Barrie Creeks, Lovers Creek, and Hewitt's Creek Subwatershed Plan

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The Barrie Creeks, Lovers Creek and Hewitt’s Creek Subwatershed Plan Legislation and policy restrictions are the primary source of protection for aquatic natural heritage features in the Lake Simcoe watershed. However, some stresses are better suited to policy and regulation than others. For example, stressors such as climate change and invasive species are hard to regulate; however, activities related to the loss of habitat, or capture and killing of fish are much easier to define and enforce. The Federal Fisheries Act defines fish habitat as “spawning grounds and nursery, rearing, food supply and migration areas on which fish depend directly or indirectly in order to carry out their life process”. Thus, fish habitat includes not only the water itself, but also the physical structure of watercourses, the vegetation along their banks, and factors related to the quality of water. As such, the Fisheries Act prohibits (unless authorized), the installation of dams or other structures within watercourses that obstruct the passage of fish, the modification of a natural watercourse (e.g. straightening, enclosing, or hardening of the shoreline), or the removal of vegetation along the shoreline. The Fisheries Act is further complemented by the Lake Simcoe Protection Plan, which (outside designated settlement areas) establishes restrictions to development or site alteration within 100m of the Lake Simcoe shoreline (30m in already built-up areas, subject to a natural heritage evaluation) (policies 6.1 and 6.2), or within 30m of wetlands and watercourses, with natural heritage evaluations necessary for development proposed within 120m of the feature (policies 6.22 – 6.25). Exemptions to these policies are provided for existing uses, municipal infrastructure, and aggregate operations. These activities will be required to demonstrate that they maintain or improve fish habitat in the watercourse, wetland, or riparian area. Within designated settlement areas, the Fisheries Act is complemented by municipal official plans. The City of Barrie Official Plan protects sensitive surface water features and their related hydrological functions, by prohibiting development in Provincially Significant wetlands (and other wetlands larger than 0.5 ha), and in valley and stream corridors, with riparian vegetation zones required as necessary to support resident cold water or warm water fish communities (policy 4.7.2.5). The Town of Innisfil Official Plan protects aquatic habitats and ecosystem function by prohibiting development outright in Provincially Significant wetlands, as well as prohibiting development within 30m of the Lake Simcoe shoreline and all watercourses and non- Provincially Significant wetlands, unless the proponent can demonstrate no negative impacts will occur to the feature or its functions (policy 3.1.1). Beyond the protection of aquatic habitat features themselves, processes related to groundwater flow (including both recharge and discharge) are also protected by a suite of policy mechanisms. The Lake Simcoe Protection Plan requires LSRCA (in partnership with MOE and MNR) to define and map ecologically significant groundwater recharge areas throughout the watershed. Ecologically significant groundwater recharge areas are those which are necessary to support coldwater fish habitat or wetlands. Once identified, municipalities are required to incorporate these features into their official plans together with policies to protect, improve or restore the function of the recharge areas. Currently, LSRCA, in partnership with MNR and MOE, is conducting a pilot study in the Barrie Creeks, Lovers Creek, and Hewitt’s Creek subwatershed areas to test the sensitivity of the different methodologies to identify these ecologically significant groundwater recharge areas. The City of Barrie Official Plan has such a policy framework in place, to be triggered upon the identification of ecologically significant groundwater recharge areas. These policies include controls over major development and expansion of designated settlement areas. Similarly, the Town of Innisfil Official Plan controls development in significant groundwater recharge areas, by requiring proponents to conduct detailed studies of the recharge area to ensure that the hydrological integrity of the feature is protected during development. Chapter 5: Aquatic Natural Heritage 253
The Barrie Creeks, Lovers Creek and Hewitt’s Creek Subwatershed Plan Drainage works such as those permitted under the Provincial Drainage Act are exempt from many of the policy provisions provided under the Lake Simcoe Protection Plan and municipal official plans, but are not exempt from the requirements of the Federal Fisheries Act or the Provincial Regulation on development and interference with wetlands (O. Reg. 179/06). Maintenance of existing designated drains requires class authorization under the Fisheries Act, and proposed new drains are subject to full review to ensure no harmful alteration occurs to fish habitat. For infrastructure or other works occurring in water, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources is responsible for determining in-water work timing restrictions to ensure that fish and other aquatic life are permitted to carry out critical life processes undisturbed. These restrictions are based on the presence of warm and cold water thermal fish communities as determined by contemporary thermal regime and fisheries studies. 5.5.2 Restoration and remediation Heritage Park – City of Barrie There is a range of programs operating in these subwatersheds to assist private landowners in improving the environmental health of its tributaries. The Landowner Environmental Assistance Program (LEAP) is a partnership between the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority, its member municipalities, and the York, Durham and Simcoe chapters of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture. This program provides technical and financial support to landowners in the Lake Simcoe watershed wanting to undertake stewardship projects on their land. Project types which have traditionally been funded by the LEAP program include removing barriers from streams, adding bottom-draw structures to online ponds, and fencing and planting riparian areas, among others. Since 1989, in addition to projects focussed specifically on protecting water quality, LEAP has supported five riparian buffer plantings in the Barrie Creeks subwatershed, one riparian buffer project, and one bottomdraw installation on an online pond in the Lovers Creeks subwatershed, and five projects including streambank fencing and riparian restoration in the Hewitt’s Creek subwatershed. The Ontario Ministries of Natural Resources, Environment, and Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs provide the Lake Simcoe Community Stewardship Program for non-farm rural landowners in the Lake Simcoe watershed. This program is intended to provide non-farm rural residents with financial and technical assistance in implementing projects such as shoreline stabilization, erosion control, and fish habitat improvements, among others. In the Barrie Creeks, Lovers Creek and Hewitt’s Creek subwatersheds, this program is implemented in partnership with the Dufferin/South Simcoe Land Stewardship Network and the South Simcoe Streams Network. The Lake Simcoe Community Stewardship Program has implemented three shoreline improvement projects in the Barrie Creeks subwatershed thus far. The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs has also partnered with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association to provide the Environmental Farm Program to registered farm landowners throughout the province. This farmer-focused program provides funding to landowners who have successfully completed an Environmental Farm Plan for projects including management of riparian areas, streambank fencing, and nutrient management. Through this program no projects that would directly improve aquatic natural heritage have been completed in the City of Barrie, while less than five have been implemented in the Town of Innisfil. Chapter 5: Aquatic Natural Heritage 254
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Barrie Creeks, Lovers Creek, and He
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Acknowledgements The Barrie Creeks,
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• East of the Barrie Creeks subwa
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Fish Habitat -Fish communities in t
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Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS
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3.5.4 Water Temperature - thermal d
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5.3.11 Climate Change 237 5.4 ASSES
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6.5.10 Improving data management 31
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LIST OF FIGURES CHAPTER 1 Figure 1-
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Figure 2-34: Annual precipitation (
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CHAPTER 4 Figure 4-1: Hydrologic cy
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Figure 5-11: Pathways by which impe
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Figure 7-11: Riparian area with app
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Table 3-4: Surface water quality co
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CHAPTER 5 Table 5-1: Fish species c
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The Barrie Creeks, Lovers Creek and
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Creek ANNE ST N BAYFIELD ST N LINE
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7.4 Urban interactions - land use,
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Figure 7-9: An urban landscape with
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7.5 In-stream interactions - activi
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Barrie Creeks, Lovers Creek, and Hewitt's Creek Subwatershed Plan

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