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Efforts are underway to maintain Mono Creek fish habitat

April 24, 2026   ·   0 Comments

By JAMES MATTHEWS

It’s time to take measures to make the Nottawasaga River and its tributaries more resistant to climate change.

Laura Wensink, a river restoration technician at the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority, introduced Mono council to some of the issues affecting the waterway when it met on April 14.

Measures to cool Mono Centre Creek have been proposed by the conservation authority along with the Bruce Trail Conservancy, Headwaters Stream Committee, and Freshwater Conservation Canada.

Mono Creek is a tributary of the Nottawasaga River. It’s a cold-water creek that runs between Second Line and Fourth Line in Mono. A section of the creek was studied from 2022 to 2025 to get a handle on temperature and fish and amphibian populations.

They found that brook trout and sculpin rely on the cold water to thrive.

“In some of the neighbouring watersheds, brook trout populations are beginning to decline and even disappear from some creeks,” Wensink said.

Pressures on the habitat come from development, land use, and climate change. A man-made berm slows water at one of the ponds on Mono Centre Creek. As the water slows and pools, it warms. And water leaving the pond is at the threshold of the temperature range where brook trout can survive.

The berm also causes sediment to accumulate at important fish-spawning grounds.

But all that can be remedied through a pond and wetland restoration project, Wensink said.

More water could be permitted into the pond during seasonal flooding. And the river’s north and south channels could be rerouted around the pond to keep the water cool and clean, she said.

That could reduce the water temperature by about 3.5°C. The pooling of slow water currently warms by about 4.5°C every 120 metres of waterway, she said. The water could be further cooled by planting native trees and shrubs along the banks.

“And this is how we make Mono Creek more resilient to climate change,” Wensink said.

Don Little, the conservation authority’s stewardship and restoration manager, said flood water will be able to safely flow in and out of the wetland through bypass channels.

The project budget has been pegged at about $205,000. Depending on how their application fares, about half of that may be covered with money from the Ontario Community Environment Fund.

“Projects such as this one, a large part of their success comes from building really strong partnerships,” Little said.

He asked the municipality to support the cause with a $3,000 contribution.

Councillor Ralph Manktelow asked how the bypass channels would be created.

Wensink said the conservation authority works with a heavy equipment contractor. The channels will be created with an excavator and a skid steer. Authority officials will be on-site to maintain environmental integrity and to carry out any required fish rescues during the work.

Deputy Mayor Fred Nix said grants might cover up to $92,000 of the required funding. He asked where the rest of the coin would come from.

“Depending on how fund-raising goes for the project, we may have to just go ahead with it in a phased approach,” Little said. “Based on what we can do with our available funding.”

Wensink said more of the money has been raised through other grant sources.

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