Ontario’s Stream Rehabilitation Manual Written by Mark G. Heaton Rick Grillmayer And Jack G. Imhof Illustrations By Roy DeGuisti Copyright by Ontario Streams 17266 Old Main Street, Belfountain, Ontario L0N 1B0 May 2002 All Rights Reserved. Chapter 1 Introduction The Created Need Restoration, Rehabilitation or Reclamation Building on Experience Partnerships Mean Ownership Chapter 2 Perspectives What is a Watershed? Life in a Dynamic Physical Environment ….. Eco ~ System Stream Corridors The Natural Tendency of Rivers (written by Jack G. Imhof) Chapter 3 Look Before You Leap Project Planning Basics STEP 1: Focus STEP 2: Research and Reconnaissance STEP 3: Evaluation and Impact Assessment STEP 4: Goal, Objectives and Targets Chapter 4 Charting the Course to Action! STEP 5: Plan, Prepare and Consult STEP 6: Implement STEP 7: Monitor and Report Chapter 5 Learning From The Past Gathering The Information Drawing Conclusions... Chapter 6 Techniques Introduction Barrier Management Barrier Modification Fishways Soil Bioengineering (written by R. Grillmayer) Live Staking Fascines Brushlayers Brushmattress Live Cribwall Willow Posts Native Material Revetment Live Rock Revetment Habitat Improvement L.U.N.K.E.R.S. Boulder Placement Half Log Cover Instream Log Cover The Sweeper Palette Cover Cabled Log Jam Channel Rehabilitation Natural Channel Reconstruction (Under Construction) Riparian Corridor Rehabilitation (Under Construction) Woody Debris Management Low Stage Weirs (Under Construction) Wing Deflectors Bibliography Bibliography Appendices Appendix A Demonstration Projects Catalogue Appendix B Recommended Willows, Dogwoods and Poplars for Soil Bioengineering Appendix C Recommended Native Plants for Stream Corridor Rehabilitation Appendix D Professional Consultants Appendix E Internet Resources Appendix F Project Planning Checklist Data Sheets Data Sheet 1: Watershed Inventory Data Sheet 2: Stream Reach Survey Data Sheet 3: Stream Reach Survey Data Sheet 4: Stream Bottom Survey Data Sheet 4: Stream Bottom Survey Data Sheet 5: Flow Calculation 1 Acknowledgments Ontario Streams proposed this partnership project to the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources in March of 1997. The authors gratefully acknowledge the efforts of the following Ontario Streams' Board of Directors for their on-going support, patience, editorial review and consultation during the development of this manual. David Calderisi Doug Forder Lorraine Norminton Allan Wainio Trish Nash Horst Truttenbach Doug Ratz Dave Meyer Steve Copeland Diane Heaton Wally Ward Jeanette Davis Sean Geddes Sue Sirrs Fred Dobbs The proposal was well received by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources with partner funding provided through the Community Fisheries and Wildlife Involvement Program (CFWIP). We thank the dedicated staff from several offices of the OMNR who provided financial assistance, guidance, editorial review and moral support: Andrew Houser Judi Orendorff Ian Buchanan Henk Reitveld Cam Willox Kathy Dodge Laurel Whistance-Smith Rob Messervey Andy McKee Robin Craig Jean Blondin Tracy Smith Hal Ward Federal involvement in this partnership project was provided though Environment Canada. John Shaw and Brian McHattie, from the Great Lakes Sustainability Fund, provided financial support as well as opportunities to profile the project through newsletters and conferences. Leslie Dunn, a wetlands biologist from the Canadian Wildlife Service, provided an excellent editorial review of the manual in its early stages. We appreciate their contributions. We would like to express gratitude to the following companies for their financial support of this manual: Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat Fund Schollen and Company Limited Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters Aquafor Beech Limited Izaak Walton Fly Fishers Club Enbridge Consumers Gas Toronto and Region Conservation Authority Grand River Foundation Finally, the authors wish to thank Krista Ingleson and Toby Cadham of the Peel Board of Education for editing and Bob Morris of Credit Valley Conservation for technical review and photographs. i Preface We are a civilization that has relied on the health of rivers and streams in this country for over two centuries. During the growth of this nation, many of these water resources have become damaged or lifeless. In recent times, countless community groups and their volunteers have adopted an interest in bringing health back to their neighborhood river. Prime examples are in St. John’s, Newfoundland where children can gaze through an aquarium window into the aquatic realm of Rennies River and its reclamation through community action; or in Toronto, Ontario, where classrooms take part in re-creating a marsh in the floodplain of the Don River. The notion that people can contribute to the rehabilitation of our waterways continues to grow; the strongest area of growth is with our youngest generations. This manual has been produced for the benefit of people who value the rivers and streams of Ontario. We hope that everyone who reads this manual will be able to understand how streams work and recognize when they need to be rehabilitated. It is meant to complement our understanding of how rivers and streams arrived at their existing state, why we need to help those that are unhealthy and to recognize who has been before us, with hopes of learning from their experiences. This manual also emphasizes the changes in our relationship with public agencies and the need to seek cooperative partnerships with them. By providing sound project planning principles, up-to-date rehabilitation techniques, and a catalogue of demonstration projects, the purpose of this manual is to encourage classrooms, community groups, government and non-government agencies to work together in: • determining the health of their local stream, • adopting it, • applying protection and rehabilitation techniques with the understanding that they are insuring its health for the enjoyment of future generations. The first stream rehabilitation manual for Ontario was produced in 1984 by the Ministry of Natural Resources for the Community Fisheries Involvement Program. It focused on trout and their habitats with rehabilitation techniques that created overhead cover, spawning habitat and improved water quality. Since 1984, the watershed perspective, environmentally conscious land-use planning and new information on streams and their management has come to light. Rehabilitation projects now start with an understanding of the watershed where we first consider surface water runoff and groundwater infiltration from adjacent tablelands as being the primary influences on the water quality and quantity in our streams. Watershed management plans, subwatershed plans, official plans, secondary plans and plans of subdivision are designed with the intent to protect the watershed by limiting development and mitigating impacts through innovative stormwater management practices. Rather than ii PREFACE traditional hard engineering or in some cases the trial and error approach, we have learned that watercourses have a variety of physical characteristics which, if properly assessed, can tell us what types of protection, mitigation and rehabilitation techniques will work. It has been only in the last decade that we see protection of stream corridors, bioengineering and natural channel design principles being applied. In this manual, the recommended rehabilitation process first considers the physical tendencies of rivers and streams in the context of watershed management and natural channel processes. Simple project management skills are introduced that allow the reader to flow into assessing and evaluating the physical, biological, and social characteristics of the adopted stream or river. Once these project fundamentals are in place, we can develop a plan from a basic understanding of the causes of the stream problems. Implementation of this plan relies heavily on the personal commitment and enthusiasm of volunteers as well as the confidence and support of the project partners. MARK G. HEATON May 2002 iii Introduction The Created Need Clean, clear water is the primary demand of people. We depend on water coming from wells deep beneath our homes, or pumping facilities on lakes with elaborate pipelines spread throughout our communities. On average, a person living in Ontario consumes about 360 litres of water per day. Each litre follows a cycle that starts from a surface or underground source and ends up returning to the ground, river, lake or stream. In addition, when you consider that 40 per cent of the base flow of southern Ontario waterways comes from valuable groundwater resources, it is not surprising to think of rivers and streams as a barometer of our environmental well being. In this decade, economic growth and sustainable development bring to mind the contradictions of how we, as a society, think of the Ontario landscape and its natural resources. We know that uncontrolled consumption of natural resources for economic development leads to their eventual exhaustion and collapse. In contrast, the sustainable use of natural resources nurtures the needs of future generations, while providing for the people of today. Commerce and the natural environment should be considered mutually dependent since it is impossible to have a high quality of life with economic development, in the midst of a degrading natural environment. Without knowledge and understanding of past human impacts, the future is difficult to predict. We have a collective understanding of our past