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St. Kitts to pay $250K for Fonthill stream improvement

Twelve Mile Creek upgrade required to compensate for fish habitat destruction It’s been a very good few weeks for Twelve Mile Creek and the Niagara Chapter of Trout Unlimited Canada (TUC).
The cannery pond behind Spring Valley apartments is picturesque, but according to the Niagara Chapter of Trout Unlimited Canada, by blocking the flow of spring water it warms and degrades Twelve Mile Creek. FILE

Twelve Mile Creek upgrade required to compensate for fish habitat destruction

It’s been a very good few weeks for Twelve Mile Creek and the Niagara Chapter of Trout Unlimited Canada (TUC). First, the Town of Pelham authorized the expenditure of $70,000 for the restructuring of the outlet from the storm water pond at Rice Road and Highway 20 to reduce the erosion from excess water that is scouring a branch of the creek bed and depositing tonnes of erosion downstream. Then last week, the City of St. Catharines agreed to spend a quarter of a million dollars to bypass a pond created by a concrete dam in the headwaters of another branch of Twelve Mile Creek right in Fonthill. These two branches of the creek converge near Hollow Road and become the St. John’s Branch of the Twelve that eventually flows north through Pelham and Thorold and Short Hills Park into St. Catharines.

Both of these announcements came as the result of a determined campaign by the Niagara Chapter of TUC to sound the alarm about the precarious state of the “last remaining spring-fed coldwater stream in Niagara.” Working with the Fonthill Lions and Pelham Cares, the two properties most affected by the erosion from the storm water pond, the Niagara chapter lobbied Pelham Town Council and staff to make changes to the inadequate outlet, toured the area with the Mayor and municipal and Regional councillors, and provided detailed information about the scope of the problem. Pelham Council reacted by passing the design/build order to correct the damaging outflow.

The City of St. Catharines became a supporter of improving Twelve Mile Creek in Fonthill when they were assessed a “compensation” by the Federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), for damage they caused to fish habitat along the Lake Ontario shoreline when they had to harden the shore to permit ongoing development. The City retained a consultant, Tarandus Associates, to recommend a compensation that would be acceptable to the DFO. Knowing that Trout Unlimited Canada was a national conservation organization with a track record of managing similar compensation projects where fish habitat had been destroyed, Tarandus contacted TUC in Calgary to enquire if there might be a suitable project in Niagara. When TUC contacted its Niagara Chapter, the response was immediate: “Take the cannery pond offline.”

The cannery pond is a large pool created by a concrete barrier in the early 20th century that dams up the headwaters of Twelve Mile Creek shortly after it leaves the springs that are its source in Marlene Stewart Streit Park. The pond was created to supply water and discharge requirements for the historic cannery on North Pelham Street, now home to Spring Valley apartments. Though the pond has been of concern to the Niagara Chapter for many years, because it serves to warm the stream’s water, acts as a barrier to fish movement, and degrades the quality of the spring water, there was little the group could do, as any solution was simply cost-prohibitive for the volunteer organization. Then Tarandus called and offered $250,000 for a worthy project that would improve fish habitat. According to the Niagara Chapter, “there is no other single project that could make bigger improvements in the health of the Twelve than reducing the effects of the cannery pond.”

In a series of meetings with City of St. Catharines staff, TUC representatives, led by national CEO Silvia D’Amelio and Ontario Project Manager Kelly Mason, helped convince City staff not only of the value of the proposed project, but of the capability of TUC to manage the design, construction, and monitoring of the venture. Anthony Martuccio, Director of Engineering, Facilities and Environmental Services for St. Catharines endorsed the idea: “Compensation projects like the Twelve Mile Creek diversion strengthen natural ecosystems not only in their direct geographic area but impact the watershed as a whole. It means we are ready for climate change and our local aquatic ecosystem remains diverse and robust.”

Once staff agreed and recommended the project to St. Catharines City Council, it remained to be seen if council would approve the expenditure of significant money for improving Twelve Mile Creek in Pelham. In the end, council agreed with Martuccio that any improvement to the stream in its headwaters would be felt through the entire watershed, including St. Catharines. The recommendation for the $250,000 DFO compensation to be spent on the cannery pond bypass in Fonthill was passed without objection.

The plan calls for bypassing the cannery pond rather than removing the dam and eliminating the pond because the owner of Spring Valley apartments, Richard Dekorte, wants to retain the pond, enjoying the feature for its picturesque and natural qualities. “I love to watch the ducks and geese,” he says, “and what other apartment building has a beautiful pond in the backyard?”

As the landowner, Dekorte has the last say in any design that is eventually proposed, but the current preliminary idea is a channel routed around the west side of the pond to allow unimpeded flow from the springs into the St. John’s branch of the Twelve. The pond would be recharged either through groundwater seepage or a small channel off the stream.

We see the immense value in improving the health of Twelve Mile Creek, and look forward to collaborating with the many partners involved

While the City of St. Catharines is footing the bill, the project will be managed from design through completion and post-construction monitoring by Trout Unlimited Canada’s Guelph office to ensure that it meets the DFO’s requirements for significantly improved fish habitat. The organization’s Ontario biologist, Patricia Huynh, recognizes that there are many interests involved in this project, including St.

Catharines, the Town of Pelham, the MNRF, NPCA, Escarpment Commission, local residents, and Richard Dekorte.

“We see the immense value in improving the health of Twelve Mile Creek,” said Huynh, “and look forward to collaborating with the many partners involved.”

The neighbouring property to the west of the cannery pond may also be affected by bypass construction and their approval must also be secured. That property is the Lathrop Nature Preserve, owned by the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC). Coincidentally, the NCC has been engaged in a very lengthy and expensive project within the Preserve to strengthen the old railway berm that once served the cannery, and reduce the impact of two man-made ponds that affect tributaries of Twelve Mile Creek. Working with the Niagara Chapter of TUC and adviser Ian Smith, along with a contracted environmental consultant firm, they anticipate that the reconstructive work they are doing will also contribute to a healthier aquatic environment in the headwaters.

As welcome as these initiatives are, the Chair of the Niagara Chapter of TUC, Dennis Edell, cautions that much is left to do. “While fixing the cannery pond issue is important, we need to also consider the bigger issue of managing Fonthill’s rapid growth and its impact on the watershed,” said Edell. “The Mayor and Pelham council took an important step in the right direction when they voted to fix the problem at the storm water pond outlet at Rice Road and Highway 20. If we are to protect this unique habitat for current and future generations, we must embrace a culture that values green infrastructure and low impact development strategies.”

Edell and the Niagara Chapter have been active in promoting Low Impact Development Strategies (LIDS) for the Town and recommending that such measures be embedded into the Town’s bylaws to ensure that all future development conforms to a policy that protects sensitive waterways such as Twelve Mile Creek from excessive runoff.

The recently demonstrated willingness of the Town to act on projects that will restore the creek, and the recognition by St. Catharines of the importance of the Twelve as a common watershed, bode well for the stream, and the momentum gained by the Niagara Chapter of TUC’s recent successes may eventually translate into a return of once common but now almost extinct species such as native Brook Trout. Vice Chair of the Niagara Chapter, Valerie Grabove, is cautiously encouraged.

“There is no better indicator of a healthy stream than the presence of Brook Trout,” said Grabove, “which have over the past 50 years been reduced to a few fragile pockets of water in the Twelve where conditions allow for their existence and reproduction. A measure of the success of such endeavours as these recently announced projects will be the expansion of habitat suitable for them to thrive.”

Voice contributor Brian Green is also the secretary of Trout Unlimited Canada, Niagara Chapter.