(A 35 tonne box culvert is chained to Goldie Mohr’s delivery trailer. Photo: Phil Sweetnam)
Poole Creek, in the heart of Stittsville, is a vital and rare cold to cool water stream that sustains a unique ecological system of great environmental and recreational value to the community. Flowing through Stittsville, it drains into the Carp River. The Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority (MVCA) has stewardship for Poole Creek.
Phil Sweetnam is a Stittsville business owner on Sweetnam Drive and a 40-year service member of the MVCA. Phil shared with us photos and emphasized that he was “impressed by the work being done to upgrade the culvert system at the Poole Creek crossing”.
Phil told Stittsville Central, “the City of Ottawa has made a significant investment in upgrading the Poole Creek crossing at Sweetnam Drive. The 36-year old steel culverts had reached the end of their life span as shown by the picture (below) of the culvert with the small holes in it. Two cranes were available to lift the eight 35 tonne culvert sections. During the installation the crane was close enough to the culvert site that the installations I saw only utilized one crane.”
The MVCA has monitored the creek for shoreline erosion, plant survival, invasive species and blockage locations over the years. Brown trout are the prominent fish species found in Poole Creek. In 2018, an amazing discovery was made in Poole Creek – the presence of an American Eel (an endangered species in Ontario). Eels can be found in the Ottawa River, but have never been sighted this far afield in the Carp River watershed.
