Petitcodiac River
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The Petitcodiac River is a Canadian river located in southeastern New Brunswick.
Because of its colour, it is often nicknamed the "Chocolate River". The river is 129 km long and has a drainage basin of more than 2,000 km². There are approximately 175,000 people living in the watershed.
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[edit] River course
It originates in various tributaries throughout the Caledonia Highlands of northwestern Albert County and western Westmorland County. The river itself begins at the village of Petitcodiac where the Annagance River meets the North River.
Major tributaries include:
- Anagance River
- Little River
- North River
- Pollett River
From Petitcodiac, the river flows due east through a broadening valley past the village of Salisbury and then passing by the cities of Moncton and Dieppe and town of Riverview. At this point the river turns sharply south and drains past the village of Hillsborough before discharging into Shepody Bay at Hopewell Cape.
It is this 90º change in the course of the river at Moncton that gives it the name Petiticodiac; the name is derived from the Mi'kmaq word for "bends like a bow". Incidentally, one of the early names for the settlement that became known as Moncton was "The Bend".
[edit] Tidal Bore
The Petitcodiac exhibits one of North America's few tidal bores, a regularly occurring wave that travels up the river on the leading edge of the incoming tide, and hence a tidal wave in the truest sense of the term. The bore is actually caused by the extreme tides of the Bay of Fundy which, due to the rapid rise of water levels, forcibly sends a wave of water flowing upstream in rivers that normally flow into the ocean. This wave can vary in size depending on several factors including lunar phase and atmospheric pressure (storm surge) and is also influenced by the shape and the depth of the river. The incoming bore travels up the river on top of the outgoing water flow.
[edit] Fisheries
A commercial fishing industry existed on the Petitcodiac until the late 1960s (see Petitcodiac River Causeway) with species such as the Atlantic Salmon, Gaspereau (Alewife), Smelt and Sturgeon being important.
[edit] Cultural Settlement
The lower Petitcodiac River Valley was originally settled by Acadians in the early 18th century and they established a number of farming communities on the shoreline and adjacent marshes. The valley fell under English control during the Seven Years' War, after the fall of Fort Beausejour in 1755. The Acadian population was subsequently expelled with English resettlement beginning in 1766 with the arrival of seven Pennsylvania Dutch families at The Bend (Moncton); re-establishing the pre-existing farming community. Shipbuilding and railways would drive the valley's economy during the 19th and 20th centuries and would lead to the region becoming a major transportation, logistics and manufacturing area in the province.
Commercial shipping on the Petitcodiac River decreased in importance after the end of the wooden shipbuilding era in the 1870's, but the wharves of Moncton and Hillsborough remained active until the middle of the 20th century.
[edit] Causeway
- See also: Petitcodiac River Causeway
Historically, the river was a tidal estuary downstream from the farming community of Upper Coverdale, approximately 10 kilometres upstream from Moncton-Riverview.
In 1968 the construction of the Petitcodiac River Causeway created a permanent blockage to the natural flow of the river, resulting in the creation of the Petitcodiac headpond on the upstream side of the causeway. Downstream from the causeway, the river began to fill with silt, reducing the effect of the once-famous tidal bore and altering the river course for several kilometres. The river was formerly navigable to commercial vessels during the era of wind and sail, but the advent of large cargo ship effectively ended all commercial value of Moncton as a port.
The Petitcodiac River Causeway was constructed in 1968. The causeway was intended to satisify two goals.
- To provide a low-cost second crossing across the Petitcodiac River along with the pre-existing Gunningsville Bridge as a connector between Moncton and the growing bedroom community
- To control flooding in the flatlands along the river
The causeway is about a kilometer long, most of which is constructed on the flood plain with only a narrow sluiceway actually over the river channel which normally is kept closed. The causeway includes a fishway which was intended to allow fish to pass the causeway but this structure has proved to be ineffective.
The construction of the causeway had the following effects:
- Rapid siltation occurred downstream. It is noted that ihe river at Moncton was shallow in any event so it did not take much siltation to clog the channel.
- The narrowing of the river channel due to siltation reduced the size of the tidal bore.
- Contributing to the loss of indigenous fish species in the river causing commercial fisheries in all the rivers empting into the Bay of Funday to effectively collapse.
- In the early 1970s to locate the regional garbage landfill to a point along the Moncton shoreline just below the causeway in order to allow for a "land reclamation" project. To this day, toxic leahate continues to be discharged into a tributary of the Petitcodiac River despite a court order against the City of Moncton prohibiting such discharges.
- With the flooding controlled the lands of the former flood plains along the river have been developed as recreational area including walking paths, parklands and ballfields.
By the 1990s, the changes to the river was so apparent that citizens began to lobby to have the causeway removed, or at least to have the sluice gates opened up for a more natural water flow. This proposal was met with opposition from some residents concerned that the headpond would be lost and from landowners along the shoreline concerned with protecting their private land interests.
Concerned citizens seeking the removal of the causeway eventually formed Petitcodiac Riverkeeper. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visited the area on several occasions to lend his support. The landfill was closed but not cleaned up and remains as a serious problem. A number of reports and studies by the provincial and federal governments were undertaken to determine how best to rehabilitate the river and a comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment was released in 2005. This study concluded that the causeway should be removed and replaced with a 280-metre bridge to allow for natural water flow and restore fish passage.
In August 2007, the provincial government announced that the causeway gates would be opened and the bridge would be constructed to replace the causeway at a cost of $70 million. However, despite being a partner in the project all along, the federal government has refused to pay their share of the restoration project.
Despite the lack of federal government support for the project, public opinion is clearly on the side of restoration as are 9 of the 10 municipalities in the watershed. In addition, the Greater Moncton Chamber of Commerce has recently acknowledged the economic benefits associated with river restoration. Furthermore, in an unprecedented display of solidarity, student councils from all six high schools in the region banded together in 2007 in support of the river restoration.
[edit] Further reading
- Esther Clarke Wright, The Petitcodiac, Sackville: Tribune Press, 1945
- Edward Larracey, Chocolate River; A Story of the Petitcodiac River from the Beginning of Habitation in the Late 1600's Until the Building of the Causeway at Moncton, Hantsport N.S. Lancelot Press, 1985
[edit] External links
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