Click on the map above for details on Adopt A Stream
projects across the province.

Funding and Support

The program provides community groups with up to 50 % of project expenses. Groups can match this funding with both cash and in-kind donations of volunteer time, materials and equipment. Eligible groups include local river associations, angling groups, service clubs, First Nations groups, and environmental organizations. Participants also benefit from professional planning and technical support in the field, provided by the NSSA program manager Amy Weston, with help from ASF Regional Director Lewis Hinks and Bob Rutherford, NSSA Director.

Fish Habitat Compensation funding handled by the program is spent directly on the required fish habitat restoration and does not have to be matched by community contributions. This money can be used to match other program funding to increase the work done in a watershed.

Proposed projects are subject to a thorough review process ensuring technical feasibility and sound fisheries management goals.  Provincial and federal government agencies with jurisdictional interests are closely consulted in the review process. All standard habitat restoration techniques can be approved under a Nova Scotia Watercourse Alteration Permit held by the program greatly streamlining the approval process for community groups.

What is at stake

Atlantic salmon populations are in crisis and no one really knows why. Salmon are anadromous fish, spending the first part of their lives in fresh water and then migrating out to sea before returning to spawn in their home rivers. Clearly there is something going on in the ocean where these mighty fish journey from their freshwater origins to their feeding grounds in the Atlantic. They are not returning in the numbers they once did. But the problem is not restricted to the ocean.

There is also something going terribly wrong inland in the freshwater rivers and streams where salmon return to spawn and where the young spend 2-3 years of their lives. Not only are Atlantic salmon populations suffering, but also trout and other fish species, aquatic insects, birds, and many creatures that depends on freshwater ecosystems for their survival. It is estimated that most gravel bed streams in Nova Scotia are only 5 to 20 % as productive as they once were. The past two hundred years of human activity has made drastic changes to watersheds, severely degraded freshwater habitats. Land clearing, log driving, agriculture, road construction, and urban and industrial development have all changed the shape of stream channels, and have introduced excessive silting, nutrients, and other pollutants to our watercourses. Once abundant, the clean cool gravel-bed stream needed for spawning and rearing of juvenile fish is in increasingly short supply. Unlike the vast and complicated situation on the high seas, the condition of freshwater habitat is a problem that can be addressed by ordinary people who care about their local waterways.

How it's done

Habitat restoration projects address both the in-stream habitat and riparian area of a watercourse. In-stream habitat devices (such as digger logs, and deflectors) restore more natural stream flow dynamics. In-stream structures are spaced and placed in a stream or river with consideration given to the watershed area above, annual rainfall, and natural (and artificial) features of the stream. When properly designed and built, habitat restoration structures will: restore the pool and riffle sequence of the stream, sort the substrate, clean out gravel by plowing silt and sand to the banks. Over time, the stream channel is deepened and narrowed. Much greater diversity of habitat niches is created including: clean gravel for spawning and nursery habitat, as well as aquatic insect habitat, and pools for over-wintering, summer refuge, and space for larger fish.

Repairing and restoring the stream banks are also important aspects of improving fish habitat. Both bank stabilization techniques and riparian planting are key components to many Adopt-A-stream projects. Stable stream banks reduce erosion, and protect riparian areas which provide shade, resulting in cooler temperatures, overhead cover from predators, food and nutrients from falling leaves, insects and other organic matter to the fish and aquatic insects. Other restoration efforts include increasing cover in-stream with half logs, removing blockages and constructing fish-ways. Population enhancement techniques such as streamside incubation boxes and satellite rearing tanks also have a role in some projects.

Many habitat problems can be addressed using techniques currently available. Before deciding on the approach some investigation is needed to determine the limiting factors to fish populations in an area. Restoring your stream will involve not only work in and near the stream but also discovering the source of the problem and hopefully working with others in the watershed to find solutions.

Economic Benefits