Aboiteaufarming on reclaimedmarshlandis alabor-intensivemethod in which earthendikesare constructed to stop high tides from inundating marshland.
A woodensluiceor aboiteau (plural aboiteaux) is built into the dike, with a hinged door (clapper valve) that swings open atlow tideto allow fresh water to drain from the farmland, but swings shut athigh tideto preventsalt waterfrom inundating the fields.[1][2]After several years, the rainwater drained from the marsh eliminates the soil's salinity, making it suitable for farming.
Aboiteau farming is intimately linked with the story ofFrench Acadiancolonization of the shores of Canada'sBay of Fundyin the 17th and 18th centuries.[3]The Acadians constructed earthen dikes to isolate areas ofsalt marshfrom repeated inundation by the tides. Noted Acadian dikes include the diking of the tidal marshes atGrand-Pré(in contemporaryNova Scotia) in the early 1680s.[4]Around 1755, 13,000 acres of salt marsh were reclaimed using this dike forpasturageand intensive agricultural production.[5]
In theKamouraska regionof theSt. Lawrence ValleyofQuebec,aboiteau diking of salt marshes was closely tied to the modernization of agriculture in the 19th and early 20th centuries.[6]
A rare original aboiteau is the jewel of theWest PubnicoAcadian Museums' artifacts. In 1990, local residents found a couple of boards sticking out of an eroding beach onDouble Island,West Pubnico. They returned to the site in 1996 to remove the aboiteau, to preserve and display it at the museum.[7]
In summer 2023, during record-breaking wildfires,[8]the government of Nova Scotia ordered the closing of an aboiteau at theWindsorcauseway “to maximize the water supply available in the event of wildfires”.[9]The aboiteau's opening in March 2021 had caused nearby Lake Pisiquid to drain.[10]
References
edit- ^"More funding for shifting aboiteau" - Metro NewsArchivedJune 5, 2011, at theWayback Machine
- ^"Excavation uncovers Acadian aboiteau" - Amherst Daily News
- ^Hatvany, M. G. "The Origins of the Acadian Aboiteau: An Environmental Historical Geography," Historical Geography, 30 (2002): 121-137.
- ^Bleakney, J. Sherman (2004).Sods, Soil, and Spades: The Acadians at Grand Pré and Their Dikeland Legacy.Montreal: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. pp.81.ISBN0-7735-2816-4.
- ^Hatvany, Matthew George (2003).Marshlands: Four Centuries of Environmental Change on the Shores of the St. Lawrence.Sainte-Foy: Presses Université Laval. pp. 44–45.ISBN2-7637-8049-0.
- ^Hatvany, M. G.Marshlands: Four Centuries of Environmental Change on the Shores of the St. Lawrence(Québec: Les Presses de l'Université Laval, 2003).
- ^Musée des Acadiens des Pubnicos et Centre de recherche
- ^Yousif, Nadine (2023-06-01)."Nova Scotia battles its largest wildfire on record".BBC News.Retrieved2023-06-02.
- ^Jamal, Yara (2023-06-01)."N.S. government closes aboiteau at Windsor causeway, state of emergency declared".CTV News.Retrieved2023-06-02.
- ^"Government Closes Aboiteau at Windsor Causeway to Protect Nova Scotians".Nova Scotia Emergency Management Office. 2023-06-01.Retrieved2023-06-02.