THUNDER BAY — Work is scheduled to start this summer on a significant piece of property on the city’s north-side waterfront, but it’s not another major construction project.
The North Shore of Lake Superior Remedial Action Plan (RAP) group is partnering with the current owner of the property where the Superior Fine Papers mill used to stand to reorient an existing creek to better its chances of attracting native aquatic species.
Alan Cheeseman, who owns the land, said while he intends to attract business or industry to the southern part of the property where the mill building itself used to be, he wants to maintain the approximately 10 northernmost hectares essentially undeveloped — as a mix of natural habitat and useable greenspace.
“I think the greenspace is important, I think it has a value in the (property) development in the future,” he said, adding that it will help with filtration of surface water runoff before it hits Lake Superior. Cheeseman also owns Wilderness North, which has its base of operations next door.
The creek (which is currently more like a ditch) now enters the property from some drainage infrastructure to the west and generally follows an old access road towards Lake Superior. The goal, said Tim Hollinger, the Remedial Action Plan coordinator, is to reorient it so it reverts to closer to how it likely ran prior to industrial development — which means moving it north, changing its course (including routing it through an existing pond and coastal wetlands) and adjusting its flow towards the Great Lake.
“The current stream course follows that road as a ditch, which isn't necessarily ideal for fish habitat,” Hollinger said. “We've done fishery surveys on this creek and have found little to no life at this point.”
“We have historical maps indicating that a Coaster Brook Trout creek existed here on this property at one point before.”
The creek will essentially be reoriented through an area where a bark slash pile for the mill used to stand, which has now largely grown in with natural vegetation and trees.
Cheeseman said he’s been working with Lakehead University (where the RAP office is based) and the action plan group for several years now to, firstly better understand the environmental remediation that needs to be done at the former mill property, then as an interested partner.
“We created a partnership to begin with and then we got involved in the property after that,” he said.
For the remedial action plan group, this site rehabilitation is one of several ongoing longterm projects that aim to restore wildlife and natural habitats that were decimated by decades of industrial activity along Thunder Bay’s waterfront and its rivers.
At the Superior Fine Papers site, the physical work of reorienting the stream is expected to begin this year. Hollinger said it’s exciting.
“We've really been working towards a common goal for this site for over six years now,” he said of his group’s partnership with Cheeseman, calling him “exemplary” to work with.
“To finally be at this phase (where) we have plans, we're working on getting the detailed engineering drawings complete in the next few months here and then we'll have shovels in the ground … to reach this point is pretty neat.”
Cheeseman, likewise, said he is committed to the partnership and its goals.
The project total is expected to be more than $700,000, Cheeseman said, adding that his own money, as well as that from senior levels of government is being used.
He said he’s committed to ensuring the planned greenspace stays that way.
“Whatever is north of the creek will end up natural — as long as we own the property that's how we'll do it,” he said. “We're looking for ways of ensuring that stays that way as we move forward.”
