A new bridge on the Marten Hills Road should help fish repopulate the upper part of Muskeg Creek. Built by BP Energy last winter, the bridge replaces one of the notorious ‘hanging culverts’ that biologists so dislike.
“Forestry asked us if we could do something about it,” says Gerry Symonds, BP’s foreman for the job. “We’re trying to do the right thing.”
The right thing in this case cost about half a million dollars. The culvert, as culverts in hilly terrain often end up, was hanging over the eroded streambed on the downstream side. According to Fisheries biologist David DeRosa, this is quite a common problem in some areas, and it effectively cuts off upstream fish migration. He’s happy with BP’s action on the Muskeg Creek crossing, as is Iain Johnston, the government forester who worked with BP in the initial stages in proposing the bridging project.
“They stepped up to the plate,” Johnston says. “I’m very pleased.”
DeRosa says there’s a need for similar remediation work in the Swan Hills, and some of it is happening. Devon Canada is getting rid of a weir on the Swan River that it doesn’t need anymore for its water needs. For years the weir has impeded fish traffic. A fish ladder at the site doesn’t work very well, he says.
“There have been lots of problems with it,” he says. “It’s prime spawning and rearing area for Arctic grayling.”
Devon Special Projects Supervisor Tim McTaggart says the weir job is one of the projects the oil and gas company has for the Swan Hills, where high water last fall caused a lot of problems at stream crossings. McTaggart says Devon plans to put in some bridges and rebuild some roads to bypass streams altogether. An example is Edith Creek, which one road crosses three times. Devon will solve it by putting in one bridge and re-routing the road so as to be able to retire three culverts.
As for the Marten Hills, Symonds says his company will likely continue to improve its stream crossings in the interests of the environment. It won’t be bridges in every case, but “there are a number of things we can do,” he says.
Herb Ziegler was the BP engineer who planned and got approval for the Muskeg Creek project. It took place in January and February of this year. BP has extensive natural gas operations in the Marten Hills, northeast of Slave Lake.

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