Shoreline restoration on Sturgeon Lake, from Fenelon Falls to Bobcaygeon

Not a vertical one. Kawartha Conservation does not permit vertical shoreline retaining walls, armour stone included. It allows armour stone upland, about 1 m back from the normal high-water mark, with sloped rock at the toe. That is how we use it: steps and seating walls up the bank, river rock at the water.

Sturgeon holds walleye, muskellunge and bass. In southern Ontario, DFO restricts in-water work from March 15 to July 15 where walleye and bass share a lake, and Parks Canada permits can pause work for spawning. Parks Canada asks for applications several months ahead, so we file early and time the build to the open window.

Most of our shoreline builds start around $20,000. Frontage, how far the bank has slumped, whether a failed wall comes out and how many armour stone steps go in move the number. The road allowance is separate: the City charges $9.00 per sq ft on the lake, $3.50 on the Scugog River. We price it at the free consult.

On the Kawartha lakes, almost always two. Parks Canada permits all work on the bed and waters of the Trent-Severn lakes, including shoreline stabilization, and the conservation authority permits work in its regulated area along the shore. We prepare and file both.

Kawartha Conservation's published guidance steers away from hardened shorelines, meaning retaining walls, sheet piles and armour stone at the water's edge. What it recommends is river rock in mixed sizes on a 3:1 slope along the natural contour, native plants and a no-mow buffer. We design to that, and put armour stone where it earns its place: steps, seating walls and terraces up the bank.

On lakes that hold walleye and bass, which is most of the Kawarthas, Fisheries and Oceans Canada's timing window keeps in-water work off-limits from March 15 to July 15 while fish spawn. Parks Canada permits are valid for one year, so we file in fall or winter and schedule the build for the open window.

Kawartha Conservation publishes its timelines: a streamlined permit is checked for completeness in 10 days and issued within 14 more, a standard minor permit in 14 plus 21 days. Parks Canada asks for applications several months before the start date. That is why fall is the time to start.

Yes. Removing a failed timber, concrete or stone wall is shoreline work too, so it goes through the same permits, and the bank is re-sloped and planted where the wall stood.

By the length of frontage, the slope, how machines and stone get to the water, and what the permits require. You get a written price after the site visit, with the permit work priced in the same quote.