Tree Planting:

On October 14, about 20 volunteers braved miserable weather to plant trees along Junction Creek.

Some of the ‘regulars’ were delighted to be joined by several new volunteers who heard about the planting through the media. One woman brought her young baby in a stroller, and a toddler who couldn’t wait to plant a trees with her own little shovel. This despite a cool morning of constant drizzle, punctuated with torrential downpours.

Enough about the weather--the good news is we planted upwards of 1000 trees. Peter Beckett, who is chair of VETAC (the Vegetation Enhancement Technical Advisory Committee) when he is not pulling old tires and such from Junction Creek, was kind enough to determine appropriate locations and prepare maps for volunteers.

Topper’s Pizza was also generous, donating pizza for the hungry (and cold) volunteers. Once again, we are extremely grateful for all the support received so far from the Sudbury business community, and we hope to build on that in the future.

Planting trees near Junction Creek has two main purposes, besides aesthetics. One is to reduce soil erosion. The other is to provide shade, since cool water is an important requirement for healthy fish populations.

Next summer, we hope to do a lot more tree planting along various parts of Junction Creek. Hopefully, we will be able to plant some faster-growing native species such as willows, to provide shade in key areas.

High school students get involved:

During October, several Junction Creek Stewardship Committee members participated in a conference called Educating for a Sustainable Future, which was hosted by the Sudbury Roundtable on Health, Economy and Environment.

The event brought together educators, students and community groups to look for new ways to work together for a healthier environment.

Coordinator Carrie Regenstreif was asked to make a short presentation during part of the conference set aside for “success stories.”

The next day, members of community groups were grouped with teachers and high school students to plan environmental projects. Stewardship Committee member Clem Farmer teamed up with Estelle Lapointe, a teacher from Collège Notre-Dame, and two of her Grade 10 students, Emily Conrad and Leanne Brière.

The students were very keen to contribute to the restoration of Junction Creek. They were eager to get started, so they made plans to clean up garbage from the banks of the creek in the Flour Mill area.

Mme. Lapointe and the students recruited about 20 others to help them with the clean-up which they held on November 4. Starting near the Ukranian Seniors’ Centre, they worked their way up to Ernie’s Signs, filling more than 50 garbage bags along the way.

In the spring, the students would like to plant trees along the creek. While they were out picking up garbage, they came up with another idea: they also want to clean up the grafitti on the Leslie Street bridge.

Clem will work with them to plan other activites, and he has arranged for them to receive Community Service credits at school for the work they are doing.

The Junction Creek Stewardship Committee is pleased to have these students get involved, and we hope to involve students from other schools in their own projects.

If you have an idea, call Carrie at 695-2902.

Laurentian students doing creek research

Two students at Laurentian University are working on projects which will likely provide useful information in the restoration of Junction Creek.

Ray Gorzynski spent a good part of the summer monitoring temperatures in selected parts of the creek which may be responsible for elevated temperatures. Brook Trout depend on cold water for survival.

“The work I’m doing this year will hopefully provide us with a baseline study,” he says. “It should give us an idea of what temperatures we can expect from the creek, so we’ll have something to compare with in other years.” Gorzynski is particularly interested in finding out whether runoff from storm sewers and from man-made impoundments are responsible for temperature increases.

He also carried out something called the Ontario Stream Assessment Protocol on certain sections of the creek. The protocol was created by the Ministry of Natural Resources, to compare creeks across the province in terms of how suitable they are as habitat for particular species.

First, he determined where Brook Trout were living, then he used the Ontario Stream Assessment Protocol in those sections. “I want to know how suitable those areas are,” says Gorzynski. “Are the Brook Trout there because the habitat is good, or simply because the water is colder there?” Gorzynski is analyzing the data for his honours thesis, and expects to complete it later this winter.

Meanwhile, Jennifer Davidson, who is working on a Masters degree in Biology, has collected benthic invertebrates from various streams in the Sudbury area.

Benthic invertebrates, which live in the bottom of creeks, are good indicators of water quality, and the quality of fish habitat. Davidson is looking at sites near sources of mine effluent, to find out how benthic invertebrates are affected by it. She hopes to complete her project next fall.

INCO begins remediation project:

INCO is working on a project which should lead to a huge improvement in the water quality of Junction Creek.

The $2.5 million project, scheduled for completion by year-end, will capture acidic drainage from waste rock at the Frood airstrip and direct it into the Frood-Stobie wastewater management system via a trench and underground tunnel system.

From there, it will be piped to Copper Cliff for metals removal and neutralization.

Surface runoff water in the area, other than that emanating from the airstrip, will continue to flow into Junction Creek at the same location near Turner Avenue.

The Frood Airstrip was constructed around 1950 using waste rock from the Stobie Open Pit. Until now, acid and heavy metals from the waste rock entered Junction Creek through a tributary upstream of the Nickeldale dam. This meant the water downstream was unsuitable for fish habitat.

It is expected that once the source of acid and metals is removed, the water quality in Junction Creek will gradually improve. In part because of that, the Stewardship Committee is looking at concentrating restoration efforts on an area just downstream, in the vicinity of the Nickeldale dam.

In early November, about 12 committee members went to the area on a ‘field trip’ and brainstorming session. Further planning will be undertaken this winter, so watch for more news in the spring.

Fall gathering:

On the evening of October 3, 2000, the Junction Creek Stewardship Committee hosted a Fall Gathering. Similar to the public symposium held in the fall of 1999, the evening had two purposes: to celebrate our success so far, and to involve as many people as possible in charting our future course.

Members of the Stewardship Committee were pleased with the turn-out, about 75 people, and the fact that we saw many new faces.

Two local musicians set the mood for the evening. Generously donating their time, Paul Dunn and Andrew Lowe delighted the crowd of about 75 people, with songs about water and about Sudbury. Some of the hundreds of photos taken of this year’s events flashed on a huge screen while the musicians played.

Dr. John Gunn, a research scientist with the Co-operative Freshwater Ecology Unit of Laurentian University and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, gave an update on the state of the Brook Trout released last spring, and highlighted some of the challenges faced by the trout, and the committee, in the coming years. Dr. Gunn outlined some of the findings of researcher Ray Gorzynski, who spent the summer monitoring creek temperatures, and looking for trout. He observed quite a few throughout the summer, clustered in six or seven areas

Coordinator Carrie Regenstreif followed with a presentation highlighting volunteer activities this year, and the clean-up program carried out by an Ontario Works crew during the summer. Perhaps most surprising was the grand total: 37,000 pounds of garbage were removed from the creek this summer.

During a short break, refreshments were served and draws were held for the raffle and door prizes.

After the break, people broke up into three groups, to work on action plans for “water,” “air,” and “trails.” At the end of the evening, each group leader made a short presentation of those ideas.