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Main Office Phone Numbers : 613-692-3571 / 1-800-267-3504
Staff Directory
The Rideau Valley Conservation Authority (RVCA) is conducting several hazard mapping studies on watercourses within the City of Ottawa and the RVCA area of jurisdiction. For some watercourses, old mapping will be updated; and for others, hazards maps will be created for the first time.
From October to December 2014 the landlocked Brewer Park Pond and former artificial swimming hole was reconnected to the main channel of the Rideau River. The newly connected pond boasts increased biodiversity with the creation of a new, vibrant wetland and pond with shoreline plantings, breeding bird habitat, amphibian habitat, turtle nesting beds and basking logs. The pond will provide improved spawning, nursery, rearing and feeding habitat for the local fish community in the Rideau all year round. This part of the Rideau River is home smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, yellow perch, northern pike, walleye and muskellunge.
Project Highlights:
- 16,000 square metres of new, functioning wetland and fish habitat in the heart of the City of Ottawa
- 1,000 truckloads of soil removed to contour pond into more productive habitat
- 120 community volunteers helped plant over 1,600 trees, shrubs and aquatic plants in and around the pond
- 8 weeks of construction from October to December 2014
- Numerous basking logs, root wads and log piles installed as habitat for turtles, fish, amphibians
Ecological benefits:
- Reconnected pond allows fish species year-round access in and out of the pond into the main river
- Eliminates the potential for fish kills as a result of low oxygen conditions in the pond over winter and summer months
- Altered elevations creates conditions suitable for more diverse aquatic vegetation
- New functional spawning, nursery, rearing and food supply habitat created in the restored wetland for fish in the adjacent reach of the Rideau River
- Provides new and enhanced winter and summer refuge areas for fish
- Increased biodiversity.
- Enhanced wetland improves water quality in the Rideau River
Project Partners
- Fisheries and Oceans Canada
- Fish Biology & Conservation Physiology Lab
- Carleton University
- Minto
- Muskies Canada
- MNRF
- City of Ottawa
- Ottawa South Community Association
- Richcraft
Information
Jennifer Lamoureux
Aquatic and Fish Habitat Biologist,
Rideau Valley Conservation Authority
613-692-3571 ext. 1108
The Hearts Desire Weir is a low-head inline structure operated seasonally on the Jock River between two communities, Hearts Desire and Stonebridge. The Jock River is a tributary river to the Rideau River located about 900 m downstream of the weir. The weir was constructed in 1975 to: provide higher summer flows and thereby improve habitat conditions for fish and wildlife; ensure adequate water for livestock watering; provide community ponds for fire protection and community beautification; and improve the year-round appearance of the river and lessen the likelihood of future pollution problems resulting from expanding urbanization.
Over the last 42 years, a great deal about the watercourse and its neighbouring communities has changed, including:
- concepts on how rivers and watersheds are managed,
- occupational health and safety risks associated with the annual installation and removal of the weir,
- concerns from local community groups about slope failures and erosion upstream of the weir; and,
- indications from whitewater enthusiasts that the weir site is considered to be hazardous by canoeists and kayakers.
In February 2008, the RVCA Board of Directors approved the development of a plan to decommission the Hearts Desire Weir. In response to public input, a restoration plan for the Jock River and its riverbank was also initiated. The decommissioning plan and restoration plan is now in draft form and ready for public input.
The RVCA is committed to maintaining the current operation of the weir until such a time that the Board of Directors chooses an alternative.
For more information, contact Terry Davidson at or 613-692-3571 ext. 1107 or Mike Yee at or ext. 1176.
Resources
Shoreline Property Owner Package, November 2013
- Hearts Desire Weir Decommissioning and Riparian Restoration Plan Protocol
- Landowner Contact — Shoreline Site Visits
- Landowner Contact Surveying of Estimated Water Levels
Hearts Desire Riparian Restoration Concept Report, October 2011
hd-Riparian_Restoration_PlanFINAL.pdf
Appendix I: Community Representatives Meeting Minutes - September 2010 and Open House Meeting Notes - December 2010
Parish Geomorphic Hydraulic Modeling Technical Report, July 2011(11 mb)
J.L. Richards and Associates Ltd. Jock River Conservation Study, June 1968