Nova Scotia is home to relatively few rivers that are open to recreational salmon anglers, the majority located on the northern shore of the province on the Northumberland Strait. Of the dozen or so Gulf rivers that are open to salmon angling, the Wallace River is one of the healthier watersheds.

“What’s very interesting about that, is it received limited attention in the past – with some creel surveys and minor involvement by conservation groups,” said Brent Locke, Habitat and Development Supervisor for the North Colchester Rivers Restoration Association (NCRRA). “So nothing was ever done with the Wallace River. Ironic considering it is one of the most popular and successful salmon rivers in the province and one of the only ones you can fish recreationally.”

Locke says that the NCRRA, which was founded in 1999, experienced a rejuvenation in 2023 with an expansion of their geographic territory to encompass three counties and ramped up efforts to enhance their membership and their fundraising.

“The Wallace River was always in the back of our minds because our philosophy is it’s easier to keep a healthy river healthy than to try to bring one back from the brink of extinction,” said Locke. “We looked at this watershed, which not only has healthy runs of Atlantic salmon, it’s of great recreational value to the community, and is a stunning valley.”
NCRRA developed a Wallace River Watershed Management plan with the assistance of field biologists from the Nova Scotia Salmon Association. In addition to their own extensive fundraising, they received $20,000 from the Foundation for Conservation of Atlantic Salmon (FCAS) to support implementing the plan. The Management Plan is broken down into four major areas including connectivity assessments, habitat restoration activities and riparian work.

“The fourth component is very specific – it’s the Forks Pool,” says Locke. “It’s the main branch of the Wallace, one of the most popular larger salmon pools on the river for salmon and trout. It provides deep, cold water refuge and is a holding pool for Atlantic salmon returning to spawn and the bank is being eroded. It’s shocking. Since I was a kid, it’s probably lost 15 feet of the bank. And when the bank erodes, the pool fills in and gets wider. If the pool gets wider, the water gets shallower and warmer. You can see these cascading negative effects, so we’re looking at doing reconstruction there.”

Every aspect of the plan is currently in the process of being implemented. Stream habitat restoration work must be completed by September 30th to not interfere with spawning season, while riparian work and connectivity assessments will continue through the rest of the year.