Featured Project

Artificial Reef Pilot Project Program for Marine Habitat Enhancement

Location
Prince Rupert, BC

An award-winning project showcasing innovation and design!

Milestone Environmental Contracting Inc. and  Keystone  Environmental Ltd. designed, constructed and deployed reef structures, with enhanced bottom sediments, for a Canadian National Railway sustainability initiative. This pilot program repurposed concrete rail-ties to build marine reefs in a Prince Rupert working harbour. The reefs will improve productivity of fish and marine life by increasing habitat vertically. Initial dive monitoring five months after installation showed marine life already beginning to use the reef structures as habitat. This initiative received wide scale support from the local community, First Nations, and local, Provincial and Federal Government. Transport Canada approved the project under the Navigation Protection Act after extensive consultations with the Prince Rupert Port Authority and local First Nations, including Kitsumkalum, Lax Kw’alaams Band, Gitga’at Nation, Gitxaala Nation, Meklakatla First Nation and Kitselas First Nation.

Type of Work
  • Marine Construction and Remediation
Key Services
  • Design of reef elements. Pilot project construction of same through to full scale implementation.
Key Highlights

A project that is unique to the rail industry and field of marine restoration, both in Canada, the US and abroad, in that it is the first time in the world that scrap concrete rail ties have been re-purposed for fish habitat enhancement. Additionally, the project provides a beneficial reuse option for concrete railway ties, which would otherwise be stockpiled on right-of-way land or landfilled. By demonstrating the successful creation of marine habitats at the Prince Rupert pilot-study water-lot, CN hopes to explore the application of this design in other locations where marine life is threatened or compromised due to human activities.

This project received an Environmental Managers Association (EMA) Award 2019 for Technological Innovation and Environmental Assessment.

Want to know more about this project?

Join us for our next webinar on Indigenous Engagement, Inclusion, and Capacity Building. Attend the live broadcast and Milestone will donate a tree through One Tree Planted. Registration is free.