July 3, 2023
The stream bank restoration site has been restored and now mother nature will slowly cover the stream bank into a more appropriate slope with good toe erosion protection created by the willow planting over many years.
The stream channel at this location on the Bighill Creek here in Cochrane, is now cleaned up on the bottom, with spawning gravel that the trout have already utilized the last few years on the creek.
The once critical erosion site is now stable and no annual silt loading is occurring. The added shade and stream channel constriction of flow, have left the reach a more trout friendly habitat, and a step closer to a healthy riparian zone bordering the creek.
This transformation takes time, but the first steps have been taken and now further expansion annually, will eventually lead to that desired goal. Being around to watch the change is a blessing and reward at the same time.
In the entire lifetime spent on the Bighill Creek, which spans over 60 years, so I know the stream better than most and I can vouch for the improved water quality and quantity that flows out of the mouth on the Bow River, only a few blocks from where I live.
The recovery work was and is part of the “Bow Valley Riparian Recovery and Enhancement Program” with a total of three streams and a few tributaries in the planting program that I am still director of. As well, I am director of Bow Valley Habitat Development and have been so for or since 1986.
In 1986, I did the first tour with a fish and wildlife biologist by the name of Al Sosiak, whom is now editor of “American Limnology” magazine, a scientific publication. He finished his career off with Alberta Environment, Water Resources Division. It was a memo that Al made that lead to the interest of Kerry Reese, another biologist that later completed some Bighill Creek survey work on the fisheries.
In the early 1990’s, I met and did a tour with the landowner who has a big piece of land on the creek, but I will withhold his name out of respect for his privacy. The reason I bring this meeting up in my writing is that I want to point out that this land owner and his family have been responsible for preserving the creek to its present day, and without their respect for the land, the creek would be a drainage ditch like Nose Creek is now.
However, Nose Creek is still repairable, so I am counting on someone in the future to continue the work of riparian recovery, besides just the city of Airdrie and the city of Calgary. Where the hell has TU been all-of those years that they have been collecting our dollars to protect our trout streams? Sure, they have contributed, but not nearly enough, in my opinion, and I doubt that they ever will as the present rate of movement exhibited!
With all the money that the federal government is throwing into tree planting, I hope that it is not just for a mono-culture of pine, for the logging industry, but also some diversity to help save the bio-diversity that is unique in this country, and TU should be at the forefront! They are a major stake holder and there is not a dam excuse that they can throw back at me, in response! am excuse that they can throw back at me, in response!
With all the money that the federal government is throwing into tree planting, I hope that it is not just for a mono-culture of pine, for the logging industry, but also some diversity to help save the bio-diversity that is unique in this country, and TU should be at the forefront! They are a major stake holder and there is not a dam excuse that they can throw back at me, in response!
If we let mother nature do the work, it will take years to recover certain areas along trout streams or former trout streams. The fencing of creeks where possible is a proven technique for allowing recover, and the Jumpingpound Creek, WineGlass Ranch recovery is proof of this, in our own backyard, here in Cochrane, Alberta.
Riparian plantings are a great jumpstart for a recovery program, speeding up the recovery by many years. Once native seed producing plantings are established the process of natural recovery explodes into results in only a short number of years, as proven on Bighill Creek, thus far!
The stream bank erosion site repairs that BVHD and volunteers have completed right along the water’s edge, at first, have now shown proof of a concept that I needed to prove. Starting at the water’s edge and planting out from it is the only way to start the riparian recovery, and bio-diversity rescue, with a bang, a big bang!
