by Monica Seidel, Communications and Fundraising Manager
The saying goes that ‘all roads lead to Rome’. At that point in human history, the city of Rome was a critical centre of activity that all traffic moved to and through. By directing all movement to Rome, it was ensured to be top-of-mind and to keep its relevancy and importance. Today, of course, there are many different “Romes” – things and places that hold our attention and drive our actions.
For waterfront property owners, one of their Romes is their lake. At the centre of every lake community is the health of the freshwater, something that is often out of sight but that matters very much to its overall well-being. Many pathways contribute to the lake’s health, including the presence of healthy shoreland vegetative buffers and macrophyte communities, and varied and robust fish, macroinvertebrate, and avian populations, for example.
For as many pathways as there are that contribute to the lake health’s, there are just as many risks for road blocks to appear. Lakes can be inundated with heavy stormwater events that bring sediment, pollutants, and heat into the aquatic environment. The absence of shoreland vegetation can result in a loss of suitable wildlife habitat and an increase in erosion and loss of shoreline property.
When restorative work is needed to protect the health of a lake, a literal road can still come in handy. A group of dedicated volunteers made the idiom work in a Canadian context and used an ice road as the pathway to their Rome: a historic trout spawning bed.
Paugh Lake, located in the township of Madawaska Valley, Ontario, is known for its cold-water fishery. Wave action and ice movement and push had altered the rock formations on the spawning bed, making it less productive for the fish to spawn on.
The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry has been monitoring the lake trout spawning in recent years on Paugh Lake and noticed a decline. Action was required to protect the lake trout population, and was taken thanks to the dedicated efforts of the Paugh Lake Property Owner’s Association, and funding from the Government of Canada’s Environmental Damages Fund, Honda Canada Foundation, and Ontario Wildlife Foundation.
Sleds, ATVs, and a compact tractor transported seventeen tonnes of smaller gravel-sized stone across the plowed ice road to the spawning bed. Once the rock was unloaded, it was time for volunteers to spread out the rock in a thin layer using rakes and shovels. With the spring ice melt, the rocks will fall into place overtop the spawning bed and ensure the lake trout have areas to lay their eggs that will receive enough oxygenation. The spawning bed will be monitored in fall 2024 to document the spawning activities that take place.
Rome was an important city centre, shaping so much of historic and current culture. It is natural to think about those aspects throughout our day-to-day lives, as evidenced by the popularity of the “Roman Empire” trend recently seen across social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. The trend highlights a subset of people who think about the Roman Empire often, something that came as a surprise to other people who never give the Roman Empire a second thought. The trend highlights that not everything holds everyone’s attention, but that there are always passionate people for different topics and causes.
So, what is Watersheds Canada’s “Roman Empire”? Meaningful, collaborative habitat conservation that is accomplished alongside passionate and dedicated community groups. Our team will never stop thinking about that as we share our programs to empower individuals, municipalities, and community groups across Canada to lead local freshwater restoration projects.
