A Day in the Life of CVC's Communications Technicians

A Day in the Life of CVC's Communications Technicians

7:30 a.m.
We arrive at the office and check our emails to see what’s outstanding for the day. We find that we have received a number of requests for updates to our corporate website from our departmental web coordinators.

7:45 a.m.
We decide on who does what changes and review the website to see if any other content needs to be updated.

8:30 a.m.
We need to revitalize the boardroom for the upcoming board meeting. We pick up the newly resized and plaqued images of the Credit River Watershed and head up to the boardroom where our custodian meets us to hang the photos. They look great!

9:00 a.m.
While one of us edits and creates the layout for the Spring newsletter, the other works on a new logo design for the Friends of Island Lake. In the midst of it all one of us is experiencing the warmth of the beautiful morning sun shining through the window, while the other reaches for her coat as a cool breeze is coming down on her from the ceiling. I thought it was supposed to be Spring? A staff member walks by and comments on how our office feels like a sauna.

10:00 a.m.
We scan six community newspapers published in our watershed for interesting environmental topics and articles related to the Credit River Watershed. Ohhh! We find an article about the Maple Syrup Festival at Island Lake and cut it out to add to the collection of news clippings.

10:40 a.m.
We continue working on our individual projects. Today we have a newsletter, brochure, advertisement and a poster to create. 90% of our work is done on the computers. Ding!! Microsoft Outlook greets us with a request to PDF a document that has to be sent out immediately and to print out some posters to distribute to the public.

12:00- 1:00 p.m.
We down our cheese blocks and salad and take a walk around the Glassford Trail outside of the office. Good thing we brought our walking shoes, it’s muddy!

1:10 p.m.
Time for our weekly communications meeting. We each report on what we’ve been working on and what lies ahead for the summer months. Our supervisor delegates upcoming projects, and there is plenty to do!

1:20 p.m.
A staff member drops in to submit a communications request. There’s never a dull day!

1:45 p.m.
We wrap up our meeting and get back to work. We try to identify photos of Spring birds and flowers to be used in some of our upcoming publications. We consult our trusty Natural Heritage staff for advice. We’re good but not that good at identifying the right species!

2:30 p.m.
We head down to the Meadowvale workshop. This is an exciting task for us as it’s not very often that we get to leave the office. We store some larger posters and displays at the shop and pick up some brochure requests.

3:00 p.m.
We replenish the display area with brochures and come back to find that we have a couple of voicemails. There’s a message from one of our vendors letting us know that they’ve set up our web portal which will help us to order prints and posters online. There’s also a message from one of our suppliers inquiring about final changes being made to one of the brochures they are designing. We respond to the messages and continue on with our duties for the day. We get a knock on our door – some of the seasonal staff has come to have their photo IDs taken.

3:30 p.m.
We check our website statistics to see who has been visiting the new website. We conclude that the school year must be coming to an end because the number of visits to the employment section of our website is off the charts. We also find that many people enjoy visiting our conservation areas as this is also another high traffic area.

4:00 p.m.
We are done for the day. After submitting a couple of our print materials to our Supervisor to sign off on, we head home and anticipate all of the things that tomorrow will entail.

Under the Naturalists' Eye: A Springtime Serenade

One evening last April, as I was driving along the winding roads near Terra Cotta Conservation Area, a sound came through my window that overpowered my car radio. I had just passed a marshy wetland and continued to drive up the next hill and then back down passing a small pond. Again the sound filled my car, and I pulled over to the shoulder. My ears were ringing, and my heart was singing. The Spring Peepers were back in action! This was my first serenade of the year, and with their song, my bones began to thaw with the thoughts of seasons to come.

The Spring Peeper is the smallest of Ontario’s frog species, barely bigger than a quarter. They are pale brown and have a darker brown X-shaped blotch on their back. Their size and colour may make this frog difficult to spot, but hearing them in the spring is never a problem. One of the first frogs to call in the early spring, this tiny frog signals to its mate that spring has arrived with a brilliant peep, peep, PEEP. While the sound of one may be loud, the sound of a pond full of peepers is truly overwhelming.

The Spring Peeper is just one of the ten frog and toad species you can find in the Credit River watershed. Each species can be identified by sound as well as by sight. Take a trip down to a pond or nearby marsh during the spring and summer and see who calls out. Do you hear the deep brr-rr-rr-um of the Bullfrog, or perhaps the high-pitched trill of the American Toad? The Green Frog’s call is said to resemble the sound of plucking a banjo string, and the Mink Frog, a distant hammering.

Frogs, and other amphibians, are indicators of a healthy environment. Their moist, semi-permeable skin makes them vulnerable to pollution and changes in our environment. With their unique and noisy breeding calls it is easy to locate and identify frog populations. Our Terrestrial Monitoring Program observes and tracks changes in the frog populations of our watershed, to shed some light on our watershed’s health.

To learn more about amphibians of the Credit River watershed and how you can get involved, join our staff for CVC’s Sounds of Spring Hike, Wednesday April 26, at Terra Cotta Conservation Area. For more information, check out the events section on CVC's Website.

Fisheries Enhancement Projects

If you are warm, cold, sick, or hungry, you will often move to a different location to satisfy your needs. Fish are no different – they too need to eat, rest, reproduce and hide. The construction of dams and road crossings has limited their ability to get to different habitats so recent work by CVC and its’ partners has led to the development of projects that allow fish access to new or historic ranges. Interestingly, restricting habitat access for undesirable species is also used to limit or control unwanted species. In 2005, CVC and its’ partners were involved in five projects that are helping to improve or reduce access. Quite simply, without their help, these projects would not be completed. CVC would like to thank the Ministry of Natural Resources, Credit River Anglers Association, Izaak Walton Fly Fishing Club, Trout Unlimited, the Rattray Marsh Protection Association, R & B Construction Services and the many workday volunteers for their help and support.

Rogers Creek in Terra Cotta was the site of two projects. A perched culvert at King Street that limited access to upstream habitats was modified to allow upstream movement of a diversity of fish species. The placement of rock below the culvert raised the riverbed to allow passage of non-jumping fish species. Work in 2006 will include some minor adjustments to the rock installed last year and the placement of wooden baffles in the culvert. These baffles will increase the water depth, which will in turn slow down the water velocity and allow fish to move through the culvert. A volunteer workday is scheduled for June 17.

Further upstream, a remnant stop-log dam and earthern berm were preventing fish passage, while the pond above the dam allowed the water to warm, impacting the downstream aquatic community. Three stop-logs were removed, which reduced the size of the headpond and the warming of the water. Some bank stabilization and seeding was also done to help reduce the entry of sediment into the stream. It is hoped that additional stop-logs can be removed this year, ultimately allowing free passage of resident fish in Rogers Creek. If it is determined that no more stop-logs can be removed due to the amount of sediment in the headpond, a rocky ramp may also be constructed to provide fish passage. A volunteer tree planting is scheduled for May 27.

A third project at Rattray Marsh was an experiment to assess the vegetation changes resulting from the restriction of carp and geese. Five small exclosures made of wire and sediment fence were installed in the marsh in a variety of depths and locations. No carp were seen in the exclosures but due to the way they were designed, water clarity in the exclosures was generally no better than the marsh. The exclosure where the marsh substrates were dry for the longest amount of time had about 10 – 15 plants growing by the end of the summer. Others that remained wet over the summer showed signs that submerged aquatic vegetation had better success, however there was no definite improvement. It is possible that the fluctuating water levels do not allow for the growth of submerged aquatic plants. In 2006, two larger exclosures covering a gradient from dry to permanently wet will be established.

Based on a recommendation in the Credit River Fisheries Management Plan, the process to find a suitable location and design for a new rainbow trout barrier began in 2005. This phase of the project will involve selecting the location preferred design for a new barrier to restrict rainbow trout access into the upper to middle reaches, while increasing the current range of this species in the lower to middle reaches of the Credit River.

The fifth project involves the completion of a dam inventory throughout the watershed. Dams on streams often fragment aquatic communities and prevent fish movement. Through this project, a total of forty major dams and more than 500 minor dams were identified. A communication package is being sent out to landowners to provide information on dams and discuss potential stewardship opportunities.

For more information on workdays and other volunteer opportunities, please contact Dave Beaton at (905) 670-1615 x227 or click here.

Sustainable Development and Public Health

The Golden Horseshoe area is projected to grow by 4 million people in less than 30 years, representing the third fastest growing urban center in North America, behind Dallas, TX and Atlanta, GA. Within our watershed, the population of the City of Brampton is projected to almost double to 680,000 by 2031. At a local scale, the headwaters of Fletcher’s Creek in the City of Brampton and Mississauga have experienced an increase of 241% in impervious cover over the last 5 years!

In light of these development pressures, it is critical to plan where growth occurs and how it will proceed. In such planning, the careful management of urban storm water will be critical to protect public health. The objective of the Credit River Water Management Strategy Study (CRWMS) was to develop a decision support mechanism to implement up front planning and sustainable storm water practices for various future land use and climate change scenarios. The goal was to select a management strategy that ensures “abundant, safe and clean water” now and in the future for both the people and wildlife within the Credit River watershed.

The study incorporated initiatives such as the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan, Smart Growth, Phase II Justice O’Connor Report and other provincial initiatives to address the question “How much can we grow, and where/how can we grow from an ecosystem perspective? “ The strategy was developed through working partnerships with municipalities, provincial agencies, academics and individual groups.

The CRWMS study found that:

• Direct linkages exist between public health and ecosystem health,
• Existing watershed conditions show some degradation in the environment, and
• Current planning and development practices are not sustainable.

Furthermore, the CRWMS found that growth can occur in a sustainable manner if we change current planning and development practices and implement aggressive storm water management. For example, replace urban sprawl with clustered higher density development and preserve natural areas such as wetlands and mature forest cover. Examples of aggressive storm water management tools include rain gardens, green roofs, pervious pavement and street swales.

The study found we must also restore existing rural and urban land uses (for example upgrading wastewater and storm water treatment facilities).

Overall, the CRWMS also found that regardless of urban form and stormwater management alternatives applied, there is a limit to growth. Provincial initiatives such as the Greenbelt Act, Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Act, Niagara Escarpment Plan, Places to Grow Act, and Clean Water Act are key pieces of legislation that recognize the linkage between human health and the environment, and understand that our natural resources are not unlimited. It is with this vision for Ontario, that CVC will support its member municipalities to ensure “abundant, safe and clean water” now and in the future for both the people and wildlife within the Credit River watershed.

Spring Breakup 2006

Spring has arrived and we look forward to warmer weather and being outdoors. While we have experienced several melts this winter, we can still expect this spring to also bring us rain and additional runoff leading to higher, faster flowing water within our rivers and streams. In addition, slippery and unstable stream banks and cold water temperatures can lead to very hazardous conditions close to any water body. With the recent snow melt from warming weather, the potential for flooding remains significant, should heavy rainfall occur.

At this time Credit Valley Conservation would like to report that there have been no major flooding incidents within our watershed. However, the majority of our watercourses still remain near or at bankfull stage and conditions may change within the coming weeks due to changes in the weather. CVC staff will continue to closely monitor river, stream and weather conditions.

Recently, Credit Valley Conservation hosted its 3rd Annual Flood Mitigation and Warning Workshop for its Municipal Partners, adjoining Conservation Authorities and Staff. The event proved to be a success bringing in experts from across the region and from all levels of government. The event gave attendees an opportunity to participate in discussion forums and share their own experiences in responding to flooding incidents and dealing with emergencies in general. Facilitated workshops such as this allow CVC staff to engage in discussions with municipalities and specify a state of readiness and preparedness among municipalities within the Authorities jurisdiction with respect to Flood Forecasting and Warning. CVC would like to thank all those in attendance and look forward to seeing you in 2007.

Credit Valley Conservation would also like to take this opportunity to warn residents to please exercise caution around any water body over the next few weeks and help make this a safe and enjoyable spring.