Avon River (Nova Scotia) - Causeway and Controversy

Causeway and Controversy

In 1970 the Avon River was completely obstructed by a rock and earth fill causeway immediately downstream from Windsor at its junction with the St. Croix River as part of the development of a controlled access expressway called Highway 101.

The Avon River Causeway replaced an existing road bridge upriver from town and also resulted in the rerouting of the Dominion Atlantic Railway's Halifax-Yarmouth main line which used to run through Windsor's downtown, crossing the river on a bridge parallel to the road bridge immediately upriver from the town.

The causeway controls the Avon River's discharge and the incoming tidal waters of the Minas Basin through a series of flood control gates which are intended to regulate the river's flowage to prevent flooding of agricultural lands upriver near Martock. The section of the Avon River upriver of the causeway along the Windsor waterfront is now a 'man-made' freshwater, Lake Pesaquid.

The construction of the causeway has dramatically affected the Avon River downstream from Windsor, with large parts of the once-navigable river now being obstructed by large mud flats and vegetation, owing to the lack of tidal exchange and freshwater discharge. The nature writer Harry Thurston has noted, "Almost before the last stone was put in place, sediment began to accumulate to an alarming rate - 5 to 14 centimetres per month. Within seven years, a four metre high island of silt formed on the seaward side of the causeway; and the effects were felt 20 kilometres downstream, where two metres of mud impaired navigation at Hantsport."

Dr. Michael Risk of the University of Guelph researching the build-up of a new mud flat on the seaward side of the causeway "estimated that the bottom-dwelling creatures at Windsor were experiencing a two-thirds mortality rate" which lead him to state the new formation was a "biological desert". The onset of the mud flat formation left the sediments in an initial state which were too soft to support organisms. The need to monitor and assess the impacts of such changes gave impetus to a greater interest in Bay of Fundy ecosystem and the ultimate establishment of the Acadia Centre for Estuarine Research (ACER) in Wolfville. Contrasting the initial decline of bottom-dwelling creatures, Dr. Graham Daborn of ACER found that zoo-plankton "are more abundant than previously thought. They appear to be able to thrive on non-living organic matter..." and that this "abundance of creatures at the lower end of the food chain suggests a considerable nursery role for the inner Bay." This notion is supported by research work completed by Dr. Sherman Bleakney of Acadia University.

Recently announced plans for the expansion of Highway 101 between the Halifax Regional Municipality and the eastern end of the Annapolis Valley have raised concerns about maintaining the Avon River causeway. An environmental lobby group, Friends of the Avon River (FAR), has called upon the Federal Fisheries Ministers to instigate a Comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment Study (CEIA) of the complete Avon River Watershed in order to protect the Endangered Atlantic Salmon, the COSWIC listed American Eel and their 'critical habitats'. The Avon River Causeway has 'zero' fish passageway. Thus, impeding all fish species needing to migrate to their freshwater habitats, in order to complete their lifecycles. FAR reviewed and supported a report to have a more indepth study regarding the protection of fish species before the expansion of gypsum quarries within the river's watershed because of threats to river life, citing the use de-watering runoff from the quarries.

A decision in August 2007 by the New Brunswick government to remove a similar causeway (constructed in 1968) blocking the Petitcodiac River, another tributary of the Bay of Fundy, to avoid facing charges under the federal Fisheries Act, is expected to have ramnifications for the Avon River causeway.