Assessment of Potential Migration Barriers to Endangered Atlantic Salmon in the Stewiacke Watershed Adam Sherry March 31, 2015 Assessment of Potential Migration Barriers to Endangered Atlantic Salmon in the Stewiacke Watershed March 1, 2015 Contents Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................................... 3 Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 4 Project Staff................................................................................................................................................... 5 Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 6 Methodology ................................................................................................................................................. 8 Prioritizing ................................................................................................................................................. 8 Field Assessments ..................................................................................................................................... 9 Results ......................................................................................................................................................... 11 Community Outreach .................................................................................................................................. 14 Appendix A: Maps ....................................................................................................................................... 16 Page 2 Assessment of Potential Migration Barriers to Endangered Atlantic Salmon in the Stewiacke Watershed March 1, 2015 Acknowledgements The Migration Barrier Assessment Project would not have been possible without the financial contributions of the Habitat Stewardship Program and NSLC Adopt-A-Stream. Thank you to the staff at NSLC Adopt-A-Stream for their training and support throughout the project. Thank you to Sean Corrigan with Department of Fisheries and Oceans for sharing his knowledge in the field of culvert assessment. Page 3 Assessment of Potential Migration Barriers to Endangered Atlantic Salmon in the Stewiacke Watershed March 1, 2015 Executive Summary Barriers to migration are a significant threat to Inner Bay of Fundy Atlantic salmon populations. They prevent access to potential habitat, feeding areas and spawning locations. The intersection of roads and watercourses are a common area for barriers to occur in the form of a culvert. The Shubenacadie / Stewiacke Watershed contains over 2000 intersections between roads and watercourses and in this field season the MCG crew visited 240 of these potential barriers and performed complete assessments on 150 culverts. Culverts were rated as non-barriers (completely passable), partial barriers or complete barriers based on the guidelines created by the British Columbia Ministry of Environment (2008). The targets species for this project was Inner Bay of Fundy Atlantic salmon with lengths of 15 cm or greater. In addition to culvert assessments MCG performed 10 remediations on culverts that were barriers due to debris build up (garbage or natural). A database of barriers has been completed to be considered for future remediation work. Page 4 Assessment of Potential Migration Barriers to Endangered Atlantic Salmon in the Stewiacke Watershed March 1, 2015 Project Staff Angeline Gillis, Mi’kmaw Conservation Group Senior Director Adam Sherry, Mi’kmaw Conservation Group GIS Technician, Project Lead Heather Mills, Mi’kmaw Conservation Group Summer Student, Student Lead Amber MacLean-Hawes, Mi’kmaw Conservation Group Summer Student Christian Francis, Mi’kmaw Conservation Group Summer Student Matt Lees, Mi’kmaw Conservation Group Water Engineer Anthony King, Mi’kmaw Conservation Group Research and Education Assistant Alyx MacDonald, Mi’kmaw Conservation Group Research and Education Assistant Page 5 Assessment of Potential Migration Barriers to Endangered Atlantic Salmon in the Stewiacke Watershed March 1, 2015 Introduction The Mi’kmaw Conservation Group (MCG) is a program that is administered by the Confederacy of Mainland Mi’kmaq (CMM). MCG is made up of a team of staff, advisory committee members and volunteers who are all passionate about our mission to promote and protect the concept and practice of Netukulimk in the Bay of Fundy Watershed. MCG’s mission statement is to “ promote and restore the concept of Netukulimk in the Bay of Fundy Watershed”. Netukulimk is the Mi’kmaq concept of sustaining oneself from the bounty of mother earth while preserving it for future generations. The MCG is guided by Communities that have an interest in the Bay of Fundy Watershed through their participation on the MCG Advisory Committee. The MCG Communities have an interest in the protection and restoration in the Bay of Fundy Watershed. The MCG Advisory Committee’s role is to bring forward their knowledge and expertise and also the pressing issues of their Communities concerning conservation. The Advisory Committee members are appointed by Chief and Council of the individual Communities. Currently, these Communities include: Annapolis Valley First Nation, Fort Folly First Nation (New Brunswick), Glooscap First nation, Sipekne’katik Band (Indian Brook), Millbrook First Nation and Pictou Landing First Nation (Figure 1). Figure 1: Map showing the locations of MCG member communities. Page 6 Assessment of Potential Migration Barriers to Endangered Atlantic Salmon in the Stewiacke Watershed March 1, 2015 Culverts are manmade structures used to allow the passage of watercourses beneath roads or railways. Culverts come in a variety of shapes, sizes and material but they are all built to serve the same function. It is sometimes overlooked that in addition to allowing the passage of a watercourse under a manmade road, however culverts also need to be a passage for aquatic organisms such as fish. Through improper installation, deterioration or other environmental factors culverts can become barriers to fish migration. A culvert that acts as a barrier to fish migration can restrict fish access to upstream habitat, food sources and spawning conditions. The Stewiacke watershed has over 2500 water crossings that have the potential to be barriers to fish migration. MCG received funding from Habitat Stewardship Program for the assessment of 75 culverts. The organization had also applied for and received funding for an additional 75 culverts to be assessed in the areas surrounding our member communities. The goal of this field season is the assessment of 150 potential barriers and the remediation of 5 of these problematic culverts. Page 7 Assessment of Potential Migration Barriers to Endangered Atlantic Salmon in the Stewiacke Watershed March 1, 2015 Methodology Prioritizing Prior to the field season it was required to identify the locations of potential barriers within the Stewiacke Watershed (Figure 2). The GIS Technician used ArcGIS to calculate the intersections between roads and watercourses within the project area using 1:10,000 scale base layers acquired from GeoNOVA Portal. The result was over 2000 potential sites to visit. Priority for site visits was given to potential crossings on rivers feeding directly into the Stewiacke River as these rivers have the potential of containing the first barriers that a fish would meet during migration from the Stewiacke. Priority was also given to rivers that had identified the presence of Inner Bay of Fundy Atlantic salmon during an electrofishing project completed by MCG staff with DFO, combined with traditional knowledge of our community members. Ease of access was also taken into consideration, to ensure that the goal of 150 culvert assessments was met. Figure 2: Calculated intersections between roads and watercourses in the Shubenacadie /Stewiacke Watershed. Page 8 Assessment of Potential Migration Barriers to Endangered Atlantic Salmon in the Stewiacke Watershed March 1, 2015 Field Assessments The MCG field crew was trained in “The Guide to Surveying Culverts for Fish Passage” by NSLC Adopt-A- Stream on June 26, 2014. The training involved an office presentation followed by visiting a culvert nearby and performing an assessment under supervision. This was a full day of training that was attended by five MCG staff members (three full time staff and two summer student positions). Adopt-A- Stream provided the data sheets for the field season and also accompanied the field crew to observe the data collection process for one field day. At least 2 MCG staff members were required for field visits for both safety and logistics of data capture. Additional field crew facilitated faster capturing of data, as two workers could be in the stream taking measurements while a third member remained on the bank to record data and observe the survey elevations. The field crew was equipped with the following list of supplies for the culvert assessment process: • Field Maps • MobileMapper 20 GPS Unit • Survey Level and Tripod • Survey Rod • Meter Stick • Measuring Tape • Tasco VLRF600 Laser Range Finder • Digital Camera • Chest Waders • Rubber Boots • Field Desk and Waterproof data sheets • YSI Water Quality Logger • Field First Aid Kit • Reflective Safety Vests • Orange Traffic