Shoreline restoration on the Trent River, from Hastings to Campbellford

Yes. The Trent River is on Parks Canada's list of waterbodies under its jurisdiction, and all work on, under and over the bed, shoreline stabilization included, takes its permit. Permits run one year, work can be paused for fish spawning, and a Lower Trent Conservation permit can apply as well. We prepare and file both.

Parks Canada allows removal of submerged aquatic plants only after an application and review, and it does not permit removing emergent plants such as cattail, bulrush, pickerel weed and pond lily. Our work stays on the bank: a re-sloped face, stone at the toe and native planting above it.

Lower Trent Conservation updated its Trent River floodplain mapping from the Bay of Quinte to Hastings in 2023 and 2024, using the 100-year flood as the regulatory event, and the Trent Hills Official Plan allows no further shoreline residential development in that floodplain. We check your lot against the mapping before we draw the plan.

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.