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Protect our creek for a better future
Help Waring's Creek remain suitable for all life, including Brook Trout and the endangered Blanding's turtle
About the Creek
Our Vision
The Waring's Creek Improvement Association (WCIA) is a community-based group of citizens, mainly residents of Prince Edward County, who are engaged in the rehabilitation and preservation of Waring's Creek.
The WCIA is locally based, but its concerns for the local ecology have worldwide implications. Communities can make a difference in the quality of their local environment.
PECs Only Cold-Water Creek
At one time known as Trout Creek, Waring's Creek drains a watershed of over 3500 acres in the western portion of the island known as Prince Edward County (PEC), Ontario's smallest county. "The County", as it is affectionately known, is a predominately rural oasis in the sea of urban and suburban development that stretches along Lake Ontario's western and north shores from Niagara to Kingston.
Being cold water, or groundwater fed, Waring's Creek is the only stream in PEC with temperature and water quality attributes that can support Eastern Brook Trout (Salvelinus fontinalis)
Waring's Creek drains its watershed into West Lake, a small body of water formed when the Sandbanks, one of the outstanding freshwater shoreline features of eastern North America, surrounded and captured several acres of Lake Ontario. Several hundred thousand visitors use nearby Sandbanks Provincial Park annually.
Our Impact
Waring's Creek is a typical, southern Ontario sandplain stream, with low flows and relatively high nutrient levels, capable of supporting eastern brook trout populations. (Source: Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters).
Since 1993, the WCIA has expended great efforts in rehabilitation. To date, a 3-km. stretch of the Creek has been dramatically improved. More than 15,000 trees have been planted to control erosion. The results are becoming apparent as the watercourse begins to once again take on the characteristics of a meandering, cold water creek. Silting has been reduced and the water temperature has dropped.
Significant cold-water habitat and indicator species are in evidence. With continued effort by adjacent landowners and the WCIA plus lack of disturbance, the Creek may soon be able once again to sustain brook trout.