The Etchemin River is a river in the
Chaudière-Appalaches
Chaudière-Appalaches (, ) is an administrative region in Quebec, Canada. It comprises most of what is historically known as the " Beauce" (; compare with the electoral district of Beauce). It is named for the Chaudière River and the Appalachia ...
region of eastern
Quebec
Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
.
It gave its name to
Les Etchemins Regional County Municipality
Les Etchemins is a regional county municipality in the Chaudière-Appalaches region of eastern Quebec, Canada. It is named for the Etchemin River which finds its source in the region, as well as Etchemin Lake. Lac-Etchemin is the seat of the R ...
. The river itself was named for the
Abenaki
The Abenaki ( Abenaki: ''Wαpánahki'') are Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands of Canada and the United States. They are an Algonquian-speaking people and part of the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Eastern Abenaki language was pred ...
native people of the area who the
French called "les Etchemins." The source of the river is not Etchemin Lake but a little east of the lake, in
Saint-Luc-de-Bellechasse.
The Etchemin River, which had become been the victim of pollution for decades, became the topic of conversation in 1993, when a few residents of
Saint-Léon-de-Standon began work on a project to revive the
Atlantic salmon
The Atlantic salmon (''Salmo salar'') is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Salmonidae. It is the third largest of the Salmonidae, behind Hucho taimen, Siberian taimen and Pacific Chinook salmon, growing up to a meter in length. Atlan ...
in the river. The project was scoffed at in the beginning since damming and logging along the Etchemin's shore and agricultural runoff and dumping had polluted the river so much that Atlantic salmon had been last seen there two centuries earlier. Although the odds were against them, locals from different riverbank communities began work on the river and formed the Comité de restauration de la rivière Etchemin (CRRE). Work then began to plant over 15,000 trees on the riverbanks and to make salmon-friendly rapids and shelters for spawning. In 2002, the first adult Atlantic salmon was spotted in the river.
See also
*
List of rivers of Quebec
This is a list of rivers of Quebec. Quebec has about:
*One million lakes, of which 62279 have a toponymic designation (a name), plus 218 artificial lakes;
*15228 watercourses with an official toponymic designation, including 12094 streams and 313 ...
References
Rivers of Chaudière-Appalaches
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