The Manitoulin Streams Improvement Association is a nonprofit group based on Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Canada, that works to rehabilitate the streams, rivers, and creeks on the island, which is the largest lake island in the world. They partner with the entire community, including farmers, fishermen, and local lake and fish associations. Their rehabilitation projects enhance water quality and the fisheries resource on Manitoulin Island and Lake Huron which is fed by the streams. These streams were once very productive for salmon and trout spawning, but have been destroyed by centuries of human land use practices.
Since its formation, Manitoulin Streams Improvement Association has worked to rehabilitate 23 sites along four waterways on Manitoulin Island. These include the Manitou River, Blue Jay Creek, Norton's Creek and Bass Lake Creek. They have also had a class environmental assessment conducted of 184 waterways on Manitoulin Island and identified a top ten priority waterways that need to be rehabilitated. The Blue Jay Creek and Manitou River Enhancement Strategy was completed in June 2001 and approved in December 2003. [1] [2] In 2010, Manitoulin Streams Improvement Association began work on its fifth waterway rehabilitation project, the Mindemoya River. The organization developed and approved an enhancement strategy for the Mindemoya River in 2009. [3]
They installed the first frost free nose pump in Northern Ontario. [4] The nose pump is a cattle watering system that uses a well instead of having the cattle drink from the nearby streams. In 2008, Ontario Minister of Natural Resources, the Honourable Donna Cansfield, toured the Norton's Creek rehabilitation site while Manitoulin Streams was working to restore the creek. The visit was covered by the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters' (OFAH) Ontario Out of Doors magazine. [5]
The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the east-central interior of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. The five lakes are Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario and are in general on or near the Canada–United States border. Hydrologically, Michigan and Huron are a single body of water joined at the Straits of Mackinac. The Great Lakes Waterway enables modern travel and shipping by water among the lakes.
Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border spans the centre of the lake.
Manitoulin Island is an island in Lake Huron, located within the borders of the Canadian province of Ontario, in the bioregion known as Laurentia. With an area of 2,766 km2 (1,068 sq mi), it is the largest lake island in the world, large enough that it has over 100 lakes itself. In addition to the historic Anishinaabe and European settlement of the island, archaeological discoveries at Sheguiandah have demonstrated Paleo-Indian and Archaic cultures dating from 10,000 BC to 2,000 BC.
Georgian Bay is a large bay of Lake Huron, in the Laurentia bioregion. It is located entirely within the borders of Ontario, Canada. The main body of the bay lies east of the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island. To its northwest is the North Channel.
Northeastern Manitoulin and the Islands is a municipality with town status in Manitoulin District in Northeastern Ontario, Canada, approximately 30 kilometres (19 mi) south of Espanola. Its main town is Little Current, located on the northeast side of Manitoulin Island. However, its territory also includes most of the small islands surrounding Manitoulin, even those at the far western end of Manitoulin.
Manitoulin District is a district in Northeastern Ontario within the Canadian province of Ontario. It was created in 1888 from part of the Algoma District. The district seat is in Gore Bay.
The Otonabee River is a river in Peterborough County in Central Ontario, Canada. The river flows from Katchewanooka Lake, at the north end of the community of Lakefield, through the city of Peterborough to Rice Lake. It is in the Great Lakes Basin and forms part of the Trent-Severn Waterway.
Lake Manitou is the largest lake on Manitoulin Island in Ontario, Canada. With an area of 104 square kilometres (40 sq mi), it is the largest lake on a lake island in the world. It is drained by the Manitou River.
Steelhead, or occasionally steelhead trout, is the common name of the anadromous form of the coastal rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss irideus) or Columbia River redband trout. Steelhead are native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific basin in Northeast Asia and North America. Like other sea-run (anadromous) trout and salmon, steelhead spawn in freshwater, smolts migrate to the ocean to forage for several years and adults return to their natal streams to spawn. Steelhead are iteroparous, although survival is approximately 10–20%.
The Atlantic salmon is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Salmonidae. It is the third largest of the Salmonidae, behind Siberian taimen and Pacific Chinook salmon, growing up to a meter in length. Atlantic salmon are found in the northern Atlantic Ocean and in rivers that flow into it. Most populations are anadromous, hatching in streams and rivers but moving out to sea as they grow where they mature, after which the adults seasonally move upstream again to spawn.
The Black Sturgeon River is a river in Thunder Bay District, Northwestern Ontario, Canada, located west of the Nipigon River, that flows to Lake Superior.
Central Manitoulin is a township in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is located on Manitoulin Island and in Manitoulin District.
Daylighting is the opening up and restoration of a previously buried watercourse, one which had at some point been diverted below ground. Typically, the rationale behind returning the riparian environment of a stream, wash, or river to a more natural above-ground state is to reduce runoff, create habitat for species in need of it, or improve an area's aesthetics. In the United Kingdom, the practice is also known as deculverting.
Cockburn Island is an island and township municipality in the Canadian province of Ontario, located in the Manitoulin District. It is separated from the westernmost point of Manitoulin Island by the Mississagi Strait, and from Michigan's Drummond Island by the False Detour Channel. The island is incorporated as and coterminous with the municipal Township of Cockburn Island.
Shirley Cheechoo is a Canadian Cree actress, writer, producer, director, and visual artist, best known for her solo-voice or monodrama play Path With No Moccasins, as well as her work with De-Ba-Jeh-Mu-Jig theatre group. Her first break came in 1985 when she was cast on the CBC's first nations TV series Spirit Bay, and later, in 1997, she found a role on the CBC's TV series The Rez.
Rainbow Country is a local services board in the Canadian province of Ontario. It encompasses and provides services to the communities of Whitefish Falls and Willisville in the Unorganized North Sudbury District and Birch Island and McGregor Bay in the Manitoulin District.
Lake Mindemoya is a lake in Ontario, Canada, located within Manitoulin Island which is the world's largest island in a freshwater lake. The lake is located near the town of Mindemoya, and it is the third largest on Manitoulin Island. It has a perimeter of 33.5 km, its marl clay base imparting to a deep blue to light green colour. The lake reaches depths of 21 m (69'), while the average depth is 7.3 m (24'); the surface area is 3,869 ha.
The Manitou River is a river of the Manitoulin Island, flowing in the township of Central Manitoulin and Tehkummah, in Manitoulin District, in Northern Ontario region, in the province of Ontario, Canada.
Blue Jay Creek is a river on Manitoulin Island in Central Manitoulin and Tehkummah townships, Manitoulin District in northeastern Ontario, Canada and a tributary of Lake Huron.
Robert Leroy “Bob” Hunt is a fisheries biologist. He grew up in McFarland, Wisconsin, on Lake Waubesa. He served in the US Army, then attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he earned a bachelor's degree and a master's degree. He joined the Wisconsin Conservation Department in 1959. He did pioneering research on wild trout conservation, and led efforts to save streams from damage done by cattle operations and human activities. He won numerous national and international awards for his research and conservation work. He wrote the book "Trout Stream Therapy" in 1993. He served as president of the Wisconsin chapter of the American Fisheries Society in 1973. He studied troutstream rehabilitation project and developed a system for evaluating the results of a project. His work showed that altering the stream habitat by modifying the creek banks with more overhanging cover could triple the weight of trout in a stream over a six-year period.