The Bjerkness-Fletcher basin forms the community watershed for the Mirror Lake and Fletcher neighbourhood and are a very popular winter recreation destination.
Brenton Industries completed the remediation of the Bjerkness creek diversion during the first weeks of February. The work was made possible by the low snow accumulation this winter and coincided with the annual low flow in the creek. Raging spring freshets, typical for the extensive and steep Bjerkness-Fletcher basin, have breached the main channel at various times throughout history. One larger event occurred 5 years ago. Melt water cascaded down the lower end of the Bjerkness-Fletcher access road onto the Back Road behind Mirror Lake, damaging both roads. Floods extended as far as Fletcher Creek. The immediate solution redirected the flow back into the main channel via two large swales in Bjerkness Road, and this band-aid has remained in place until now.
The objective of the remediation was to install long term protection for the Mirror Lake community water supply and to prevent future diversions from flowing south to Fletcher Creek.
The diversion was contained in a channel of adequate size to service large freshet run-off and potential future breaches. It is separated from the northern edge of the road by a large berm which will over time establish trees and shrubs.
Straw silt trap placed during construction.
Please respect this Community Watershed area.
We would like to thank Irma Aldinger for her generous help with quarry rock to armor the channel walls !