Cleaning out long-neglected farm drains

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

A coalition of organizations is collaborating to clean the drains in Beaver Creek, in Fort Erie, and those involved hope it will be a template for future cleaning of drains where at-risk species have been found

by DON STONEMAN

Ed Dykstra farms in Fort Erie. Ask him how many of his more than 2,000 acres of corn, soybeans, wheat and hay are affected by the town's long-neglected drainage systems and he says: "All of them."

Dykstra is a property owner affected by the Beaver Creek Municipal Drain Grass Pickerel Project. Last spring, the Beaver Creek drain, created more than a century ago, was cleaned after a long delay. Some new techniques were used to preserve habitat for several species, including the grass pickerel, a smallish member of the pike family, found only in a few locations in Ontario, and also several species of turtles.

Drains in some municipalities are neglected for a number of reasons, according to the Ontario agriculture ministry's environmental specialist, Jacqui Laporte. Sometimes the original engineer's report was lost or destroyed because of fire (as in the case of Fort Erie) or flood. Amalgamation of municipalities "is a challenge," Laporte says, because files get lost.

And then there is the relatively new issue of provincially significant wetlands. "If you overlay the maps of Beaver Creek (which date back to 1897) and the provincially significant wetland, they are on top of each other," says Laporte.

Municipalities have a tough time meeting their obligations, Laporte says. "The Conservation Authority says you can't put fill in the flood plain and you can't disturb the wetlands."

But property owners don't want drains touched unless there is a problem because it will cost them money.

Some delays in Fort Erie were because of environmental agencies saying "no", which left the municipality between a rock and a hard place in managing their obligations.

In fact, drains are neglected across Ontario, Laporte says. Some municipalities have their drains on a regular maintenance schedule, but most depend upon land owners to tell them when maintenance is required, or they fix them during public works. Laporte says that "it is a balancing act" for municipalities due to increasing costs of maintenance, and landowners are reluctant to pay unless there is a problem.

In spite of these challenges, the Beaver Creek project is underway. Project leaders are optimistic that it will become a template for the future cleaning of drains where at-risk species have been found. Drains that have not been cleaned for years are a particular challenge because of controversy over whether they are actually drains or provincially significant wetlands. While the town is obligated by the Drainage Act to provide drainage relief for landowners, the Species At Risk Act supersedes the Drainage Act. "I don't think that farmers understand all the repercussions from this yet," Fort Erie drainage Superintendent Brett Ruck says.

Some drains in Fort Erie are so filled in with cattails, Ruck emphasizes, that during a flood he walked across a creek on them, in running shoes, and stayed dry.

The town paid engineers to do studies on what it would take to get relief for farmers in the upper part of the watershed. The engineer's report revealed a complication: the drains were habitat for a number of endangered species, most famously, the grass pickerel. "I was told (cleaning drains) couldn't be done, by several agencies," Ruck says.  

However, he persevered. "Saying 'no' is not a solution, especially in flatter environments," he says. Not only were farmers like Dykstra unable to use their land; other rural property owners were affected.

Homeowners near Dykstra's farm base have their septic beds flooded out by spring runoff and rain storms.

"The only way to work around the regulation was to get people around the table," Ruck says. So a coalition was put together to clean some drains and scientifically study if fish and other wildlife habitat were being destroyed, as expected, or if they were actually enhanced. It wasn't an easy sell.

Ruck says the way the new legislation was worded made people uneasy. "People were cautious about the way it was rolled out." The rules are not straightforward on lands that are floodplains and wetlands, Ruck says. Determinations are made by aerial photographs.

"They say they do 'ground truthing' to determine if the boundaries are correct, but they do it from the roads," he asserts.  On top of that, there are concerns that the determination of what is a wetland was made in an extraordinarily wet year. Adds Ruck: "The argument here is whether they are truly wetlands, or are they fringe areas that are marginal at best?"

The project is a joint effort by Natural Resources, the Ontario agriculture ministry, the federal department of Fisheries and Oceans, and collaboration with the Friends of Fort Erie's Creeks, a local environmental group. The goal was to clean out long-neglected farm drains while maintaining habitat for wildlife, particularly for endangered species such as the grass pickerel.

That fish is on the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Species at Risk list, but it has no provincial status. It is not the only at-risk species in Fort Erie farm drains, just the most famous one. There is also the spotted turtle.

Fort Erie is tough to drain because it is so flat, says Ruck. At best there is a 0.3 per cent grade, equivalent to about three inches of fall in 100 feet. The deeper soil is solid blue clay, preventing water from penetrating.

Most of Beaver Creek, a tributary of Black Creek, which drains into the Niagara River, is a .07 to .08 per cent grade, considerably less than one inch of fall per 100 feet. "You drop a leaf in there and you've got a blockage," Ruck says.

Agriculture in Fort Erie is based upon the usual cash crop trio of soy, corn and wheat, plus some hay, and there are horse farms.

The project cost more than $500,000. The coalition obtained grants totaling $435,000. One piece of water testing equipment alone cost $20,000. Hand-collected wetland seeds, spread on banks after ditching, cost $800 a kilogram.

One of the achievements of the project to date is an eco-park that demonstrates some of the techniques used to make these drains work. Older drains were more V-shaped and straight, says Laporte. Beaver Creek utilizes the flood plain area that is not suitable for agriculture to create extra storage space for water during these storm events. Laporte says there are some similar projects in Norfolk County.

The Beaver Creek drain, where it is in a provincially significant wetland, features deep pools that are self-flushing to prevent collection of sediment and to provide protection for fish. Other pools are offset from the main channel and protected from damaging ice by stump wads and diversion logs.

Turtle "beaches" have been built as nesting areas for turtles and basking logs are provided. "Fish ledges" just under the water provide smaller fish with protection from predators. There are Newbury weirs that hold the water back to form these pools. Crib walls were made from wood that would normally be trucked away or burned. Building crib walls was "way cheaper" than conventional stone-filled gabion baskets, Ruck says, adding: "We are trying to make drains last longer in this area so that intrusions into provincially significant areas are made less often." Grass pickerel numbers will be monitored for 15 years, about two life cycles of the fish, and Ruck predicts a positive outcome.

Physically, it certainly appears that running heavy machinery into the creek has not hurt the habitat, he notes. Grass has already grown high where soil had been disturbed on the banks. "Just because you take a heavy machine in doesn't mean you are doing all kinds of destruction," Ruck says. The ecosystem rebounds "and it is better than before."

Part of the project involves the careful monitoring of the effect the drain cleaning has on the grass pickerel. In 2009, about 1,200 grass pickerel were captured, tagged with GPS transmitters and released. Their movements are being monitored as they travel under sensor cables strung across the river.

Ruck says the research so far shows that the fish move much more than expected, and that's good.  It means that they will move away from an area of a stream that is being reconstructed. The study also shows that grass pickerel aren't as bothered by turbid water as had been expected. That "goes against everything that is in the science books," Ruck says.

The spotted turtle, also considered an endangered species, is being monitored, too. The drains are being carefully monitored as well.

Last year, the Baer and Schooley drains were cleaned near Dykstra's base farm. That work let him get on the land early this year. Non-farming rural neighbours, whose adjoining properties were flooded during snowmelt and rainstorms, also got relief.

In early August, Dykstra signed a petition to clean the south tributary of Black Creek. It's well downstream and a lot of landowners are affected. Ruck says it will be five years before there is a shovel in the ground.

Dykstra says he's glad to have the drains cleared, but he thinks the cost should be paid for by all ratepayers through taxes, just as storm sewers that carry water away from houses are paid for by all townspeople. It's a concept that the Town of Fort Erie has considered, Ruck says thoughtfully. So stay tuned. BF

The Beaver Creek coalition

Organizations involved in the Beaver Creek Municipal Drain Grass Pickerel Project include the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans science branch, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA).

The Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority sent a senior fish habitat biologist and the Friends of Fort Erie Creeks, a local environmental club, helped by getting grants to do the work while keeping costs down for the landowners.

Also involved are Urban Environmental Management, a private consultant, and the Ontario Land Surveyors. The Royal Ontario Museum of Science played a role, as did the University of Guelph and Niagara College.

Funding sources were the Ontario Trillium Foundation, MNR Species at RISK, OMAFRA'S Environmental Sustainability Directed  Research Program, Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority, and Environment Canada Eco Action, in collaboration with Friends of Fort Erie's Creeks. BF