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Middle Grand River Chapter |
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Conserving, Protecting and Restoring freshwater ecosystems |
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Rehabilitating Rest Acres Creek Trout Unlimited Canada and the Middle Grand River Chapter in partnership with the Grand River Conservation Authority and the LCBO |
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Rest Acres Creek is small coldwater tributary in the Grand River watershed. It is located in the Apps Mill Conservation area, a 27 acre natural area managed by the Grand River Conservation Authority. This property has a colorful history including use as a theme park, private cottages, and day camps before 1971 when it became an educational center managed by the Grand River Conservation Authority. Through this time the small creek has persisted and is now part of the educational programs of the Apps Mill Conservation area. This centers runs community programs |
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throughout the year.. Partnerships with the Grand Erie District School Board and the Brant Haldimand-Norfolk Catholic District School Board provide opportunities for students to utilize the centre’s educational programs during the school year. Rest Acres Creek provides the watershed with clean cold water. It functions as a spawning tributary for brown trout in Whiteman’s creek, as well as being a seasonal habitat for young trout. Whiteman’s creek in turn, is a tributary of the Grand River and has a well established brown trout fishery. Rest Acres Creek has changed significantly through its history. A series of small, in-stream dams were erected to back up water. These dams were removed with some areas being re-naturalized by the Grand River Conservation Authority. Currently, extensive use of the area has caused some degradation of the banks and viewing areas.
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The Middle Grand Chapter of Trout Unlimited Canada is initiating a restoration and management plan for Rest Acres Creek in partnership with the Grand River Conservation Authority. The goal of this plan is to re-naturalize and rehabilitate the creek in order to increase both brown trout production and seasonal habitat for young brown trout. In addition, a management plan will be developed to aid in the area’s long term restoration as well as the handling of the area with respect to its use as an educational site. This project will be managed in multiple phases, the first of which is a stream cleanup and culvert removal in 2006. |
