Private Stewardship is the Key to a Healthy Watershed

The story of water quality starts where the river begins… in its headwaters. Now, if you live in Port Credit, it is easy not to think that the Credit River headwaters 90 kilometers away impact you. But they do. Everything done upstream impacts the downstream reaches and eventually Lake Ontario and the rest of the Great Lakes. Supporting environmental projects up in the headwaters can improve water quality for Port Credit and beyond. Just like you want to give your children a good start in life, our rivers also need a good start.

You may have heard of Ontario’s Greenbelt. On air photos it leaps out at you as two ribbons of green winding through Southern Ontario. Those two ‘belts’ of green are the Niagara Escarpment and the Oak Ridges Moraine. The bone-white cliffs of the Niagara Escarpment are composed of limestone that formed in the shallow tropical sea that covered our region over 400 million years ago. Its high slopes protected it from development. The other belt of green, the Oak Ridges Moraine, formed by the glaciers 10,000 years ago, is a key site for groundwater recharge, which supplies our streams and provides drinking water to residents. The high slopes of both these areas make them prone to erosion.

In 2005, the province enacted the Greenbelt Plan to protect approximately 1.8 million acres of environmentally sensitive and agricultural land from urban sprawl. The groundwater-rich Oak Ridges Moraine and Niagara Escarpment are key headwaters of the Credit River. We depend on those areas, and the landowners that live there, to help protect the health of our streams.

Although we depend on the landowners to be good environmental stewards, we don’t expect them to do it alone. Right now, there are increased grants for landowners to implement environmental projects like tree planting, erosion control, and habitat restoration. Credit Valley Conservation staff continue to offer free site visits to interested rural non-farm landowners to help with stewardship projects in the Oak Ridges Moraine, with the support of the Oak Ridges Moraine Foundation and the “Caring for the Moraine” Project.

The Environmental Farm Plan (EFP) also offers increased grants for farmers living in the Greenbelt and the Oak Ridges Moraine. Recently, the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation announced a $1.4 million grant to help the EFP top-up existing grant rates to 75% in the Greenbelt. Farmers in the Oak Ridges Moraine can access up to 90% to implement eligible beneficial management practice thanks to a partnership between the Oak Ridges Moraine Foundation. Also available to watershed residents, the Peel Rural Water Quality Program (PRWQP) is a clean water program that provides financial and technical assistance for the farming landowners in Peel Region with top-up grant rates of up to 80% on eligible beneficial management practices. It is delivered in a partnership with Credit Valley Conservation (CVC) and Toronto and Region Conservation (TRCA). Please refer to Credit Valley Conservation’s website for more details on the Peel Rural Water Quality Program at http://www.creditvalleycons.com/programsandservices/prwqp.htm.

Protecting the Greenbelt ensures we have access to parks, hiking trails, healthy rivers and lakes for swimming, fishing and boating, high quality drinking water, cycling, bird watching, tasty local produce, skiing and all the many outdoor activities that make our valley such a great place to live! Do you have questions about the moraine or natural areas on your property? Water quality? Or are you interested in tree planting or creating natural habitats?

Contact Heather Yates, Stewardship Technician at Credit Valley Conservation to arrange a site visit 1-800-668-5557 ext 285.

CVC Welcomes New Staff

Kerry Mulchansingh

Kerry Mulchansingh is CVC’s new Source Protection Manager/ Hydrogeologist, and will be working with CVC’s water team, representatives from the municipalities and towns within the Credit River Watershed, and with the neighbouring Conservation Authorities to manage and oversee the implementation of the Province’s source protection plans and initiatives.

Prior to this appointment, Kerry worked with Shaheen & Peaker Limited (consulting engineers) in Toronto. There he took part in various projects ranging from Phase 2 environmental and geotechnical assessments, well condition studies, and hydrogeological investigations.

Frank Liu

Frank Liu, CVC’s new Hydrogeologist, has been in Canada since 2002, however, most of his training and experience has been in China. There he worked as a hydrogeologist, for Beifang Investigation, Design and Research CO. LTD, and his responsibilities included watershed planning, resource geology and engineering geology.

Frank has also worked in Pakistan as a site geologist for the Ghazi Barotha Hydro Power Project where he was in charge of contract claims related to groundwater conditions and a riprap quarry.

In Canada, he started in a small consulting company as a technician which gave him an opportunity to learn many skills. He then worked for Geological Survey of Canada as a hydrogeologist. The study area was the Oak Ridges Moraine and Greater Toronto areas with his priority being landfill site review and sediment logging. “Working for the GSC gave me an opportunity to deepen my understanding in glacial geology and environmental issues in the Greater Toronto area. I’ve fully realized the importance of sedimentology in groundwater studies” says Frank.

Frank is looking forward to working at CVC as it will not only put his experience and skills to use, “It will also open a new vista for me to know more about my second mother country – Canada”.

WeCARE Reaches out with an Inconvenient Truth

WeCARE held their second Community Conservation Symposium, Saturday November 25th at Centre 2000 in Erin. This also included a special presentation of “An Inconvenient Truth” – the acclaimed documentary film about Al Gore’s crusade to halt global warming.

Hazel Breton, Manager of Water Resources at Credit Valley Conservation started the day by helping workshop participants to understand the watershed and the Credit River Water Management Strategy Update.

Katherine Rentsch from the Ontario Waste Water Council gave us some at home solutions focusing in on tips and information for homeowners with on site waste treatment – septic systems.

Ecosystem Services – What? And Why? was the topic covered by Bob Morris, Senior Aquatic Biologist at CVC. Bob helped us look at the services that our natural systems provide and some of the ways people are valuing nature among them ecotourism and alternative energy.

Keynote speaker Fred Johnson presented “Challenges and Opportunities for Environmental Caretakers at the Community Level” drawing upon his career experience as an environmental planner with the Province of Ontario, Fred helped put local efforts in context with broader scale initiatives. His approach gave participants some exciting challenges and goals for community environmental involvement.

Please visit:
http://www.creditvalleycons.com/wecare to get more information on these presentations.

New Course at Mentor College Explores the Credit River Watershed

A brand new course offered this year at Mentor College in Mississauga offers Grade 11 students an opportunity to discover their watershed. Aquatic Ecology of the Credit Valley Watershed is a locally-developed hands-on course that allows students to explore the Credit River, conduct biological and chemical studies and participate in activities that will ensure the future health of the watershed. Working with such local environmental agencies as Citizens Environment Watch and the Association for Canadian Educational Resources (ACER), students are learning through field studies, classroom discussions, and presentations from expert guest speakers. Last year CVC was approached to provide input into the new course that enables students to learn within a local context while gaining knowledge and appreciation for the environment that can be applied globally.

To date, students have conducted a water quality assessment in an urban creek (Cooksville Creek) and compared it with an assessment of a pristine environment in the Muskokas. The assessments were done using benthic invertebrates – the “bugs” that live in the water and that respond to changes in water quality. Students also studied water chemistry and the riparian habitat. This fall, students travelled up to Orangeville to participate in a spawning survey with CVC staff, learning how to identify redds. Guest speakers in the classroom introduced the students to concepts such as forest succession, water quality and the effects of urbanization on the watershed. Future activities for the year include participating in stewardship projects and the Yellow Fish Road, a storm-drain stencilling program that serves to remind citizens that anything that enters a storm drain ends up in the local waterbody.

Teacher Rachel Shape is very excited about the success of the course so far and notes: “Some of the kids haven’t spent much time in the dirt so it has been really fun to watch as they develop a love of nature”.

Shades of Green: Exploring Biodiversity, Human Values and Urban Planning

Fitting in to the emerging theme of ‘Green Cities’ the University of Guelph and Royal Botanical Gardens are presenting a symposium on the afternoon of Thursday, March 8, 2007 at RBG Centre in Burlington, Ontario. Credit Valley Conservation hopes to work with the organizers of this symposium to explore the future of Greening within our urban areas.

‘Shades of Green: Exploring Biodiversity, Human Values and Urban Planning’ is an opportunity to explore the inter-relationships between the protection of natural areas, urban planning, rural issues, and human values - the complex, exciting and vital issues behind such developments as the Ontario Greenbelt, the growth and sustainability of urban communities and the development of livable cities.

What are the needs of human beings in adapting to and living in constructed space? What questions need to be answered to fully realize the benefits of biodiversity and greenspace for our societies, towns and cities? Numerous studies have shown the positive benefits of contact with nature; how can we bring these benefits to an ever-increasing population that stresses and is consuming the very beneficial resource itself? We invite you to join us in seeking answers to these questions, aided by exciting speakers at the cutting edge of research into innovation, sustainability and urban design.

More information is available at http://www.rbg.ca/greenspace/