The Belcher Street Tidal Wetland Restoration Project is a partnership between CBWES Inc., the Coast Restoration Fund, the Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture, Saint Mary’s University, and local land owners. It is also the location of the Province’s first hybrid living shoreline for erosion control. The site was a mix of active and fallow agricultural land protected by dykes on both banks of the river channel which consequently eliminated the natural floodplain. The objective of the restoration project was to reduce the amount of dyke infrastructure, restore approximately 9.7 ha of wetland habitat, contribute to efforts to increase the resiliency of the river system, and reduce the flood risk to the towns of Kentville, New Minas, and Port Williams.

In spring of 2018 a section of the dyke was straightened, eliminating a sinuous piece that followed the riverbank, and was realigned at its western end near the boundary of the utilized agricultural lands - where the distance from the dyke to the uplands was the shortest. The section removed was leveled to the foreshore marsh elevation in conjunction with the creation of a drainage channel to allow tidal flooding and freshwater discharge. To reduce the erosion on a cut bank adjacent to the newly constructed section of dyke, a hybrid living shoreline was installed with a row of rock and root wads.

Over the years this site has seen incredible sediment growth with areas recorded with more than 30 cm of sediment deposition! It now has 100% vegetation.