Guidance

Adopt A Stream Manual

The Adopt A Stream manual is intended for community groups, schools and youth groups to improve and restore aquatic habitats in Nova Scotia. It provides basic steps on how to go about a restoration project…

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Aquatic Connectivity Assessment Training

The NSLC Adopt A Stream program offers training to enable watershed stewardship groups to plan, prioritize, and complete surveys of water crossings in their local watersheds. The course focuses on culvert surveys.

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Artifishal

This film produced by Patagonia is about people, rivers and the fight for the future of wild fish and the environment that supports them. It explores the decline in wild salmon populations, and threats posed…

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Bank Stabilization Design Guidelines

These guidelines provide methods of bank stabilization design that meet all three measures of a successful design: feasibility, sustainability and environmental effectiveness. It provides a breakdown of project development into the categories of preliminary investigations…

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Beaver Dam (Active and Old)

This NSLC Adopt A Stream fact sheet describes the purpose of beaver management, where it is applicable, the advantages and disadvantages, design criteria and implementation steps.

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Beaver Dam Removal Code of Practice

This code of practice developed by the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources ensures that beaver dams are safely removed to minimize the impact of beaver dam removal on aquatic resources.

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Canadian Rivers Institute Training Courses

The Canadian Rivers Institute offers additional training courses on becoming certified in assessing river health, water quality assessment, and backpack electrofishing. They also offer free webinars on fish and freshwater issues.

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Culverts and Fish Passage

This document describes the importance of proper culvert design and installation for fish passage, including scheduling installation and maintenance, types of culvert design, retrofits and on-site considerations. Causes of barriers to fish passage in culverts…

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Deflectors

This NSLC Adopt A Stream fact sheet describes the purpose of deflectors, where they are applicable, the types of deflectors, what habitats are created, the advantages and disadvantages of using this technique, design criteria and…

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Design for Fish Passage at Roadway-Stream Crossings

This document provides four categories for culvert design techniques: No Impedance, Geomorphic Simulation, Hydraulic Simulation and Hydraulic Design. Design examples and case studies are provided, alongside information on construction, maintenance and monitoring.

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Design of Road Culverts for Fish Passage

This guide is intended for people designing permanent road-crossing culverts to facilitate upstream fish migration. It provides guidance for projects involving new culvert construction and retrofitting or replacing existing culverts.

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Digger Logs

This NSLC Adopt A Stream fact sheet describes the purpose of digger logs, where they are applicable, what habitats are created, the advantages and disadvantages of using this technique and the design criteria.

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Ecological Buffer Guideline Review

This review conducts a critical assessment of the scientific literature on ecological buffers, provides an overview of relevant policies in southern Ontario and develops an evaluation methodology for determining appropriate buffer widths around natural heritage…

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Ecological Buffers

This document describes ecological buffers, findings from most recent science and recommended conservation practices.

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Fish and Wildlife Crossing Guidelines

This document provides guidance on reducing impacts to wildlife and incorporating best management practices within transportation panning and development projects. It summarizes the current state of knowledge on road ecology and crossing system design.

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Fish Habitat Restoration Methods

The NSLC Adopt A Stream Program provides fact sheets to be used by groups doing general project planning and proposal applications. Topics include instream structures to restore natural meander patterns, bank stabilization structures, instream debris…

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Fish-Stream Crossing Guidebook

This guidebook helps forest and other resource managers and practitioners to plan and implement sound fish-stream crossing practices. It includes British Columbia-specific legislative reference material and the province’s strategic approach to addressing fish passage at…

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Fisheries Act

This Act, governed by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, provides a framework for proper management and control of fisheries, and the conservation and protection of fish and fish habitat.

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Guidance for Collaborative Watershed Governance in BC

This guide was developed to help users understand the value of collaborative watershed governance, build capacity to design and participate in collaborative watershed processes and understanding a range of governance approaches and examples through British…

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Guidance for Stream Restoration

This technical document compiles a series of short literature reviews and additional references on topics including general methods, overview of stream processes and restoration, case studies, data compilation, preliminary assessments, and field data collection. It…

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Guide to Altering Watercourses

This guide explains why it is important to avoid and minimize disturbances to lakes, rivers, streams and other watercourses, as well as what to do when alterations are required. It also highlights lower-risk activities that…

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How to Write for and Engage with Media

This Smart Prosperity Institute video teaches tools to communicate research with journalists and the media. Much of this information would also be relevant to a wider audience interested in promoting campaigns or projects.

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Large Wood and Log Jams

This document presents three techniques for using large wood structures to enhance or create aquatic habitat – placed large wood, large wood replenishment and trapping mobile wood.

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NCC Stream Classification v2.0

This dataset contains the second version of the Stream Classification for the Northern Appalachian-Acadian Region of Canada. Freshwater ecosystems are classified based on five biophysical characteristics: size, gradient, alkalinity, temperature, and tidal influence. There is…

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NSLC Adopt A Stream Training

The Adopt A Stream Program delivers a one-day training course to field crews associated with the program. Training covers Nova Scotia environment permits, restoration design, ecology of the watercourses, how restoration techniques improve watercourse health…

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Online Watershed Library

The Online Watershed Library is a searchable, online database of research articles, manuals, assessment tools, and regulatory information. It is intended to save practitioners time by providing access to an up-to-date database on stormwater and…

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Ontario GeoHub

This database provides data sets on topics including plants and animals, water, geology and agriculture. There are also featured mapping applications including a flow assessment tool for Ontario’s watersheds and provincial stream water quality monitoring.

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Ontario Stream Assessment Protocol

This protocol contains a series of standardized methodologies for identifying sites, evaluating benthic macroinvertebrates, sampling fish communities, assessing physical habitat and water temperature and data management.

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Ontario’s Stream Rehabilitation Manual

This manual is intended to show how streams work and to help people recognize when they need to be rehabilitated. It provides project planning principles, rehabilitation techniques, and demonstration projects.

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Planting Streamside Vegetation

This NSLC Adopt A Stream fact sheet describes the purpose of planting streamside vegetation, where it is applicable, the advantages and disadvantages, design criteria, soil preparation and implementation steps for different types of vegetation.

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Publications on River Restoration in Europe

The European Centre for River Restoration has compiled case studies, best practices and studies on river restoration in Europe. Themes include flood management, urban river restoration, and habitat & biodiversity. How to do River Restoration…

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Resilient Rivers Blueprint

The International RiverFoundation is developing a blueprint for organizations internationally to commit to and transform their rivers into resilient rivers.

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Resources for Industry

Ducks Unlimited provides research, guides and best management practices for the following topics: resource roads and wetlands guide, wetland road crossing and hydrological monitoring, and field guides for Boreal wetlands.

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Restoration Planning

The Northwest Fisheries Science Center has produced research projects on the following topics: restoration planning, assessments and problem identification, and restoration for a changing climate.

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Rock Sills

This NSLC Adopt A Stream fact sheet describes the purpose of rock sills, where they are applicable, what habitats are created, the advantages and disadvantages of using this technique and the design criteria.

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Stream Rehabilitation Training

The Stream Rehabilitation Training Program hosted by Trout Unlimited Canada provides information on the science and best practices of rehabilitating stream ecosystems and associated watersheds. The six workshops are designed for both conservation volunteers and…

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The Fish Habitat Primer

This document provides a description of Ontario aquatic ecosystems and habitat types, as well as advice on how to best work in and around water to minimize disturbance.

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The Fisheries Podcast

This weekly informal podcast hosted by Nick Kramer in the United States highlights projects and people that make up the fisheries science profession.

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Traditional Media Relations Tips

When looking for publicity, the media will be interested to hear either (1) your expertise (2) your story. It is not enough to just share about funding, or even an event you want coverage at.…

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US Army Corps of Engineers

The US Army Corps of Engineers undertake restoration activities for wetlands, riparian habitat, floodplains and other aquatic systems, and provide descriptions of past and ongoing restoration projects.

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Water Crossing Design Guidelines

This document provides five different water crossing design methods: no slope culverts, stream simulation culvert designs, bridges, temporary culverts or bridges and hydraulic design fishways. There is a selection guide to help the designer determine…

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Watershed Approach Handbook

This handbook is intended to advance the use of a watershed approach in the selection, design and siting of wetland and stream restoration and protection projects. Over sixty-five examples are provided to capture a variety…

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Watershed Science Bulletin

The Watershed Science Bulletin is an online, peer-reviewed journal featuring practical, science-based solutions to water resource problems. The journal’s mission is to synthesize research and experience and transit it to those who need it to…

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Wetland BMP Knowledge Exchange

A venue for sharing and exchanging information about boreal wetland and waterfowl best management practices (BMPs) to raise awareness and foster collaboration between industry, government, academia, consulting, and conservation organizations.

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