2025 Big Mink Lake Brush Bundle Project
Watersheds Canada staff and 10 volunteers met on the shores of Big Mink Lake on September 3rd, 2025, to restore fish habitat using brush bundles.
This long, narrow lake, found in the St. Lawrence drainage basin in Hastings Highlands, Ontario, is known for trout and bass fishing. However, there has been a rising need to build back fish habitat in the lake. Declines in aquatic woody debris have come at a cost to fish populations, which use such structures for the most important parts of their life cycle, including feeding and sheltering.
To address this problem, Watersheds Canada partnered with the Mink Lake Property Owners Association to build up in-water fish habitat once again. This project deployed 22 brush bundles – piles of branches tied together and weighted with a concrete block – to key locations spread across the waterbody. The bundles will become waterlogged and benefit fish for many decades to come.
These days, this work is not only beneficial but necessary. Climate change poses continual and growing risks to native fish populations through increasing water temperatures, algae blooms, invasive species, and more. Brush bundles provide stability to these populations that is direly needed in current times. Furthermore, with benefits to native fish come benefits to the entire freshwater ecosystem as they help maintain the stability of all flora and fauna found in the body of water.
This project was generously funded by Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s Outdoor Fund and Mink Lake Property Owners Association. All Watersheds Canada fish habitat projects are completed with applicable permits and approval by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources.
In partnership with grassroots organizations and local volunteers, Watersheds Canada has completed many fish habitat restoration projects across Eastern and Central Ontario for over a decade, including walleye spawning bed enhancements, cold-water creek enhancements, lake trout spawning bed enhancements, and in-water habitat enhancements through the deployment of brush piles (woody debris). If you think your Ontario waterfront community could benefit from a fish habitat enhancement project, please check out the free Fish Habitat Enhancement Toolkit: Watersheds.ca/download-the-fish-habitat-enhancement-toolkit/
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