Like many rivers, the Escoumins River in Québec’s Haute-Côte-Nord region was used by the local logging industry to transport lumber by floating it downstream. The river was winding, however, and slowed that process down, so at some point a bulldozer was used to straighten out the river. This sped up the flow of the river but had unintended consequences.

“When it’s faster, it takes the sediment downstream the river with it,” said Bruno Proulx, director of Organisme des Bassins Versants de la Haute-Côte-Nord (OBVHCN). “And when there’s less erosion on the side of the river when its moving like that, it brings less new sediment in the river. We know salmon need medium sized rocks to place their eggs, but because some sections of the river were straightened, the rocks became too big in the river bed. It’s good for young salmon, but it’s not good for eggs or nesting. Because of that process, we think it changed the habitat in the river about 100 years ago and the salmon are having difficulty nesting in the main river.”

Modern Québec regulations state that when industrial activity looks to negatively impact animal habitat – such as the Bloom Lake project undertaken by Québec Iron Ore – that impact must be compensated with restoration efforts on a habitat. The Escoumins River will be one of the beneficiaries of Québec Iron Ore’s compensation effort, by restoring the river’s natural flow from before it was altered to support logging. However, that is not a project that can be undertaken without significant preparation, and for several years the OBVHCN has been conducting assessments to guide that effort.

“What we want to do is have a picture of the river and where young salmon are,” said Proulx. “What is the food available for frys and juveniles in the river before they do those projects? There’s not a lot of projects in Canada to restore salmon rivers. Usually, they build some pass to give access to more of the river, but they don’t restore the natural process of the river.”

In September, the organization will begin this year’s electro-fishing efforts to assess populations in the river, as well as assessments of the quality of salmon habitats. Then the actual fluvial restoration efforts will begin, ideally, in two years. For this year of the assessment project, the OBVHCN was granted roughly $38,000 by The Foundation for Conservation of Atlantic Salmon (FCAS).

“The FCAS is a good partner,” said Proulx. “We’ve undertaken a lot of projects on the river and they would not be possible without The Foundation. They’ve given us a lot of experience and now we have a solid team to carry out the work.”