The Old Ausable Channel is a self-contained waterway in Lambton County, Ontario, Canada that runs through the Pinery Provincial Park and the community of Grand Bend. It is a 14 kilometre long river channel that was isolated from the Ausable River by the digging of canals for drainage in the late nineteenth century. Part of the Pinery Provincial Park's rare oak savanna, the channel is an important part of the region's ecosystem.
The Ausable River source is a moraine near Staffa, Ontario and it empties into Lake Huron at Port Franks. Starting in the 1870s, the Canada Company engaged in large-scale drainage projects within its watershed and adjacent lakes to prepare the land for vegetable agriculture. In 1875-1876, a drainage canal called "The Cut" was dug, draining the Thedford Marsh and Lake Burwell, diverting the course of the Ausable. [1] In 1892, a second 400 yard trench was created to outlet Parkhill Creek (a tributary of the Ausable) into Lake Huron at Grand Bend, Ontario to provide Grand Bend with a harbour. [1] [2] [3] This resulted in the isolation of a 14 kilometre channel from the course of the river, which became known as the Old Ausable Channel. [1] [2] As the new diversion carried pollutants and agricultural run-off into Lake Huron, bypassing the channel, it remained a mostly untouched section of natural environment while the surrounding areas were increasingly impacted by human industrialization. [3]
Isolated from the river, the Old Ausable Channel was fed only by groundwater from local sand dunes, precipitation, and small amounts of surface runoff. By 1936 it was reduced to only a small creek at its deepest parts. Both banks were subsequently colonized by terrestrial vegetation. [1]
In 1948, serious flooding impacted Port Franks and the surrounding area. The Ausable River Conservation Authority extended the original 1870s cut in 1952, resulting in a channel only 8 kilometres in length. [2] A further 400 hectares of land in the Thedford Marsh, including Lake Smith, were drained and converted into agricultural land. [2]
The Pinery Provincial Park was created in 1957 to preserve unique natural landscapes including the dunes while also providing a recreational area for nearby communities. During the creation of the park, it was decided to use the Old Ausable Channel for boating and fishing. To accomplish this, a dam was built in 1962, about 9 kilometres downstream from Grand Bend. The water impounded by the dam re-filled the channel to its original width, flooding the terrestrial plants that had colonized the banks and returning it to usable levels. Four drainage culverts under access roads maintain the water level in the 4 km long stretch on the Grand Bend side of the channel. [1]
The sections in Grand Bend have residential homes built along the banks, resulting in pollutants entering the channel. [1]
Groundwater recharge in the channel is prominent in the southern sections, away from Grand Bend. Minimal flow has resulted in a build-up of nutrients and a subsequent growth of aquatic plants and algae. Upstream of the dam the channel is slow flowing and minimally turbid, while downstream of the dam there is a backwash effect from the nearby cut. This channel is in its entirety 14 kilometres in length, 0.5-2.5 metres deep and 20-80 metres wide. Flow in minimal the spring and nearly non-existent by July. [2] Following the return of pre-cut water levels via the dam, the channel remains an example of the landscape prior to alterations by settlers of the land. [3]
Due to the minimal flow, the channel is slowly converting to a more pond-like ecosystem, and may eventually become less aquatic and more terrestrial. [4]
The Old Ausable Channel is an important area for biodiversity. Three species of at-risk fishes (pugnose shiner, lake chubsucker and grass pickerel) live in the channel, and the surrounding oak savanna is the largest in Ontario. [4] Eastern wood-pewee, wood thrush, ovenbird, and scarlet tanager breed along the riverside trail and yellow-throated vireo breeds along the banks of the channel itself. [5] Butterflies include Delaware skipper, Leonard's skipper, and Olympia marble. [6]
The St. Clair River is a 40.5-mile-long (65.2 km) river in central North America which flows from Lake Huron into Lake St. Clair, forming part of the international boundary between Canada and the United States and between the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of Michigan. The river is a significant component in the Great Lakes Waterway, whose shipping channels permit cargo vessels to travel between the upper and lower Great Lakes.
Lambton County is a county in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is bordered on the north by Lake Huron, which is drained by the St. Clair River, the county's western border and part of the Canada-United States border. To the south is Lake Saint Clair and Chatham-Kent. Lambton County's northeastern border follows the Ausable River and Parkhill Creek north until it reaches Lake Huron at the beach community of Grand Bend. The county seat is in the Town of Plympton-Wyoming.
The Huron River is a 130-mile-long (210 km) river in southeastern Michigan, rising out of the Huron Swamp in Springfield Township in northern Oakland County and flowing into Lake Erie, as it forms the boundary between present-day Wayne and Monroe counties. Thirteen parks, game areas, and recreation areas are associated with the river, which passes through the cities of Dexter, Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, Belleville, Flat Rock and Rockwood that were developed along its banks.
Grand Bend is a community located on the shores of Lake Huron in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is part of the Municipality of Lambton Shores in Lambton County.
The Spanish River is a river in Algoma District, Sudbury District and Greater Sudbury in Northeastern Ontario, Canada. It flows 338 kilometres (210 mi) in a southerly direction from its headwaters at Spanish Lake and Duke Lake to its mouth at the North Channel of Lake Huron just outside the community of Spanish.
The Mississagi River is a river in Algoma and Sudbury Districts, Ontario, Canada, that originates in Sudbury District and flows 266 kilometres (165 mi) to Lake Huron at Blind River, Algoma District.
The Rankin River is a river in the town of South Bruce Peninsula, Bruce County in southwestern Ontario, Canada which flows from the east side of the Bruce Peninsula to join the Sauble River near Sauble Falls Provincial Park on the west side. The river is in the Lake Huron drainage basin and was named after Charles Rankin, who first surveyed the Bruce Peninsula.
The Ausable River is a river in southwestern Ontario Canada which empties into Lake Huron at Port Franks, Ontario. The Ausable's initial source is in a moraine near the community of Staffa, Ontario located in the municipality of West Perth, Ontario at a point 334 metres (1,096 ft) above sea level. Although the river has a total measured length of over 240 kilometres (150 mi), because of its meandering course, the mouth in actuality is only 64 kilometres (40 mi) from its source near Staffa. The Ausable drains 1,142 square kilometers (441 sq mi) of land, and falls 158 metres (518 ft) in elevation from source to outlet.
Exeter is a community in the municipality of South Huron, in the southern portion of Huron County, Ontario, Canada, located approximately 40 kilometres north of London. The community proclaims itself the "Home of the White Squirrel", owing to the presence of the unusually-coloured mammals. Exeter's mascot, "Willis The White Wonder", can be seen at many community events throughout the year, including Canada Day celebrations, the Exeter Rodeo, and the Santa Claus Parade.
Lambton Shores is a municipality in Lambton County, Ontario, Canada, that is on the southern shores of Lake Huron.
The black redhorse is a species of freshwater fish endemic to Ontario and the eastern half of the United States, where it lives in streams and small to medium rivers.
King's Highway 21, commonly referred to as Highway 21, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario that begins at Highway 402 midway between Sarnia and London and ends at Highway 6, Highway 10 and Highway 26 in Owen Sound. The roadway is referred to as the Bluewater Highway because it remains very close to the eastern shoreline of Lake Huron.
Port Franks is a small Southern Ontario community in the municipality of Lambton Shores, Lambton County in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is located along Kings Highway 21 near Pinery Provincial Park, about 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) north of Thedford, Ontario. Archaeological evidence suggests that human habitation and use of this site date back thousands of years, and that locally obtained flint was manufactured at the so-called 'flint chipping beds' in the vicinity long before the period of European contact with First Nations peoples in the Great Lakes Basin.
Arkona is a community located in the municipality of Lambton Shores in southwestern Ontario near the Lambton–Middlesex county line, situated beside the Ausable River, on Former Kings Highway 79, Arkona is roughly halfway between Thedford, and Watford.
Beach O' Pines is a private gated community located on the shores of Lake Huron in Lambton County, Ontario, Canada. It is located immediately outside of the community of Grand Bend, Ontario, and is bordered to the northwest by Lake Huron, the southwest by the Pinery Provincial Park, the northeast by the subdivision of Southcott Pines, and the southeast by the Old Ausable Channel, Highway #21, and the subdivision of Huron Woods.
Pinery Provincial Park is a provincial park located on Lake Huron near Grand Bend, Ontario. It occupies an area of 25.32 square kilometres. It is a natural environment-class Provincial Park created to help preserve oak savannah and the beach dune ecology. It has 1,275 sites of which 404 have electrical hookups. These include the yurt camping area and the group camping sites.
Sauble Falls Provincial Park is located in the town of South Bruce Peninsula, Bruce County in southwestern Ontario, Canada, 36 kilometres (22 mi) west of Owen Sound. It is in the lower drainage basin of the Sauble River, which flows into Lake Huron. The campground consists of two sections divided by County Road 13. The west section of the site is a quiet zone. Group camping is available in the east section. Many sites along the east portion of the park back up against the Sauble River. The park is also the downstream terminus of the Rankin River canoe route.
The Agnes River is a river in the Lake Huron drainage basin in Unorganized Sudbury District in Northeastern Ontario, Canada.
King's Highway 81, also known as Highway 81, was a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. The winding north–south route connected Highway 2 in Delaware with Highway 21 in Grand Bend, passing through Mount Brydges, Strathroy and Parkhill en route. Highway 81 was first designated in 1936 and extended in 1937, and retained generally the same route throughout its existence until it was transferred to the responsibility of Middlesex County and Huron County in 1997 and 1998. Today the entire route is known as Middlesex County Road 81 and Huron County Road 81.
Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA) is a local conservation agency named in the Ontario Conservation Authorities Act. Located in Southern Ontario, the agency focuses on the conservation of the drainage basins of the Ausable River, Bayfield River, Parkhill Creek, and Gullies watersheds. The headquarters is located in Exeter, Ontario.
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