It’s too bad phosphorus doesn’t have a public relations team working on its behalf.
Essential for the creation of cell membranes and for the formation of teeth and bones in humans, phosphorus is a fundamental element of all living things.
In fact, it’s the 11th most common element on Earth.
It can’t be manufactured or destroyed and is one of the three ingredients — along with nitrogen and potassium — used in commercial fertilizers.
Lately, however, any talk about phosphorus is pretty much negative — it’s an evil chemical that spells disaster to streams and waterways.
“Phosphorus is a nutrient that’s important to all life. In balance, it’s critically important,” Fred Dobbs, manager of stewardship services at the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority (NVCA), said Wednesday morning.
Dobbs was speaking at a news conference at Napoleon Canada’s Oro-Medonte location, where a new partnership between the NVCA, Napoleon and the Midhurst Landowners Group to restore Willow Creek in the township was announced.
“When you have excess quantities in the stream, you get really abundant and heavy plant, and particularly algae, growth that creates a whole host of water quality problems,” he said.
“Managing phosphorus and keeping it at the right level is a really key strategy to maintaining a healthy aquatic system in the creek and maintaining water quality for a whole bunch of functions.”
According to the NVCA news release announcing the partnership, the project aims to improve the water quality in Willow Creek and Little Lake while enhancing habitat for fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals and birds by stabilizing eroding stream banks in an effort to reduce sediment and phosphorus runoff into the watercourse.
Dobbs said historical land uses, primarily agriculture, eliminated forest cover and removed the roots of trees and shrubs that held the land together and stabilized stream banks.
“As a result, the soil on the stream banks eroded, depositing large quantities of sediment and nutrients into local streams, impacting both water quality and fish habitat,” he said.
According to Dobbs, soil with roots in it is 50 times more resistant to the erosive impacts of moving water than bare sand. He said the compressive forces of soil and the tensile forces of the roots work together, much like concrete and rebar, to provide stability.
At the Napoleon site, crews will be flattening the south-side bank and will plant vegetation at a level where the roots provide the maximum stabilizing effect.
“Having that vegetation right down at water level creates a nice interface with the vegetation that is hanging in the creek and provides terrific habitat for fish and other things that live in the environment,” Dobbs said.
He said they will be planting a variety of moisture-loving species, including eastern white cedar, tamarack, and silver maple or the hybrid silver red maple — the freeman maple. They’ll also be planting moisture-loving shrubs, various willow species and red osier dogwood.
The cost of the bank restoration project, according to Dobbs, is around $200,000 — with the Midhurst Landowners Group providing about $170,000 of it. The provincial government also kicked in around $45,000 for floodplain wetland creation.
Vimal Patel, vice-president of land development at Geranium Corporation, is involved with the project because it was a way to demonstrate community involvement and commitment.
“We’re in this community for the next 15 to 20 years. We’re not leaving,” Patel said. “This will be the first of many projects to improve water quality in the watershed.”
Chris Schroeter, co-chief executive officer of Napoleon, had similar reasons to get involved.
“It’s part of our ESG — environmental sustainable governance. We donated the land and we work with our staff to volunteer to support the project,” he said.
“Employees want to be engaged with companies that are doing something positive. This is positive.”
