OCTOBER 19, 2024 - Good news! Our application for funding to continue the Parent Creek Renaturalization project has been accepted.

The project team of ACRE, CREDDO and Enviro Lac Gauvreau have secured $75,000 from the Program to restore and create wetlands and watercourses from the Quebec Ministry of the Environment, Fight against Climate Change, Fauna and Parks. The goal of the program is to “fund preliminary studies and projects for the restoration and creation of functional, perennial wetlands and watercourses”.

This funding is in addition to the Green Fund grant from the Municipality of La Pêche. Another bid for funding from the EcoAction Community Funding Program was unsuccessful.

This funding ensures our continued investigation of the best method for re-meandering Parent Creek and re-establishing wetlands. These efforts aim to decrease silt and sediments going into the lake and increase the filtration of nutrients that get into Parent Creek, the source of 90% of the water in Lac Gauvreau. It will also help increase the capacity of Parent Creek to absorb more water from extreme weather events and increase habitat for fish and other wildlife.

Excess silt and nutrients in the lake create ideal growing conditions for algaes and plants like Milfoil. These conditions eventually speed up the otherwise natural process of eutrophication (dying).

Work is ongoing with Terre et Habitats, who completed field work in June. Their report is expected later this Fall. We are also speaking with some landowners to see if they are interested in being part of the pilot project. Through collaboration, we can support the health of the lake!

DECEMBER 20, 2023 - The goal of the project is to prevent further eutrophication. The intention is to construct a wetland in Parent creek and re-meander sections of the original stream bed to reduce the inflow of nutrients into the lake. Lac Gauvreau is part of an important ecological corridor of the Gatineau Park.

In the summer of 2023 Enviro Lac Gauvreau was awarded a grant from the Municipality of La Pêche’s Green Fund for a range of activities, including for this project. The first step was to do a feasibility assessment by a hydro morphologist in July 2023. A partnership was formed with Action Chelsea for Respect of the Environment (ACRE), who can secure environmental servitudes on land where we could re-meander the creek or install wetlands. As there was interest from some landowners to work with us, the door was open for next steps.

The Province of Quebec’s Ministry of the Environment has significant funding available for the restoration of ecological function of creeks and wetlands, Programme de restauration et de création de milieux humides et hydriques and the Parent creek project would be a perfect fit. To manage this project we expanded the partnership with Conseil Régional de l’Environnement et du Développement Durable de l’Outaouais (CREDDO). Technical expertise for the design and costing will be supplied by Terre et Habitats. This project is not just to reduce nutrients and silt deposits in Lac Gauvreau. It will also enhance the wildlife corridor, increase wildlife habitat and reduce some of the climate change impacts by increasing the stormwater storage capacity in Parent Creek.

The project also has support from MRC des Collines. Our Municipal mayor, Guillaume Lamoureux, proposed a motion at the council of mayors meeting in Fall 2023, who voted to support the project.