The West River Acid Mitigation Project 2017

The West River Acid Mitigation Project has an 11 year history of treating the negative impacts of acid rain. As a result of the successful lime doser project, the annual production of Atlantic salmon smolts have increased between 300-400%. This success has spurred a major expansion of the project including the addition of a second lime doser, the initiation of a catchment (helicopter) program, the initiation of a major physical habitat restoration initiative and the hiring of a full-time research scientist and project manager.

An important component of the project is an evaluation of the impact of restoration activities. This information is used to a) confirm and optimize restoration activities, and b) evaluate the impact of restoration which is being used to build a framework for restoring acid-stressed salmon rivers. Two of the most important monitoring activities involve annual springtime estimates of smolt abundance and a newly initiated adult counting facility.

The funding requested in this application is for supporting the smolt estimation program and the adult counting fence.

Contact: Eddie Halfyard, EAHalfyard@hotmail.com