Project Background
The Niagara Chapter of Trout Unlimited Canada (TUC) intends to undertake the restoration/improvement of brook trout habitat (with numerous partners) within Short Hills Provincial Park. Short Hills Provincial Park is a part of the Twelve Mile Creek watershed catchment, the Niagara region’s only cold water ecosystem harboring brook trout. (Terms of Reference, 2013)
The Client — Trout Unlimited Canada (TUC)
Trout Unlimited Canada (TUC) is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to “conserve, protect and restore Canadian’s freshwater ecosystems and their cold-water resources for current and future generations” (Trout Unlimited Canada, 2013). TUC relies on science-based and measurable cold water conservation solutions to prioritize conservation solutions. Since Trout Unlimited Canada was formed in 1972, it has not strayed from their mission to preserve and restore precious Canadian cold-water resource systems. The Niagara Chapter of TUC joined the Ontario Chapter in the spring of 2012 with their main focus being on Twelve Mile Creek. The main mission has been identified as restoring cold water habitat that promotes populations of brook trout specifically within Short Hills Provincial Park, where the subwatershed’s main channels reside.
The Niagara Chapter of Trout Unlimited Canada (TUC) intends to undertake the restoration/improvement of brook trout habitat (with numerous partners) within Short Hills Provincial Park. Short Hills Provincial Park is a part of the Twelve Mile Creek watershed catchment, the Niagara region’s only cold water ecosystem harboring brook trout. (Terms of Reference, 2013)
The Client — Trout Unlimited Canada (TUC)
Trout Unlimited Canada (TUC) is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to “conserve, protect and restore Canadian’s freshwater ecosystems and their cold-water resources for current and future generations” (Trout Unlimited Canada, 2013). TUC relies on science-based and measurable cold water conservation solutions to prioritize conservation solutions. Since Trout Unlimited Canada was formed in 1972, it has not strayed from their mission to preserve and restore precious Canadian cold-water resource systems. The Niagara Chapter of TUC joined the Ontario Chapter in the spring of 2012 with their main focus being on Twelve Mile Creek. The main mission has been identified as restoring cold water habitat that promotes populations of brook trout specifically within Short Hills Provincial Park, where the subwatershed’s main channels reside.
The Opportunity/Issue at Hand
Major sub-watersheds have been identified within the park for possible restorative works. In the 2012/2013 academic year, two of the four subwatersheds were analyzed by postgraduate GIS/GM student consultants (Effingham and St. John’s West subwatersheds). Before restorative works can be initiated, each of the sub-watersheds draining to Short Hills Park must be analyzed fully for current ecological conditions and change over time due to human influence. This project analyzed the ‘Camp Wetaskiwin’ subwatershed. (Terms of Reference, 2013)
Study Area: Twelve Mile Creek / Short Hills Provincial Park
Short Hills Provincial Park is located southwest of the city limits of St. Catharines in the Niagara region. It covers an area of 6.6 km2 of forest and successional land with an extensive trail system, making it the largest park in the region. Its environmental significance is widely recognized and is a part of the Niagara Escarpment World Biosphere. Moreover, this region embraces the headwaters of the only cold water ecosystem harboring brook trout in the area. The map below depicts the park area within the entire Twelve Mile Creek watershed, as well as the four major subwatersheds of this catchment.
Major sub-watersheds have been identified within the park for possible restorative works. In the 2012/2013 academic year, two of the four subwatersheds were analyzed by postgraduate GIS/GM student consultants (Effingham and St. John’s West subwatersheds). Before restorative works can be initiated, each of the sub-watersheds draining to Short Hills Park must be analyzed fully for current ecological conditions and change over time due to human influence. This project analyzed the ‘Camp Wetaskiwin’ subwatershed. (Terms of Reference, 2013)
Study Area: Twelve Mile Creek / Short Hills Provincial Park
Short Hills Provincial Park is located southwest of the city limits of St. Catharines in the Niagara region. It covers an area of 6.6 km2 of forest and successional land with an extensive trail system, making it the largest park in the region. Its environmental significance is widely recognized and is a part of the Niagara Escarpment World Biosphere. Moreover, this region embraces the headwaters of the only cold water ecosystem harboring brook trout in the area. The map below depicts the park area within the entire Twelve Mile Creek watershed, as well as the four major subwatersheds of this catchment.
Area of Interest (AOI): Camp Wetaskiwin Subwatershed
Camp Wetaskiwin is the easternmost and northernmost subwatershed of the catchment, downstream of the entire hydrologic system. Preliminary observation indicates that —due to its location— the ecological health of this area will evidently depend on the condition of headwaters upstream of the catchment. Camp Wetaskiwin branch is one of the cold-water hydrologic systems which has the potential to support populations of brook trout. There are anecdotal reports of brook trout within the Twelve Mile Creek subwatersheds. This project served to determine the suitability of Camp Wetaskiwin as a possible site for habitat restoration efforts by Trout Unlimited Canada.
Camp Wetaskiwin is the easternmost and northernmost subwatershed of the catchment, downstream of the entire hydrologic system. Preliminary observation indicates that —due to its location— the ecological health of this area will evidently depend on the condition of headwaters upstream of the catchment. Camp Wetaskiwin branch is one of the cold-water hydrologic systems which has the potential to support populations of brook trout. There are anecdotal reports of brook trout within the Twelve Mile Creek subwatersheds. This project served to determine the suitability of Camp Wetaskiwin as a possible site for habitat restoration efforts by Trout Unlimited Canada.
Project Goals & Objectives
In essence, the project pursued to determine the recent past and current ecological statuses of the ‘Camp Wetaskiwin’ branch of the Twelve Mile Creek and its associate sub-watershed area. This fundamental goal contributes to the existing databank of analyses that will —ultimately—enable temporal and historical tracking of the ecological conditions of the area under study.
Primary Project Objectives
The first objective for this project involved determining land use and cover status from remotely sensed data for the current conditions of the Camp Wetaskiwin sub-watershed (Terms of Reference, 2013). The most up-to-date and freely available imagery found was from the South Western Ontario Orthoimagery Project (SWOOP) from 2010. This data was used to complete this deliverable, which provided the necessary insight to determine current land use and cover statuses.
The second objective involves determining land use and land cover status from remotely sensed data for recent past conditions of the Camp Wetaskiwin sub-watershed (Terms of Reference, 2013). More specifically, the data sets scrutinized are aerial imagery from the years 1934, 1954, 1969, 1978, 1995 and 2002. Upon establishing land use and land cover for each of these time periods, it was possible to determine how the sub watershed channel and surrounding land has changed over time.
The third objective of this project involved providing an analysis of changes from 1934 to the present, from each imagery set to the next, based on the land use and cover statuses determined in the first and second objectives (Terms of Reference, 2013). Such an analysis of change provided a detailed understanding into how the Camp Wetaskiwin sub-watershed has evolved overtime as well as how it currently stands today.
The fourth objective involved determining if and how the main channel alignment has changed (adjacent to and within the park boundaries) from 1934 to 1954 to 1969 to 1978 to 1995 to 2002 to the most recent in 2010 (Terms of Reference, 2013). Analysis of the channel via remotely sensed orthoimagery told the story of how land use/land cover has influenced the evolution of the sub-watershed.
The fifth and final objective within this project was to provide a brook trout habitat suitability assessment for the sub-watershed (Terms of Reference, 2013). Data used for this assessment included remotely sensed images (as previously stated), water level data collected from strategically placed field monitoring devices, as well as data collected by peers within the GIS Geospatial Management program who were concurrently studying the same area with respect to thermal regime.
Suitable Brook Trout Habitat Conditions
As mentioned in the project proposal, Salvelinus Fontinalis (or brook trout, as it is commonly known) is a cold-water fish species that is historically native to the Niagara Region. They are a sensitive salmonid species typically requiring clear, cold, well oxygenated stream systems. Because of this, they act as a great indicator of the health status of a stream and its watershed. Historic evidence suggests that at one time brook trout flourished within the Niagara Region; however, these days the only remaining population of them survives within Upper Twelve Mile Creek. The population has been reduced by poor habitat conditions, mostly caused by thermal pollution from man-altered ponds, sediment deposition and other habitat alterations (NPCA, 2012).
There is no dispute that the severely declining brook trout populations are a product of environmental deterioration, particularly thermal pollution. Twelve Mile Creek is no exception. The issue, then, is to assess the current state of affairs within the watershed. The study of Camp Wetaskiwin main channel aims to localize the assessment of brook trout habitat suitability, so as to provide a detailed account of the current ecological health status of this subwatershed.
Brook Trout Historic Habitat Range
Numerous historical documents confirm that brook trout is indigenous to the northern latitudes of America (Smith A. K., 2011). The geographic extent of native brook trout habitat has seen a dramatic plunge in its scope in the last two centuries, when migratory habits of civilization shifted to create great urban concentrations in areas once remote. Additionally, industrialized logging practices to meet the growing demands of flourishing communities bore an impact on aqueous and riparian health deterioration. In his doctoral thesis, Dr. Albert Kirk Smith (2011) notes that the native range of brook trout in the US has been severely affected by numerous anthropogenic factors.
Hence, it is a widely established fact that brook trout native habitat range stretched across eastern Canada —from Newfoundland to Hudson’s Bay, extending south into the Atlantic Ocean, Great Lakes and Mississippi River basins, even including Minnesota and northern Georgia. (Page and Burr, 1991) and (Pam Fuller and Matt Neilson, 2014).
Being highly sensitive to habitat alterations, brook trout act as an indicator species of environmental health status. In fact, brook trout are so susceptible that they are used for scientific experimentation in studies assessing the effects of pollution and contaminated waters.
In essence, the project pursued to determine the recent past and current ecological statuses of the ‘Camp Wetaskiwin’ branch of the Twelve Mile Creek and its associate sub-watershed area. This fundamental goal contributes to the existing databank of analyses that will —ultimately—enable temporal and historical tracking of the ecological conditions of the area under study.
Primary Project Objectives
The first objective for this project involved determining land use and cover status from remotely sensed data for the current conditions of the Camp Wetaskiwin sub-watershed (Terms of Reference, 2013). The most up-to-date and freely available imagery found was from the South Western Ontario Orthoimagery Project (SWOOP) from 2010. This data was used to complete this deliverable, which provided the necessary insight to determine current land use and cover statuses.
The second objective involves determining land use and land cover status from remotely sensed data for recent past conditions of the Camp Wetaskiwin sub-watershed (Terms of Reference, 2013). More specifically, the data sets scrutinized are aerial imagery from the years 1934, 1954, 1969, 1978, 1995 and 2002. Upon establishing land use and land cover for each of these time periods, it was possible to determine how the sub watershed channel and surrounding land has changed over time.
The third objective of this project involved providing an analysis of changes from 1934 to the present, from each imagery set to the next, based on the land use and cover statuses determined in the first and second objectives (Terms of Reference, 2013). Such an analysis of change provided a detailed understanding into how the Camp Wetaskiwin sub-watershed has evolved overtime as well as how it currently stands today.
The fourth objective involved determining if and how the main channel alignment has changed (adjacent to and within the park boundaries) from 1934 to 1954 to 1969 to 1978 to 1995 to 2002 to the most recent in 2010 (Terms of Reference, 2013). Analysis of the channel via remotely sensed orthoimagery told the story of how land use/land cover has influenced the evolution of the sub-watershed.
The fifth and final objective within this project was to provide a brook trout habitat suitability assessment for the sub-watershed (Terms of Reference, 2013). Data used for this assessment included remotely sensed images (as previously stated), water level data collected from strategically placed field monitoring devices, as well as data collected by peers within the GIS Geospatial Management program who were concurrently studying the same area with respect to thermal regime.
Suitable Brook Trout Habitat Conditions
As mentioned in the project proposal, Salvelinus Fontinalis (or brook trout, as it is commonly known) is a cold-water fish species that is historically native to the Niagara Region. They are a sensitive salmonid species typically requiring clear, cold, well oxygenated stream systems. Because of this, they act as a great indicator of the health status of a stream and its watershed. Historic evidence suggests that at one time brook trout flourished within the Niagara Region; however, these days the only remaining population of them survives within Upper Twelve Mile Creek. The population has been reduced by poor habitat conditions, mostly caused by thermal pollution from man-altered ponds, sediment deposition and other habitat alterations (NPCA, 2012).
There is no dispute that the severely declining brook trout populations are a product of environmental deterioration, particularly thermal pollution. Twelve Mile Creek is no exception. The issue, then, is to assess the current state of affairs within the watershed. The study of Camp Wetaskiwin main channel aims to localize the assessment of brook trout habitat suitability, so as to provide a detailed account of the current ecological health status of this subwatershed.
Brook Trout Historic Habitat Range
Numerous historical documents confirm that brook trout is indigenous to the northern latitudes of America (Smith A. K., 2011). The geographic extent of native brook trout habitat has seen a dramatic plunge in its scope in the last two centuries, when migratory habits of civilization shifted to create great urban concentrations in areas once remote. Additionally, industrialized logging practices to meet the growing demands of flourishing communities bore an impact on aqueous and riparian health deterioration. In his doctoral thesis, Dr. Albert Kirk Smith (2011) notes that the native range of brook trout in the US has been severely affected by numerous anthropogenic factors.
Hence, it is a widely established fact that brook trout native habitat range stretched across eastern Canada —from Newfoundland to Hudson’s Bay, extending south into the Atlantic Ocean, Great Lakes and Mississippi River basins, even including Minnesota and northern Georgia. (Page and Burr, 1991) and (Pam Fuller and Matt Neilson, 2014).
Being highly sensitive to habitat alterations, brook trout act as an indicator species of environmental health status. In fact, brook trout are so susceptible that they are used for scientific experimentation in studies assessing the effects of pollution and contaminated waters.