Hello my name is Seija Deschenes and I'm the Project Coordinator for Manitoulin Streams Improvement Association https://www.manitoulinstreams.com/

This year, Manitoulin Island (Mindoo Mnising) endured mass flooding across the Island in which 5 communities declared a State of Emergency. Manitoulin Streams and Billings Township have been assessing the damage caused along the Kagawong River and Bridal Veil Falls Trail since the devastating floods. Bridal Veil Falls is an economic driver for the Township of Billings as it is a highly visited tourist destination on Manitoulin Island. Due to the damage along the trails the Township had to block off the coveted trails that families and tourists have enjoyed over the years to ensure public safety.

The high-water levels and sheer volume of water that came downstream eroded most of the shoreline banks impacting the trail system and causing hundreds of trees to fall into the river, with many of them being transported downstream causing log jams. These log jams displaced the water toward the shoreline edges causing additional erosion. There was a substantial log jam built up on the pedestrian bridge which caused the water to divert around the bridge and wash out the gravel that connects the trails to the bridge. The erosion of gravel and force of the water caused the abutments to sink which will involve engineering. The health of the trees along the trail will need to be assessed and determined if they must be removed for safety reasons.

Much of the spawning gravel and stones in the middle to upper reach of the river was transported downstream creating large stone bars in the centre of the river. The stone bars displaced the water to the edges of the river shoreline causing additional erosion of the trails. There were 2 large landslides from the high embankments in which large stones and trees fell into the river and along the trail system. For these reasons, the Township must ensure public safety before opening the trail for locals and tourists.

An initial challenge was determining the cost of restoring the damage along the river and trails due to the significant area that it covered and the limited accessibility by machinery to many locations. As the in-water working period is coming to an end due to fall fish spawning we are scrambling to find funding to complete the emergency efforts within the next month. Manitoulin Streams has received quotes to help create a budget to restore the river and trail system.

As Manitoulin Streams and the Township investigated funding opportunities to help support these efforts, they realized that they didn’t qualify for various funds for this type of remediation and most funds were already allocated for other projects. As you can imagine the Township did not anticipate this in their annual budget. This is more than a 1-year project; and it will take a couple of years to restore the damage caused by the flooding. Due to the short timeline to conduct in-water work; a decision was made to seek funds for the immediate restoration work required before next year's spring freshet so that additional erosion doesn’t take place and then look at funding to restore the river for future years to come. Our goal is to raise $140,000 to complete the immediate actions required before this fall. We'd like to thank those that have donated already!

This river system is used by many fishermen during the spring trout and fall salmon spawning runs and families enjoy the trail system up to Bridal Veil Falls. I'm sure many of you have more reasons for enjoying this beautiful, scenic river and trail system.

Your gift will help restore the Kagawong River aquatic and fish habitat and the communities’ beloved trails for future generations! Any donation will help make an impact!

Let’s work together to restore this gem on Manitoulin Island and thank you in advance for your contribution to this cause, which means so much to the people of Manitoulin Island and those that visit this beautiful destination.

It really does take a community!

Thank you, Miigwetch, Merci!