Once again the Watershed Alliance was given the opportunity to monitor, research and better understand the Jijuktu’kwejk River. Our summer team of Jonas Gow and Briana Hennigar worked from May through to October- you can see their final report here! This year, they continued their work on riparian health and on beaver dams, but they also worked into the fall on a culvert assessment with the Clean Annapolis River Project! This was a new collaboration through a joint grant with Habitat Stewardship Project. This was the first summer that we were able to get in there and make some changes to some streams – namely Sharpe Brook and Rochford Brook! At Rochford Brook, we reinforced the rock weir with larger rocks, with remaining rocks we stabilized the banks nearest to the outflow and added a couple of large boulders to the centre of the pool to create habitat. It looks incredible.
At Sharpe Brooke, we added a double stack of 4″x4″ to one (right) side of an overbuilt wooden box culvert to create an 8″ low-flow barrier. In theory this restricts the flow of water when water is low to create a deeper channel in the un-blocked side. We also improved the profile of a historic digger log which was looking a little worse for wear, and repaired the rock ramp. While it’s a little tough to see from the photo, the water in the right side of the culvert is much deeper than the left, which should improve passability during low-flow conditions.
This is a pretty big deal and just shows that working slow and steady like the mighty turtle will get you where you need to be.
Stay tuned- in 2023 we plan to have a different kind of canoe raffle, there will be more talk about a beautiful marsh trail in the Town of Berwick, and as always we will have a keen team of students on the river- gaining experience, gaining understanding and taking steps toward restoration!
The Jijuktu’kwejk Watershed Alliance 