Electro-fishing
Chipman Creek Restoration Initiative: Chipman Creek is a tributary of Pincher Creek, and drains an area of foothills and parkland southwest of the town of Pincher Creek, in Southwestern Alberta. In turn, Pincher Creek is a tributary of the Oldman River watershed, within the South Saskatchewan River Basin and supports populations of Bull Trout, Westslope Cutthroat Trout, and Mountain Whitefish, as well as non-native Rainbow Trout. Chipman Creek flows out of Beauvais Lake and has many small springs and drainages which join along its length and one perennial tributary, which joins Chipman creek approximately 3.5 kilometres upstream of the confluence with Pincher Creek. This unnamed tributary drains a large southeastern portion of the Chipman Creek watershed.
Trout Unlimited Canada (TUC) was approached by landowners in 2015, who brought forward their concerns that Chipman Creek and an unnamed tributary of Chipman Creek had experienced a deterioration over time in regards to riparian and aquatic habitat, and a loss of the salmonid population which was historically present in these creeks.
TUC met with the concerned landowners, members of the TUC Oldman River Chapter, and a representative from the MD of Pincher Creek, in the watershed on August 20th, 2015. This initial site visit was held to examine a culvert that was deemed to be a possible barrier to fish passage during low and high flows, and to see the streams and watershed firsthand. Project Goals
Perched Culvert
The Chipman Creek Restoration Initiative focused upon achieving the following goals and objectives:
1.) Improve understanding of the current conditions of the aquatic ecosystem in the Chipman Creek watershed. This goal will be accomplished through temperature monitoring, fisheries inventories, and habitat assessments.
2.) Improve riparian and aquatic health, resiliency, and connectivity for local fish species in the watershed. This goal will be accomplished through the implementation of riparian and aquatic restoration activities such as bioengineering and the enhancement or modification of a culvert to improve function and fish passage.
This project is a partnership between Trout Unlimited Canada, local landowners, and the Oldman River Chapter of TUC with additional support from the MD of Pincher Creek, Oldman Watershed Council and Cows and Fish. Engaging additional groups and stakeholders will be instrumental in the success of the project.
Western Toad
In 2016, TUC was awarded funding for the project through the Environmental Damages Fund, administered by Environment Canada. These funds will be used to purchase and install monitoring equipment, conduct workdays and site visits, and riparian health improvements.
The Chipman Creek Project was officially kicked off on July 20th, 2016. Two reaches of the unnamed tributary of Chipman Creek were electrofished to assess which fish species are currently living in the stream. In total, 455 individual fish were captured, identified, and released, from two 150m reaches of the creek. Five native fish species were captured that are commonly found throughout the region in similar habitats: Brook Stickleback, Lake Chub, Longnose Dace, Mountain Sucker, and White Sucker. No non-native fish species were captured.
Longnose Dace were the most abundant fish species found, and made up the majority of the catch in both of the two reaches sampled. Longnose Dace are typically found in riffle habitats where dissolved oxygen levels are high and there are abundant aquatic invertebrates.
Chipman Creek was to be electrofished as well, but the stream bed was dry upstream of the confluence with the unnamed tributary. According to the accounts of local landowners, this is a rare occurrence, with the stream rarely drying out completely and if it does, this usually occurs later on in the summer. This presents a challenge for fish living in the watershed, and highlights a possible opportunity to improve the resiliency of this watershed to both flood and drought. Both flood and drought events are expected to increase in frequency and severity due to climate change.
Temperature data loggers were installed at key locations throughout the watershed to monitor the water temperature in Chipman Creek and the unnamed tributary during the summer and fall of 2016 (Figure 1). Improving our understanding of the temperature regime in these streams can help us identify important thermal refuges, major sources of groundwater input, and areas where water temperatures are reaching levels above the healthy range for these fish species.
A meet and greet took place at the Goodfellow property on the evening of July 20th, and served as an introduction between Trout Unlimited Canada, Oldman Watershed Council, Cows and Fish, TUC Oldman River Chapter, and local landowners. After some burgers and beverages, another reach of the unnamed tributary was to be electrofished but unfortunately the electrofisher malfunctioned, preventing this from happening.
TUC staff will be back to the Chipman Creek watershed to complete the electrofishing assessment in the coming months.
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