Northern Lights Riparian Protection efforts - 2022

[PeterSL]

Another year of Northern Lights riparian protection work in conjunction with ACA has now been successfully completed, under budget, and on time . . . there’s no longer cattle chewing up the streambank vegetation, trampling the banks and leaving their manure in another 1.2 kms of Dogpound Creek through Diamond F Ranches or in the 0.95 kms of the North Raven flowing through Daewest Holdings. Both are spring-fed trout streams that are well known for their large brown trout. That’s a total of 60 acres of protected riparian zone to add to the 57 acres along the Dogpound that we helped protect in the last two years. Both landowners contributed their own labour and time in helping repair and/or replace fencing to keep their livestock out of the zone, Cows and Fish helped by providing a riparian assessment of both properties, and ACA coordinated the work and compensated the landowners for the loss of grazing area.

I’d like to boast about how we pounded fence posts with one hand while holding back the cattle with the other, how we designed and installed solar powered off-stream watering systems etc., but in reality the only tools we used were a computer, a telephone, and a pen. There were many hours of work but all done sitting in a chair – applying for ACA Community, Conservation and Education grants, getting quotes, contracting the work, making phone calls, writing cheques and interim, final and follow-up reports. Couldn’t have done any of it without the support and backing of ACA’s Grants Administrator, Amy, and ACA biologist and riparian coordinator, Erin. However, in the final analysis, it’s the end result that matters and when next we fish either of those creeks, we can take some satisfaction in that Northern Lights has helped contribute to their health.

The story of Dogpound Creek, its history, the exclusion fencing undertaken 25+ years ago with “Buck for Wildlife” funds, the ongoing efforts of landowners, ACA, Northern Lights, Cows and Fish, Mountain View County and others to continue enhancement of its riparian zones will be told in detail in ACA’s Spring 2023 edition of Conservation.

All the landowners on those creeks that I’ve talked to in the last three years tell me they welcome anglers and only ask that they respect the land and leave no litter.RCP_Sign_DiamonRCP_Sign_Diamond_4x4_2022.pdfd_4x4_2022.pdf