by Ty Fischer, Freshwater Health Coordinator, Watersheds Canada

Though it covers Canadian lakes like a big frozen shield, the thick winter ice is not a hindrance to the delivery of Watersheds Canada’s Fish Habitat restoration projects – it is an asset.

This is especially true for spawning bed enhancement projects, like the one that took place on February 6, 2025. On this day, the Watersheds Canada team met with 16 volunteers from Big Clear Lake Association, Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nation, and G.E. Matson and Sons Construction to soar across the frozen winterscape. An incredible 17 tonnes of washed river rock were distributed on the ice overtop a walleye spawning bed in Big Clear Lake, Ontario.

Like all winter fish habitat restoration projects, these unique opportunities allow our Fish Habitat team to disperse substrate on the ice directly on top of the spawning beds. This allows it to fall perfectly into place when the ice melts in the spring, and provide a preferred surface for walleye to spawn on. This restoration will go a long way for our native fish species.

Of course, undertaking such projects this time of year also comes with its challenges, but neither the –15°C temperatures nor the heavy snow could dampen the spirits of the staff and volunteers. For them, the positive changes they were enacting on the lake ecosystem were plain to see and inspiring to all.

Peering out over the thick strip of washed river rock over the crisp white snow, one can almost imagine exactly how it would sit on the bottom of the lake when it falls into place –and likewise, the female walleye that will lay their eggs in that very spot in the spring. That is a powerful vision.

This project marks the end of a long endeavour for David Praskey, lake steward of the Big Clear Lake Association, to improve conditions for this spawning bed.

“We went out on the lake a few years back to look at the spawning shoals and noticed that a lot of them were encrusted with what resembled brown algae as well as dead zebra mussels,” says Praskey. “We thought cleaning them would be a good start. That’s where Watersheds Canada came in. The first year of washing worked out so well, and now adding this new rock over the shoal will enhance the site even further.”

As always, these projects form positive impressions not only on the natural landscape, but on the people involved.

“Today is one of those building blocks of your life,” says Chief Doreen Davis of the Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nation. “Today we met new people, we were able to share our energy, our good thoughts, and be on the land and on the lake and work towards something that is important to all of us.”

“The caregivers that we are as our nation mean that we have responsibilities to care for the species that mother earth has provided us. It has warmed my heart to see others with those same feelings and those same thoughts.”

This project was made possible thanks to Big Clear Lake Association, Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nation, G.E. Matson and Sons Construction, and Royal Canadian Legion Branch 334. This project was funded by the Government of Canada’s Environmental Damages Fund.