John and Jordan in Action
Ontario SWAT Crew 2018, that’s a wrap!
This past summer TUC’s Monitoring and Assessment Biologist, Alex Meeker, led her Small Watershed Action Team (SWAT) Crew, students John and Jordan, through five Ontario watersheds.
Together they conducted small-scale aquatic restoration projects in collaboration with six Ontario TUC Chapters. With the guidance of the TUC Biologists and the local expertise on the ground, they were able to accomplish a great amount of work over a condensed period of time to complete 19 projects.
Listed below is a brief breakdown of the type of work our SWAT Team they accomplished:
- Shoreline works: Riparian plantings functional for fish (linear meters of shoreline) 450 m
- Shoreline stabilization (linear meters of shoreline) 150 m
- Instream Restoration Restoration of spawning grounds (square meters) 5.5 m2
- General in-water fish habitat improvement (square meters) 1,606 m2
- Fish passage Enhancement of fish passage conditions (linear meters) 1,894 m
- Total volunteer hours Volunteer hours from all of our events/ work days over the summer 540 hours
The SWAT crew’s success wouldn’t have been possible without the technical contributions made by numerous TUC chapter members. Wherever they went they were met by local stakeholders who were willing to share their knowledge, providing crucial context for the work they were doing.
In addition to their technical insights, a number of chapters also contributed financially alongside the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and their Recreational Fisheries Conservation Partnership Program (RFCPP).
Given the positive feedback our SWAT team received regarding the work they completed this summer, TUC is exploring the possibility of operating another student field crew for the 2019 field season.