Freshwater Conservation Canada summer intern Owen Johnston with Brook Trout and Slimy Sculpin fingerlings
For over five years, the Millbrook Chapter of Freshwater Conservation Canada(FCC) has been conducting scientific data collection and carrying out maintenance and restoration projects along streams in the Baxter Creek watershed.
Each year in late summer, biologists from FCC (formerly Trout Unlimited) make their base camp in the backyard of Jim Slavin and Elizabeth Irwin, close to the non-stop burble of Little Creek, North Branch, off the end of Centre Street.
Over three days, the biologists head out with local volunteers to work on another stream, and on their second day, return to a potluck and social, an annual celebration for local FCC volunteers.
This year, in the first year of a three-year program, the FCC team reintroduced 78 Brook Trout and 107 Slimy Sculpin fingerlings back into Jail Creek, a tributary of Baxter Creek. Jail Creek is the small cold-water tributary of Baxter Creek that flows from Oak Ridges Moraine and through town north of McGuire Street and behind Millbrook Manor. The habitat in the creek is great for coldwater fishes, but Jail Creek has had no fish above the Station Walking Trail. No one knows why, but the most likely reason may be related to runoff from the manufacture of license plates or other activities between 1957 and 2003, at the Millbrook Reformatory (now demolished). Nevertheless, non-native Brown Trout are abundant in Jail Creek below the Station Trail which acts as a barrier to upstream movement of fish.
Brook Trout and Slimy Sculpins now dominate the clean, cold upper reaches of Baxter Creek, where surveys show an estimated population of Brook Trout at about 15,000, mostly small fingerlings less than12.5 cm long. The reintroduced Jail Creek fingerlings come from the Baxter Creek population, and were mostly small fish to reflect the natural populations in Baxter Creek. It is expected that these populations in upper Jail Creek will eventually expand downstream.
In addition to this work, the Millbrook Chapter of FCC is currently restoring Brook Trout nursery habitat in Avery’s Creek in the Millbrook Conservation Area, and Brown Trout nursery habitat in lower Jail Creek. This Chapter has also partnered with the Ontario office of FCC to restore cold-water fish habitat in Squirrel Creek southeast of Millbrook.
The decision to restock Brook Trout was reinforced by research conducted by Jessica Livingstone in conjunction with Trent University and local FCC volunteers Brian Round and Jim Bowlby, both retired fish biologists. Jessica was awarded Best Oral Presentation at the Trent University Community Based Research Presentations event last March.
With the support of Millbrook FCC Chapter volunteers, local partnerships, Freshwater Conservation Canada head office biologists, and the many new volunteers reading this article(please contact Jim Slavin at 705-932-0874 if you wish to become a volunteer or supporter), Millbrook area’s precious streams and wetlands will continue to flourish and thrive.