Transcript Drains and Fish Habitat

Drainage and Fish Habitat
Prepared by Jennifer Lamoureux, Aquatic and Fish Habitat Biologist
Drain Types
 Municipal Drains – created under the Drainage Act
 Private Drains – are ditches or a system of
underground tiles that farmers construct on their
own property in order to drain their land.
 Mutual Agreement Drains – are private drains that
have been constructed through an agreement
between two or more landowners. The drain is
registered on the property title through the Land
Registry Office.
 Award Drains – were constructed under the Ditches
and Watercourses Act. This Act was repealed in
1963, but some award drains still exist.
Municipal Drain Classification
System
 The Municipal Drain Classification (MDC) System was
developed by DFO, Conservation Authorities and other
partners to strike a balance between the requirements of
the Federal Fisheries Act and the Provincial Drainage Act
by streamlining the review and approval process related to
impacts of drain maintenance activities on fish habitat.
 This has resulted in quicker timelines for Fisheries Act
reviews to be completed.
 RVCA reviews approximately 15-20 Municipal Drain
cleanouts each year in the watershed.
 Typically there is a 10 day turn around between when the
CA is notified by the Drainage Superintendent of potential
drain maintenance works to when the project is processed.
Municipal Drain Classification
Types
 There are seven drain types that result from
the assessment (Type A, B, C, D, E, F, NR)
and each type has varying sensitivities with
respect to drain maintenance work.
 The following parameters are assessed:
flow type (perennial vs. intermittent),
temperature (cold, cool, warm water), fish
species, and aquatic habitat conditions.
Municipal Drain Classification and Ontario’s
Class Authorization System
TYPE
FLOW
TEMPERATURE
A
Permanent
Cold/cool
B
Permanent
Warm
C
Permanent
Warm
D
Permanent
Cold/cool
DRAIN
CLASSIFICATION
TABLE SPECIES
No sensitive
species and/or
communities
present
Sensitive species
and/or
communities
present
No sensitive
species and/or
communities
present
Sensitive species
and/or
communities
present
E
Permanent
Warm
Sensitive species
and/or
communities
present
F
Intermittent
or
ephemeral
(dry for
more than
two
consecutive
months)
Not applicable
Not Applicable
TIME SINCE LAST
CLEAN-OUT
AUTHORIZATION
Not applicable
Class A
Less than 10
years
Class B
Not applicable
Class C
Not applicable
Project specific
Greater than 10
years
Project specific
Not applicable
Not required (if
work is done in
dry)
ASSOCIATED DRAIN
MAINTENANCE
ACTIVITIES
Brushing of side slope,
bottom clean-out (bed
of drain only) and
debris clean-out
Brushing of side slope,
bottom clean-out (bed
of drain only) and
debris clean-out
Brushing of side slope,
bottom clean-out (bed
of drain only) and
debris clean-out
Projects in type D or E
drains are reviewed
on a project-by –
project basis. If the
HADD cannot be fully
mitigated, a project
specific authorization
is required
Bottom or full cleanout and vegetation
removal
Some examples of sensitive species include: brook trout, eastern sand darter, northern pike, pugnose shiner and spotted sucker (among others) and Species at Risk
as identified in the Species at Risk Act. If a Species at Risk has been identified in your drain, a site specific review will be required.
Municipal Drain Classification Map
Fish Habitat provided in drains
 Cover: areas that provide escape from
predators, competitors and high flows.
 Food: the type and amount of food produced
is dependent upon substrate and riparian
characteristics of the drain.
 Reproduction: fish require appropriate
substrate and water quality for successful
reproduction.
 Migration routes: some fish species travel
great distances within a drainage network to
spawn and carry out their life processes.
RVCA Field Staff Sampling a Drain
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Fish species captured in
various RVCA municipal
drains
 Creek chub
Northern pike
Muskellunge
Smallmouth bass
Largemouth bass
Walleye
Bluegill
Pumpkinseed
White sucker
Black crappie
Rock bass
A total of 28 species of
fish have been
captured in municipal
drains in the month of
July or August
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Common shiner
Golden shiner
Central mudminnow
Blacknose shiner
Brook stickleback
Finescale dace
Spottail shiner
Northern redbelly dace
Fallfish
Fathead minnow
Johnny darter
Longnose dace
Brassy minnow
Mottled sculpin
Tessellated darter
Banded killifish
Blackchin shiner
Spring and Summer Comparison
Drains that have been sampled
Drains that have been sampled ctd
Drain Maintenance Mitigation
 Sediment and erosion control measures to
protect downstream fish and fish habitat
 Timing – if the proposed work can be done
while the drain is dry in July or August this
minimizes potential sediment releases and
avoids harming fish
 Avoid working during elevated flows -rain
events, storms or seasonal floods
 Re-vegetate areas along the banks where they
have been disturbed by seeding/planting
 No in-water work between March 15th and June
30th to protect fish during spawning
Good Examples of Drain Maintenance
Poor Examples of Drain Maintenance
Tools for our Municipalities
 In the spring RVCA provides annual updates and
mapping to each municipality with Municipal Drains.
 We have an agreement with adjacent Conservation
Authorities to identify a lead to report to shared
municipalities in an effort to be cost effective.
 We provide a cover letter, digital and hard copy
maps, excel spreadsheet and a GIS shape file of
the data to each Municipality.
 We offer pre-maintenance meetings on site with the
contractor and the Drainage Superintendent to offer
site specific mitigation advice.
 RVCA also monitors during the maintenance work.
Summary
 The MDC system attempts to balance the needs of
drainage for agriculture areas while protecting fish
habitat that is used by species for cover, food,
spawning and nursery habitat.
 Similarly, Conservation Ontario is working towards
striking a balance between the requirements of the
Conservation Authorities Act and the Provincial
Drainage Act by streamlining the review and approval
process related to impacts of drain maintenance
activities on municipal drains.
 There was an opportunity for the public to provide
comments on this new process on the EBR earlier this
year and very few comments were received.
 MNR, OFA, DSAO, OMAFRA, CA reps met in May to
review the comments and there was consensus on the
revisions.
 The revisions are going to MNR and OMAFRA for
approval with implementation expected in 2013.
Highlights....
 Less than 4% of RVCA’s 406 drains require a site
specific review
 The remaining 96% are quickly processed.
 Since 2002 we have received a total of 146 Municipal
Drain cleanout requests from our member municipalities
and we have approved 145.
 These approvals occur within 10 working days.
 This program has been a positive example of balancing
the needs for agricultural drainage and the aquatic
ecosystem.
 Other drain types are not covered under this system
however the Conservation Authority works to review
drain maintenance in a timely manner on those
applications.