Cutthroat in Porcupine Hills Ecological Restoration (CIPHER)

Nature-based Solutions and Conservation

Grantee

Trout Unlimited Canada

Status

In Progress

The CIPHER project will rehabilitate degraded Westslope Cutthroat Trout habitat in the Porcupine Hills. One major technique that Trout Unlimited Canada and partners will utilize to accomplish this is low-tech process-based restoration; this is a low-cost technique that will restore streams and surrounding riparian habitat by slowing the flow of water, reconnecting floodplains and keeping water on the landscape longer. These installations will increase local water storage capacity, improve ecosystem health and biodiversity, and help to recover local Westslope Cutthroat Trout populations. Critically, they will also help buffer the impacts of flood, drought and fire in streams throughout Alberta.