Western watershed group repairs local river system

Lot 11 and Area Watershed Management Group Inc. is one of the many watershed groups protecting PEI’s watercourses and wetlands. 

Located in the community of Ellerslie, Lot 11 and Area was formed in 2009 when 22 community members came together to discuss how to safeguard their water system. 

From then on, members met regularly and the Lot 11 and Area Watershed Group has received annual funding from the Government of Prince Edward Island’s $2.1 million watershed management fund.

Karen Rank, watershed coordinator, says that the community wrote a watershed management plan. This plan led the group to take on one if its largest projects to help improve the ecosystem by removing old culverts in the eastern branch of Foxley River. 

“We realized that the culvert systems on the Foxley River East were too small for the amount of water going through. These culverts were not holding up.”

When the water doesn’t flow properly through a culvert, this can lead to sediment building up in the river. Sediment is natural but too much of it can have negative effects on the ecosystem, including the oyster population in the area which is an important sector for both commercial and recreational use. 

With the funding, Rank says they were able to change three culverts on that one system. This would update the entire stream system so that everything flowed well.

“Without that support, we would not have been able to move forward on this stream system with the culvert update. So, we were quite pleased. We took full advantage and that was the last step in ensuring that these stream systems are running well into the future.” 

Rank says she is incredibly grateful, and the project helped support the community as well.

“We had to buy all our supplies, and we made sure to keep that all in the West Prince area, hiring contractors and things like that,” Rank said. “The entire community benefits when the province makes huge inputs into watershed groups.”