August 4, 2023
Hello everyone! Another day, another week full of stream restoration with the crew! The weather hasn’t been the best, but that’s never stopped us before and we enjoyed the cooler temperatures after the humidity of July. Nearing the end of stream restoration for the summer means that we are able to clearly see the changes we have made to the stream flow and habitat. The water is moving faster, there is less silt built up, passage for fish is easier and we are seeing larger fish further upstream. It is nice to be able to see the positive outcomes of the hard work we’ve done, and it eases the walk back from the stream at the end of the day.
On rainy Wednesday the crew split up. It was water quality week, so Mel, Romy, and Catherine took the YSI and drove to each of the 17 sites around our five watersheds. Because it was raining, it was a good time to see which streams were ‘running red,’ meaning there is a large amount of sediment running through the streams. This gives us a picture of the land use in the watershed. Keiran, Ian, and Ashton did the trail camera circuit, collecting the SD cards from several different locations and analyzing them for animal species in the different areas.
Before the downpours on Friday, we got park maintenance done at the Westmoreland River Nature Park, sharpened the chainsaws, and completed our office work. We had our annual SSWA picnic at Catherine’s house for lunch, and are feeling like the end of the season is creeping up on us!
Only one week left until our Swim for the South Shore event, happening August 19th at 11AM in Victoria by the Sea. There is still plenty of time to register (https://raceroster.com/events/2023/77389/swim-for-the-south-shore-2023) In preparation, we have one more beach cleanup that will be happening Friday the 18th at the Provincial Park in Victoria going towards DeSable at 9:00 AM. Keep an eye on our social media for more information. We hope to see you and your friends there!
Stay dry!
Love, SSWA
