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Moose River Restoration Project
Read the Moose River Restoration Project Executive Summary
Feasibility Assessment, River Restoration at Clementsport Dam

The Moose River is a tributary of the Annapolis Basin, which is an embayment of the Bay of Fundy. The river is approximately 11 km in length, from its source at Lake Cady to where it empties into the Annapolis Basin at Clementsport. The watershed has a catchment of approximately 42 km2. The Moose River has a confirmed history of supporting Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), good water quality, viable spawning habitat and interest among project partners to re-build stocks.


The area now known as the Clementsport Dam has a long history of use, and during the 1980's, the Clementsport Branch of the Royal Canadian Legion re-constructed a 2.5m high dam across the river to provide a community swimming pool. The dam is located approximately 1.8 km upstream of where the river enters saltwater (Annapolis Basin). While a fishway was added to the dam in 1991, there have been on-going concerns over its effectiveness. The fishway is currently non-functional. Over the past five years, there has been waning local interest in swimming in the river, with the community park adjacent to the dam falling into a derelict condition. Considerable damage to the dam has been caused by winter ice and high spring flows undermining the structure, resulting in a complete barrier to migratory fish.

In the summer of 2009, Clean Annapolis River Project began efforts to restore ecosystem functions to the Moose River, including establishing fish passage past the Clementsport Dam. With support the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Award NA07NMF4630157, CARP is currently undertaking a feasibility study on the Clementsport dam.

     

Pre-restoration Monitoring

In the summer of 2009, survey students from the Nova Scotia Community College, College of Geographic Sciences (COGS), established 15 monumented cross sections along the reach of the river. The 15 cross sections were used to gather data on the cross sectional profile of the river. This information is critical for ongoing monitoring projects since it provides permanent measuring stations and data can be accurately compared before and after restoration.

Five permanent photo stations were established along the river in order to gather pre and post restoration visual information on the river system. Photo views included a downstream shot towards the dam, views across the dam to both the east and west banks, upriver towards the dam, and a longitudinal view looking upriver. Two sets of photos were taken, one during the late summer, and the other in late fall.

Water quality monitoring of the Moose river began in the summer of 2009 and included measuring several parameters: temperature, conductivity, pH, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, and total dissolved solids. The presence of fecal coliform E.coli was also tested for during water quality monitoring. The monitoring included taking weekly water samples upstream of the impoundment, in the impoundment and downstream of the impoundment. The CABIN (Canadian Aquatic Biomonitoring Network) protocol was used for collecting and analyzing benthic macroinvertebrates from the Moose River, with three sampling stations chosen in the Moose River.

With the enthusiastic help from local fish experts Reg Baird and Roy Barteaux, a fyke net was set up downstream of the impoundment, approximately 400 meters from the Annapolis Basin. Thanks to these efforts, we now have recent and definitive proof of the presence of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis), and American eel (Anguilla rostrata).

Summary of the 2009 pre-restoration monitoring

Moose River Feasibility Study

In December 2009, a collaborative team of Parish Geomorphic, AECOM, and McCullough Environmental Engineering commenced work on a feasibility study to examine how ecosystem functions and fish passage can be restored to the Moose River. The study will address four options for the Clementsport dam: Do nothing (no action), Complete Re-construction, Partial Removal and Full Removal.
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