Targeted Cheticamp River restoration work & restoration plan development for Fiset Brook

Description: The Cheticamp River Salmon Association (CRSA) will target restoration work within the Cheticamp River watershed, as well as undertaking watershed planning work on Fiset Brook. The project will involve continued partnership and collaboration with Parks Canada (Cape Breton Highlands National Park), as well as guidance from the Atlantic Salmon Federation’s Wild Salmon Watersheds program team.

The Cheticamp River component of the project will involve undertaking activities that aim to restore, protect, and improve cold-water habitat on the Cheticamp River, as well as work to improve habitat connectivity. Specifically, this will include installing instream structures on Robert Brook – an important coldwater tributary of the Cheticamp – to encourage development of pool habitat, and bank stabilization work to protect Long Pool on the Cheticamp. In addition, the CRSA will assess culverts within the Cheticamp River watershed and develop a plan to improve fish passage through the remediation of a perched culvert.

Finally, the project will lead toward the development of a watershed plan for Fiset Brook. This will include conducting habitat and population assessments, hiring consultants to complete engineered surveys and developing a habitat restoration plan for a reach of Fiset Brook characterized by channel instability, barriers to fish passage, habitat degradation, and loss of riparian vegetation.