Third Lisgar Creek sediment trap excavated
Article content
The hope, to paraphrase Johnny Nash, is Lisgar Creek speckled trout will be able to see more clearly to a self-propagating future, now the silt is gone.
Removing one obstacle in the way of that dream, enlarging a silt trap on the creek shortly south of North Street adjacent to the Trans-Canada Trail, was completed last Tuesday. The effort represented the final component of a plan courtesy of the Lake Lisgar Revitalization Project, supported by an $18,000-plus grant from the Great Lakes Guardian Community Fund.
In layman’s terms, Kirwin & Oatman excavator operator George Mills was digging as big a hole as was safely possible.
“We’re taking it down basically to what we can reach,” he said. “Let’s just call it 15 feet deep.”
As of 11 a.m. last Tuesday, Mills, ultimately looking to leave a sculpted 3-1 slope on his finished project, had scooped out four of an estimated 10 truckloads of dirt, roughly speaking, a total of 150 yards.
“We’ll call it that and make it even,” he smiled.
The trap operates in conjunction with a breakwater slightly upstream, low-tech, but effective methodology for removing silt and sediment from a stream, resulting in cleaner, clearer water and a return to a more natural creek bed.
“With crawfish and everything else that entails,” said Joan Weston of the Lake Lisgar Revitalization Committee.
For the purpose of the grant, the trap being enlarged Tuesday along with two additional upstream on private property owned by the Glen Rohrer and George Ambrus families, are designed to remove silt not only from Lake Lisgar, but well beyond.
“It helps the system all the way down to the lake (Erie),” said Weston.
“The idea is, everything down below begins to clear,” said LLRC member Frank Kempf. “The clay and natural rock bottom starts to come back.”
As a positive by-product, a clearer, cleaner Lisgar Creek may be appropriate for a self-sustaining speckled trout population. Kempf has unofficially been recording stream temperatures, and is logging consistent readings between 56 and 58 degrees Fahrenheit.
“Perfect range – anything between 56 and 58 is perfect for trout.”
The Long Point Region Conservation Authority has installed temperature probes in the creek, said Kempf, and will be logging and correlating the resultant information. If temperatures are suitable, the LPRCA is considering stocking the stream, he added.
“We are hoping to reintroduce native specked trout into the creek next year.”
Installation of gravel beds, potential spawning sites, could help support a self-sustaining population, says Kempf.
Encouraged with both the potential and progress thus far, Kempf concluded with a ‘shout out’ to Dave Oatman, of Kirwin & Oatman, for his most recent contribution.
“Dave has been a big supporter of not only this project, but others in town,” Kempf concluded.