Volunteers help Parks Canada with riparian restoration at Cascade Creek

It takes a lot of staff and volunteer hands to transplant well over 6,000 plants to date, along the banks of Cascade Creek that will stabilize the environment, regulate water temperatures, and enhance the habitat.

Parks Canada is in a multi-year restoration project at Cascade Creek just north of Banff that's fed primarily by Lake Minnewanka. The creek flow has been restored and turned into a viable habitat for native west slope cutthroat trout.

Now Parks is getting help from volunteers to replenish its vegetation along the waterway.

"Our goal here is to plant several different types of plants," said Nicole Sulewski, a Parks Canada.Cascade Creek restoration field biologist.

"(There are) lots of willows, balsam poplar, as well as some sedges and other native plants primarily to fill spaces where we've recently removed some non-native grasses, specifically reed canary grass, which has been really taking over this area next to the creek," Sulewski said.

She added that  there are many benefits to restoring plant life along the creek, one is shade to keep the fish cool on a hot summer day.

"As they grow taller, they're going to provide some cover so fish can hide under them from predators," she said. "They're going to add some food sources as well, bugs that land on them may fall in the creek and become food for our new fish."

Restocked creek

Recently Parks restocked the creek with 18,000 west slope cutthroat trout with 97 per cent of the eggs hatching. While the water is now the perfect habitat for the fish, the surrounding creek bank is harder to work with.

"It is a really tricky growing environment here," Suelwski said. "But we do what we can to give those new plants a boost. We put in a little bit of something called worm castings, which are good soil amendments and help give the plants a little bit of extra nutrients."

At the end of September, Parks Canada and volunteers will put in more than 900 plants.

Angela Ten, a Trout Unlimited Canada management biologist has been keeping track of the Cascade Creek project for the last year and says the organization has been working more with Parks Canada.

"It warms my heart to see so many people care and want to give back and just do more for the  places that they like recreating in," she said. "Which is ultimately what keeps places like the (National) Park so sustainable long term."

Volunteer Devon Zuchotzki is from Calgary and struggling to dig holes in the rocky soil.

"Well, I think it's important to preserve the nature around us," he said. "I come out almost every weekend, I enjoy and love the environment I want to see it continue to thrive, and keep growing."

Hailey Punt is also a volunteer who came out from Calgary to get her hands dirty.

"I really am passionate about the environment," she said. "So anyway that I can help restore and keep it back to its natural environment, I will do that."