Patrick and the WSU membership,
I am pleased to report that ISAA’s field crew completed the last section of our work on the Graham’s River on Thursday morning 06 October 2016. The machine work consisted of three armour stone embankments and four rock sills completed on the evening of the fifth. The three access ways were graded off, covered with straw and replanted with oak and black ash saplings donated by Charles MacInnis the watercourse designer and supervisor of the installation. Our field crew hand built four structures upstream from the machine work and our trapper removed the beaver and breached their 10-foot high dam that had flooded 4-6 acres. It posed a severe threat to downstream habitat should the dam catastrophically fail in a severe weather event... All told, this section of the river was problematic because major rainfall events were eroding the riverbanks and straightening, widening and shallowing the course of the river to the detriment of salmon passage and refuge and causing flooding problems to the houses and properties downstream to the Route 19 highway bridge.
Carol Jacobi, DFO-RFF Project Auditor, inspected the site on Thursday afternoon and lauded our work. She encouraged us to apply for RFCPP Round Six funding to add to our budget for machine work next season. RFCPP is used to being top dog in the projects that they fund and they are amazed that WSU has made a greater commitment than they have to our common project!
We look forward to hosting a tour of this summer’s work for WSU members. We are scheduled to harvest brood stock in the last week of October. However, Bob Ingraham, from the Margaree Hatchery, has asked us to monitor the salmon run and notify him when we see them so that a harvest team can be mobilized to prevent missing the run.
Thanks for your support.
Geoff Nishi
For ISAA,