Kennebecasis Watershed Restoration Committee
Worth Wading Into
Livestock Fencing
Creating Buffer Zones
Allowing livestock free access to riparian zones inevitably results in the destruction of riparian vegetation. Restoration requires exclusion of livestock from the riparian zone. Every year the KWRC helps farmers install hundreds of meters in various forms of livestock fencing, before planting native trees and shrubs in the riparian zone. The KWRC has erected over 57km of fencing to protect fragile riparian areas from the impacts of continual livestock presence. This is a distance that would take you from Sussex to Petitcodiac.
Benefits of Livestock Fencing:
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1. Increased bank and stream channel stability.
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2. Improved water quality.
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3. Improved herd health.
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4. Reduction of E. coli and nutrient flow into streams.
Stabilized Fording Sites
Since crop and pasture lands often straddle watercourses, providing safe crossings for livestock and equipment with reduced potential for negative water quality effects is critical. Additionally, watering livestock at rivers is often the only practical option for agricultural producers. The KWRC has used stable fording sites as both watering locations for livestock as well as crossings for farm equipment. The approaches are properly aligned and hardened, and the stream bottom is stabilized with hard rock to prevent erosion and rutting. Since 1994 the KWRC has installed 85 stabilized fording sites in the watershed.
Some of our farm friends at our Millstream Demonstration Site
Benefits of Stabilized Fording Sites:
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1. Reduction in stream bank erosion.
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2. Improved herd health.
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3. Improved aquatic habitat availability.
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4. Reduced risk of stream contamination from faulty equipment becoming stuck in stream.
One of our fording sites. This area has been stabilized underground with large pieces of rock to prevent erosion.