Changing a RiveR

TawaTinaw RiveR RealignmenT

PRePaRed by JessiCa ashmead

The Tawatinaw River is an important part of the Athabasca area for many reasons.

A healthy natural waterway with a minimum of human disturbance will take care of itself.

Velocity increases with the elimination of the natural meander and the decreased length of the channel which changes the gradient.

Stantec

Proposed Channel

Natural Channel

Natural Diversion %Channel Channel IncreaseVelocity Velocity

(m/s) (m/s)0.5 m Flow Depth 0.47 0.57 210.7 m Flow Depth 0.6 0.83 381.0 m Flow Depth 0.75 1.02 36Vegetation Trimline 0.95 1.12 18Bank Full Capacity 1.23 1.86 51

Table 4 - Velocity Comparison - Natural Channel Versus Channel DiversionFlow Stage Description

Native plant species create important habitat for wildlife including, insects, birds, mammals, amphibians and fish.

Kyle Ashmead

A riverbank in good shape is stabilized by deep rooted varied native plant species.

In the United States millions of dollars have been spent to turn miles of straight canals back to curves.

There are many problems with the altered banks of the Muskeg Creek including lack of woody vegetation, low plant species diversity, colonies of invasive plants, bank slumping and no meandering.

Since European settlement human caused fragmentation of habitat has increased the need to maintain river valleys to allow gene flow between populations.

The alteration of the lower portion of the Tawatinaw channel will affect the upstream channel and riparian habitat.

Documented

Fish Species Fall Spring

Esocidae

Northern pike Esox lucius 2 7Catostomidae

Longnose sucker Catosomus catosomus 2 3White sucker Catostomun commersoni 1 47Cyprinidae

Lake chub Couesius plumbeus 0 3Emerald shiner Notropis atherinoides 0 4Salmonidae

Mountain whitefish Prosopium williamsoni 0 2Lake whitfish Coregonus clupeaformis 0 1Percopsidae

Trout-perch Percopsis omiscomaycus 5 4Gadidae

Burbot Lota lota 2 1Cottidae

Spoonhead sculpin Cottus ricei 1 0

Number Captured Scientific Name

Fish species and species abundance in the lower Tawatinaw River, fall 2004 and spring 2005 ( Athabasca River confluence to 600m upstream)

http://aquanauts_dc.homestead.com/Haighquarry.html

If the Tawatinaw River is altered we will lose a piece of our history in Athabasca.

Riparian areas are an ideal tool for schools and nature groups to teach about the many aspects of nature.

The Tawatinaw River helps give citizens a sense of pride in our heritage as well as a connection to nature through the natural beauty of a relatively unaltered wild river in their backyards. The undisturbed natural meander in the Tawatinaw River will maintain itself while remaining an important ecological oasis and corridor connecting the Tawatinaw River valley and the Athabasca River valley. Few towns have a relatively undisturbed waterway with a healthy intact natural ecosystem such as the Tawatinaw, if this is destroyed we will not get it back.

liTeRaTuRe CiTedAthabasca Archives. Accessed November 2009. Athabasca Historical Society, David Gregory and Athabasca University. 1986. Athabasca

Landing: An Illustrated History. Jasper Printing Cameron, R. 2009. Personal consultation. Dieterle, J.O Cox.C. Heck and K Steinbacher. 2003. Stream Restoration: Natural Flow

Regimes and Interactions with Ecological Processes. Globalrestorationnetwork.org.

Hupp, C. R. 1992. Riparian vegetation recovery patterns following stream channelization

: a geomorphic perspective. Ecology 73:1209-1226. Kati Blouin. 2009. Photograph Collections. Kyle Ashmead. 2009. Photograph Collections. National Wild and Scenic Rivers. Accessed November 2009.

http://www.rivers.gov/index.html Stantec Consulting Ltd. 2007. Tawatinaw River Hwy 55 Bridge Replacement and

Channel Diversion. Fish and Fish Habitat Environmental Assessment and Compensation Plan. Prepared by Golder Associates Ltd.

QuesTions ?