wide in places. Not a home for wild trout, like the stream historically once supported. The only fix here was to cut a new channel out, removing the damming effects downstream, prior to finishing this first phase of the overall restoration program.


High pressure water was used to cut out a new stream channel. Five jets of water coming out of the nozzle, at over 3,000 p.s.i. is what did the job. Along with some customization of the nozzle, for ease of operation. A number of silt trap pools and silt curtains were used to contain the suspended fines and keep the displaced material up on the newly created stream banks.



One Year After The Channel Cutting

The Phase Two Habitat Enhancement Program

The Phase two operations, which lasted from 2006 until 2008, involved making the creek a fish freindly habitat, complete with spawning habitats. The spawning gravel that was already in the stream channel was also utilized in the enhancement program. This simple task was carried out just in case the trout that moved into the creek decided they liked it, enough to come back and spawn in it as well. You know what, they did like it, right away! In 2008, only weeks after the restoration project was completed, the trout moved into the creek to spawn. It was already being explored during the restoration work, so we knew at that point in time that the trout would be moving into the creek, once it was well enough to support a population of wild trout.

Enhanced Pool Habitats - today

The Spawning Channel

Trout Spawn in the Channel

Trout Spawn in the Channel

Trout Spawn in the Channel

These brook trout are spawning in the channel, the first fall after it was constructed. Now, every year since then, trout have successfully spawned in the channel up until today!

Trout Hatch in the Channel

Trout Spawn in the Channel

Trout Spawn in the Channel

This trout fry is only centimetres in length. The photo was taken just downstream of the spawning channel, just after this trout hatched. The clear waters of Millennium Creek help make a good photograph, in shallow water.

The Spawning Channel

The spawning channel was constructed in 2010, on Millennium Creek, to further enhance the spawning activity in the creek, and in the end, provide more trout for the Bighill Creek. The channel construction was a partnership program with Inter Pipeline and Bow Valley Habitat Development, who did the project work.  After completion of the construction, only weeks later, trout were seen spawning in the channel. An accurate record of spawning activity is documented annually, and an ongoing maintenance program helps keep things in order in the Millennium Creek's annual contribution of trout to our local fishery. 


Remember, taking care of a trout stream is not just for the benefit of sport anglers, but these trout are keystone species, and a very important part of a stream's eco-system. The trout support a number of different wildlife that frequents or lives in the riparian habitat along a trout stream.



Spawning Records - so far

The Spawning channel construction

The Spawning Channel Site

The Spawning Channel Site

The Spawning Channel Site

This is what the spring inflow looked like, before the constructed channel was installed.

Pre-fabrication

The Spawning Channel Site

The Spawning Channel Site

The site was surveyed and a design was made. The entire channel structure was pre-fabricated in a commercial lot, for ease of installation.

Right After Construction

The Spawning Channel Site

Right After Construction

The installed channel, after the construction project was completed.

Brook Trout Spawning

This is What The End Result Is!

Right After Construction

The brook trout started spawning that first fall, after construction. The total redds counted during that spawning survey was 37 for the creek that year.

This is What The End Result Is!

This is What The End Result Is!

This is What The End Result Is!

A juvenile brook trout that hatched in the spawning channel and it is now just starting its tough struggle for survival.

FAQ's

This is What The End Result Is!

This is What The End Result Is!

How long do the eggs take to hatch and emerger from the spawning gravels, after spawning?


Answer: The trout emerge from the spawning beds approximately 4 months after spawning.


How fast do trout grow?


Answer: The brook trout is short lived when compared to other trout .... approximately 4 years.

Video of the spawning channel in action

The secret to the spawning channel's success

The trout can spawn and hatch in a consistant flow of well oxygenated, clean, cold, spring water.

Each Year's Spawn - Means More Trout

New generations of trout are entering into Bighill Creek annually, from our urban trout hatchery, and it is all natural. Just a little annual maintenance to keep things working as nature intended. The maintenance is to resolve human impacts from a heavily populated urban setting.

The Trout Hatch

The spawned eggs incubate for a few months before hatching, and then the newly hatched trout larva live off of their egg sacks, while still in the safe habitat of gravel.

Just after emergence

Real Small

These trout are the most vulnerable!

New Generations

Each year's trout egg hatch is important for the Bighill Creek Fishery and the other wildlife that depend on wild trout.

The 2021 Trout Hatch

This spring of 2021, was another good year!

More Video

The Spawning Channel Trout

Some young trout like to hang around the channel for a while, before they venture downstream into unfamiliar waters.

The 2016 Trout Hatch

Every year, it is exciting to see a new generation of Millennium Creek Trout.

The Early Hatches

The early hatches of trout were by far the most exciting!

Photo Gallery

What The Future Has In Store

Having a sensitive eco-system right in the heart of the community poses some challenges. In order to maintain and protect the stream and its trout, an ongoing commitment is required. However, the benefits of being willing and able to keep the Millennium Creek trout population healthy, and the stream and its riparian zone protected, will send and important message to our youth. We can start taking care of this planet thru local incentives and initiatives. Working in partnership with towns and cities, the streams that flow thru our communities are our responsibility.


The Millennium Creek Program has been a pleasure to work on, over the years, and now hopefully, our efforts to protect the creek will go as smoothly as the restoration program. The biggest threat, presently, is the large volume of traffic that crosses over the creek and the stream's proximity to large numbers of people does result in erosion problems, which can kill a trout stream in a short period of time. So we do have to remediate this problem of traffic on the stream banks and the damage that occurs!


Recently, there has been an upswing in the amount of attention that the stream is getting, which is all good for the future. Once measures are in place toeducate folks about protecting the stream banks, and respecting the stream's right to flow naturally, with no rock dams, or kids throwing rocks into the stream and causing problems for the migration of trout, then we can get back to normal fisheries wise!


The stream is being promoted by your's truly, as an urban trout hatchery, and all we need to do is protect it. The main task every year is to make sure the channel stays open for trout to migrate, both upstream and downstream, the rest pretty much takes care of itself. So this just leaves the wear and tear of human traffic that needs to be controlled, if we expect the stream to survive into the future. As things progress, I will add onto this page.





Photo Gallery

The beauty of winter enhances the already seeming perfect na

A Winter On millennium Creek

The water's depth is hidden by the bright sunlight reflecting off of a fresh snow fall and hoarfrost on our planted willows. A perfect habitat for juvenile trout during the winter months. The tiny spring fed stream is short enough in length that it never freezes much during the winter months. The water is just too warm

Ground Water Springs and their influence

The good flow coming out of the ground springs on Millennium Creek's headwaters helps keep the water cold in the summer and warm in the winter. The water temperature rarely goes sub-critical, meaning that the temperature of the water drops below freezing - 0 Celsius.  This makes the habitats in the creek in the preferred  temperature range for incubating eggs and for juvenile trout, especially in their early lives.


It is no secret that trout do return to the small spring creeks to winter over as well. This is good reason to protect the stream and its important function in bio-diversity and the watersheds eco-system. Trout streams are life-lines and this term has been used in the past. It is a really good discriptive way of explaining just a part of the importance of our ground water, and the streams that move water into our communities downstream. All this clean ground water is the most important part of our water suppy going into the future as well!


Recently, I pointed out the large number of young trout present in the Millennium Creek, to several people key in the future of the creek, and they were impressed by the large number of new generations of trout that will enter the Bighill Creek and even the Bow River near the mounth of the Bighill Creek. Some trout may stay in the river, and return to spawning in Millennium Creek, so this makes the creek important to our reach of the Bow River as well! It is proven science that small creeks and tributaries in healthy conditon, do provide an important role in the health of the Bow River.


Fisheries management is a complex science, but if you don't protect small to large tributaries, you might as well spend more time on the golf course, because you aren't doing any good for the wild trout populations! Let us face the facts, there just too many fisheries biologists that are either disinterested in their job and more interested in a regular fat paycheck. A large percentage of the rest just don't know! It is unfortunate for us as fly fishers, the wild life that feeds on fish and the trout themselves.


My solution, and it has been so for many years, just do something about it on a grass roots level. I once had to work with fish and wildlife on some projects, but fortunately, I don't have to any more, because all of the riparian planting is permitted and legal, so they don't need to be involved. I have been a long time critic of the way the fisheries in our area has been managed and so my own decision to do something about it has been a tough road, but well worth the effort! Results like the MIllennium Creek Project and the Bow Valley Riparian Recovery and Enhancement Program have been especially rewarding to be involved in!


Measures have been taken to protect the small streams in our neighbourhood, to a certain level, but the quest continues. People are getting a lot more receptive to the notion of look after some of our natural assets, in towns and cities in our area, so change is in the works. I think it was the second year of planting on West Nose Creek, in the city of Calgary, when the parks department told me that the creek was being upgraded in importance, from a Class D to a Class C stream. Which basically affords the creek a cedrtain level of protection. We are learning, but will it be fast enough?


The flows in cubic metres per second, were recorded on Millennium Creek before our restoration work commenced, so we have good baseline on flows in the creek. Since that first recording, the volume of flow has been pretty consistent, which is perfect for both trout and aquatic invertebrates in the Millennium Creek. It is now October 31st, 2021, and this writing is for referrence for future assessment.

Spawning Update

This year's spawn on Millennium Creek was a good one, with 5 more redds mapped than in the previous season. The total redd count for Millennium was 20. The up to date chart below, shows the summary of spawning records for the creek.

Back on the upswing!

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