Peace River Small Tributaries Project
Water Storage
One of the functions of streams or creeks is to move water from where precipitation lands on the earth to lakes, larger rivers or oceans. Another function of the stream system is to disperse energy. It does this by meandering, creating the typical S-shaped curves we see in streams and rivers. Additionally, the vegetation – grasses and trees – as well as the debris – fallen trees and rocks provide resistance to the flowing water dispersing the energy of the moving water. When this happens, some of the water has time sink into the hyporheic zone, which is the area underneath the bank that is saturated with water. This process is a bit like filling a sponge with water and once water is stored here it can also be released back to the stream when there is not as much water flowing through it.
What we want to see these streams in fields doing is storing away water in the soil during spring runoff and rain events. Afterwards, when it is drier these stores of water can slowly be released. This helps keep the stream flowing longer and reduces the water stress on the crops growing there.
Farming alongside ephemeral creeks
This project is working with farmers to improve ag practices. One of the real tricky pieces are draws, ephemeral creeks, gullies, ditches or one of the thousand other names that they are known by. They are wet sometimes but not all of the time, so often they are seeded when it is dry. When they end up without the appropriate vegetation or ruts they can start to erode and carry off precious soil. So we are working with a farmer to see if there is a better to farm land that has these ephemeral creeks (only flow irregularly). To start off we are using marked buffer zones to prevent overspray, unnecessary seeding, rutting and to maintain vegetation in the ephemeral creek.
Flood and Drought Resiliency, as well as water quality, are dependent on functioning stream channels with connectivity to the hyporheic zone, floodplain and longitidunal connectivity of the stream. This project will improve the function of small tributaries in the Peace Watershed through a variety of approaches. Crossing structures, adjusted agricultural practices and bioengineering will be employed to minimize and restore the impact of human activity on selected small tributaries. We are engaging with municipal partners and landowners/producers to improve management practices and also to undertake restorative and enhancing work on their properties. Although there is some direct outreach planned, the hope is for successful improved management practices to be shared by word of mouth from neighbour to neighbour. This project will provide in-community demonstration of practices something that is a powerful tool for supporting adoption of Beneficial Management Practices.
It is great to be working on this project with our partners Mackenzie County and Northern Sunrise County. We would like to thank Alberta Environment and Protected Areas for provide funding towards this project through the Watershed Resiliency and Restoration Program.