Clyde River Subwatershed
[slideshow]This past Thursday evening, residents of Clyde River and a few folks from surrounding communities attended a meeting at the Riverview Community Centre where Megan Harris presented the work carried out by the Central Queens Wildlife Federation. Danielle Horne then introduced their early research activities that began this summer of the Clyde River subwatershed that is part of the larger West River Watershed. They adopted the West River Watershed in 2003 and have recently expanded their scope of work to include the Clyde River portion.
The Clyde River subwatershed extends to the communities of Hampshire, Kingston, New Haven, Clyde River and Meadowbank, and the River and its streams cross the Bannockburn Rd., Linwood Rd., Colville Rd., Baltic Rd., Trans Canada Highway (in this area), Route 225, Upper Meadowbank Rd. and Clyde River Rd.
A watershed is an area of land that drains rainfall and groundwater into a single river system. The river can branch into many smaller feeder streams in the upper reaches, but the water eventually moves into one estuary as it runs to the sea. Prince Edward Island is made up of 250 watersheds. A healthy watershed supports safe drinking water, recreational areas, habitats for wildlife, and livelihoods.
Danielle is gathering information on anything that is restricting the flow of the river and movement of fish and conducting population surveys on species present e.g. Brook Trout, Rainbow Trout, Atlantic Salmon and Sticklebacks. They also do culvert assessments and consult with the PEI Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal. The slideshow features some photos of her work.
It is still early in the process, so it gives us time to educate ourselves, contribute our ideas at future meetings and help to set overall priorities within our community. Federation representatives will collaborate with the Clyde River Community Council to ensure they are informed of activities and to receive feedback for activities related to our community. The river and its streams cross public but also private land, so the Federation will contact property owners for permission to walk through their portions and inform them of their findings.
The Central Queens Wildlife Federation secures their own funding for river restoration projects and collaborates with the Provincial Government on specific projects that involve public lands and jurisdictions.
We will include articles on this site from time to time to keep you updated on their continued work. A plan has already been developed for the West River watershed, and it will be updated to include the Clyde River region. We will feature the West River plan at a later point to give you an idea of what would be included in a plan for our area.
As the work continues again next summer, there will be volunteer opportunities as they begin watershed restoration projects in our area. Where possible, they also like to involve students on projects to educate and offer them hands-on experience in watershed management.
If you have an interest in volunteering, being included on their email list or have any specific questions, please contact Megan Harris at mlharris@pei.sympatico.ca or call 675-2703. There will also be future meetings where you are welcome to attend and participate in the discussion.