When the Friends of Mill Creek recently received the Grand River Conservation Authority’s 2012 Grand River Watershed Award, it was in recognition of the group’s 15 years of hard work to improve the health and vitality of Mill Creek and the Mill Creek watershed.
Mill Creek is a spring-fed cold water stream that originates in the uplands and woodlands/wetlands of Puslinch Township, and flows south-west through Puslinch Township and Cambridge, where it joins the Grand River.
Over time the creek has been adversely affected due to channel alterations, urbanization and runoff.
The Friends of Mill Creek (FOMC) support objectives of the Mill Creek Stewardship Rangers, who are directed by the Grand River Conservation Authority (GRCA) in their work on in-stream rehabilitation of Mill Creek and off-site educational projects.
Since 2003, four local high school students and a crew leader are hired each summer to undertake rehabilitation projects along the creek, often on private land.
In turn, the rangers are supported by Puslinch Township, Cambridge, the Puslinch Optimist Club and by local businesses and individuals who donate time, money and expertise.
Past projects and future plans of the Friends of Mill Creek are summarized on their website www.friendsofmillcreek.org.
These projects have ranged from trail maintenance and cattle fencing to culvert removal and pond removal (where the pond raised summer water temperatures sufficiently to impact the cold-water fishery).
As filling in the pond and narrowing the channel was not a viable option, a new bypass channel was created in 2006, while the former pond was turned into a wetland. Cedars were planted along the banks of the bypass channel to provide shade, and the area seeded with native grasses.
Within a year of project completion, brown trout had returned to the Creek downstream of the former pond and, adult, juvenile and young-of-the-year had populated the new bypass channel.
The 2012 crew represented the 10th edition of the Mill Creek Rangers
Last year’s rehabilitation efforts were concentrated on several locations along the creek using a variety of restoration techniques.
These ranged from depositing some of the 18 metric tons of pea gravel, donated by Dufferin Aggregates gravel in a Mill Creek tributary in order to create brook trout spawning habitat, to removing overhanging branches and woody debris which obstructed a section of the main stream and placing log structures to encourage the creek to find and follow its natural channel.
The ranger crew also took advantage of a new opportunity this year to work at Soper Park with children from Cambridge’s Alison Neighbourhood Association.
The Rangers demonstrated how species can vary based on habitat by catching bugs in both riffle and pool sections of the creek.
