Blanchard’s Pond is back up

New water control structure, fish-way installed

From the berm overlooking Blanchard’s Pond in St. Felix, Chavonne Gavin points to a muskrat swimming through the water above the new fish-way. It’s a sure sign that life is returning to a pond that had been reduced to a small stream following a December 2014 flood.

Prior to the flood, water from the pond flowed out through a six-foot culvert that had some flaws in it, admits Gavin, who is in her 10th year as co-ordinator of the Tignish and Area Watershed Management Group (TAWMG). It was a popular fishing spot.

“On opening day of fishing, you could see, at any given time, 40, 50 people down here.” She’s now hopeful the 25-acre freshwater pond will regain its popularity.

On Friday Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) hosted an official opening for the new dam at Blanchard’s Pond with its improved fish-way and water control structure.

DUC had first become involved with Blanchard’s Pond in 1971 to assist the Province of P.E.I., which had recently acquired the property, in repairing a dam and water control structure put in place by its previous owners. It held until Dec. 9, 2014, when 155 to 170 mm of rain fell in the area and caused the dam to wash out. Planning for the new structure started in the spring

of 2015 and the work on the $251,000 project was carried out last year, completed by late fall.

The National Wetland Conservation Fund, administered by Environment and Climate Change Canada, provided $151,000 to the project while DUC’s Atlantic Habitat Partnership

Fund provided $60,000 and the North American Wetland Conservation Act added $40,000.

Gavin said the new structure provides more protection for storm events and improved fish passage.

She said sports fishermen are already returning.

“They’re starting to come back, and word-of-mouth is getting out. People are calling and asking if they can fish.”

Of all the projects she’s been involved in since taking on the co-ordinator’s role, Gavin said the Blanchard’s Pond restoration work is her favourite. A close second are the wheelchair

accessible platforms the TAWMG installed at other streams. She’s hoping a platform can be installed at Blanchard’s Pond in the future. There are already benches available at the pond and an area out front near Haywood Road is being developed into a small park.

ERIC MCCARTHY/JOURNAL PIONEER Claude Gaudette, from left, chairman of the St. Felix Community Council; Patrick Trainor, Ducks Unlimited Canada provincial volunteer council chair; Chavonne Gavin, co-ordinator of Tignish and Area Watershed Management Group, Bobby Morrissey, MP for Egmont and Robert Mitchell, P.E.I. minister of Communities Land and Environment, unveil a sign below the new dam and fish-way at Blanchard’s Pond.