The Rural Voice, 2000-06, Page 40More than meets the eye
That open drain in your field may look empty, but experts show participants on a recent
tour there's more life in there than you might think.
Stov_y and photos by Janice Becker
Rick Moore of MVCA and
John Schwindt, Upper
Thames CA (top photo)
search for fish then look
through their sample (left).
Below, Steve Bowers of
the Huron Stewardship
Council shows tour
participants a selection of
aquatic life found in the
drains.
36 THE RURAL VOICE
o -operation can make better
drains and better habitat. That
was the point of a hands-on
workshop held recently by the Huron
Stewardship Council
While farmers, frustrated in their
attempts to clean out open farm
drains, often question the need to
protect fish habitat in the drains,
those attending a hands-on tour of a
number of Huron County drains and
streams learned there may be more in
those drains than meets the eye, and
good drainage and good fish habitat
don't have to be mutually exclusive.
In a hands-on lesson for
landowners, ministry employees,
field workers, municipal councillors
and interested citizens (a follow-up to
last fall's seminar on how to achieve
good farm drainage while preserving
fish habitat), the council brought
together people involved in various
sectors of environmental health for a
tour of three sites in Hullett Twp.
The educational viewing began at
a relatively new drain, just west of
Auburn on County Rd. 25 (Blyth
Rd.).
Hullett Township Drain
Superintendent Geoff King told
spectators that 80 per cent of
municipal drains resembled this one,
with a wide channel and steep slopes
with a closed drain feeding the open
drain.
As with most drains in the area,
this one is classified as. a D drain. D
drains are permanent waterways with
cold to cool temperatures which can
support trout and salmon
populations. As a habitat for these
fish, the drains are also sensitive to
maintenance with each clean out
been looked at on an individual basis.
King said his main concern was a
good outlet for farmers, with reduced
maintenance resulting in reduced