Saturday, September 30, 2017 was a beautiful fall morning to explore a local conservation area on Holt Line. We gathered in the parking area of the dam structure and heard from Darrell Randell of the construction of the floodway channel. This amazing engineering structure was completed in 1984 and is now an established wildlife corridor of 7 km from the dam to the St Clair River. We were in anticipation of what we would see as we began our way along the trail on the top of this great channel.
Along our way, Darrell shared stories of the history of the area prior to the dam construction and pointed out natural features
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Once we turned left from the walk along the channel, we were on what was Calahan Road.
This previously would have connected Holt Line with Smith Line until the floodway construction. This was a delightful walk along this gravel path. 
What a habitat for birds and insects and various wildlife. It was easy to picture the homes this area would be for pollinators and the fading goldenrod and asters presented a tapestry of fall.
Suddenly we came upon what we were hiking to see! The interior wetland created the Region Conservation Authority appeared in such a tranquil setting. Darrell taught us how this was constructed by raising the gravel and cinder road and removing the failed drainage pipe to capture the water into the low lying area. This area is perfect for wood duck staging and proved to be a very nice area to take a small hike to. We encourage you to check it out.
SFN thanks Darrell Randell for sharing his time and knowledge to show us this area
