Two Women Honoured at Awards Gala
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THE GRAND STRATEGY NEWSLETTER Volume 12, Number 6 - Nov/Dec. 2007 Grand River The Grand: Conservation A Canadian Authority Heritage River 2007 Awards Gala Betty Schneider 1 Marilyn Murray 2 Milestones Grand Commission celebrates 75th 2 Water Forum 2007 3 Grand River history symposium 6 Two women honoured at awards gala Look Who’s Taking Action wo women who have played leading roles in A 1967 headline in the Kitchener Waterloo GeoTime trail 7 Tconservation efforts in the Grand River Record proclaimed, “Betty’s a Woman of many Pedestrian bridge 7 watershed were honoured at a special gala firsts” while a photo caption declares she is evening at the River Run Centre in Guelph in used to being the only woman in a crowd and What’s Happening October. shows a photo of her touring Conestogo Dam Betty Schneider of Waterloo received a with other authority offi- Eleventh heritage day workshop 7 standing ovation after she was presented with a cials. Watershed Honour Roll Award by the Grand “If anyone’s apt to Now Available River Conservation Authority. The award, restore your faith in the which is not given out each year, was for her power of the individual in Grand Registry 7 many years of support for the GRCA, the today’s supposedly demo- Grand River Conservation Foundation and cratic society it’s Mrs. What You Can Do many community conservation projects. Herbert Schneider, mother Bottled water 8 Schneider served on the GRCA board for 11 Betty Schneider of four children,” the article years beginning in 1966 and was its first declared. It described Calendar 8 woman member. In 1970 she became the first Schneider as “someone who doesn’t sit around waiting or hoping for changes and instead initi- Cover photo president of the foundation board, serving for five years. During those years she played a ates them, sometimes through existing chan- Betty Schneider received role in developing the nature centres and the nels but more often by creating channels of her a standing ovation when own.” she received the 2007 Memorial Tree program. She was a founder of At the awards presentation, Schneider spoke Honour Roll Award at the Grand Valley Trails Association, which has from her wheelchair and had the audience in the Guelph gala. developed and maintains a 275-km trail along Photo by Dave Schultz laughter several times. the Grand. Murray Riverview Marilyn Murray of Guelph, a past- president of the foundation and a leading philanthropist in the Guelph area, was thanked for her years of service by the naming of the lookout onto the Speed River just behind the River Run Centre. It is now called the Marilyn Murray Riverview. The lookout is adjacent to the River Run Centre on the Alf Hales Memorial Trail. Murray, who received a Watershed Award last year, was hon- oured for more than 20 years of In 1942, the Grand River Conservation Commission completed the Shand Dam, service to the which was the first dam in Canada built for flood control, water supply and water foundation as a quality purposes. It is on the main Grand River above Fergus. Photo by Carl Hiebert Marilyn Murray board member and president where she was involved in projects to protect natural areas and Seventy five years for build trails. She recently chaired The Grand River Conservation Commission Living Classroom — Campaign for Outdoor Education which raised $2.2 By Ralph Beaumont million to support outdoor education GRCA communications manager programs for elementary school chil- significant anniversary occurred in MILESTONES dren. 2007 which has largely gone unno- The Grand River Conservation A ticed — the 75th anniversary of the “Act Foundation also presented a $50,000 . To Establish The Grand River Valley Authority in the United States, cheque to the City of Guelph. This ful- Conservation Commission.” the commission was the first partnership fills the foundation’s $250,000 commit- It received Royal Assent March 29, of municipalities banding together to ment to construct the Alf Hales Trail in 1932. forward solutions to their common the city. The presentation was made by The commission was one of the watershed problems. foundation board member Norm GRCA’s two predecessor agencies and it The commission received its formal Lundvall to Mayor Karen Farbridge. was the first watershed management Letters Patent in August of 1934, and at Watershed awards agency in that time included the municipalities of In addition to those presentations, Canada. Brantford, Galt, Kitchener, Fergus and four Watershed Awards were presented During the Caledonia. William Philips of Galt was to groups and individuals who undertook 1930s, river con- the first chairman, and the commission’s projects to enhance the Grand River ditions had head office was in Brantford. watershed. become so Other municipalities soon joined the The 2007 award recipients were severe that partnership and in 1942, the commission Dennis Wendland of Kitchener, Ignatius floods, droughts completed the first multi-purpose dam in Jesuit Centre of Guelph and bird box and pollution Canada built for flood control, water builder Joe Kral. A joint award went to William Philips were affecting supply and water quality purposes — the Dufferin Aggregates and Capital Paving the public health Shand Dam, on the main Grand River for their work on Mill Creek in Puslinch. and economic development of communi- above Fergus. This was followed by the These Watershed Award recipients will ties up and down the Grand. Sponsored Luther Marsh Dam in 1954 and the be featured in the next issue of Grand by the Grand Valley Boards of Trade, Conestogo Dam in 1958. Funding at Actions. and modeled on the fledging Tennessee that time was one-third federal, one-third 2 Share the resources - Share the responsibility provincial and one-third municipal. It was arguably the success of this Local solutions to global commission, its watershed scope and municipal partnership model, that led to realities at Water Forum the 1941 Guelph Conference on By Barbara Veale and size of wetlands, sources of pollu- Conservation and the eventual passing GRCA Co-ordinator of Policy, tion, and depletion of the ozone layer. of the Conservation Authorities Act in Planning and Partnerships Information from Radarsat sensors is 1946. lmost 300 people attended the 7th also used to monitor global natural dis- This new act made it possible for Aannual Grand River Watershed asters and climatic conditions. municipalities across the province to Water Forum to learn more ways to sus- Henry Lickers establish similar watershed management tain the Grand River watershed’s valu- Henry Lickers then reflected on the partnerships. able water resources. process of relationship building at In 1948, Grand River watershed Held Sept. 14, the event focused on Akwesasne to remediate environmental municipalities formed their own Grand global trends and what they mean to contamination from Valley Conservation Authority under this local water management. years of industrial Henry Lickers, environmental coordi- new act. This new agency’s objects discharges of PCBs nator for the Mohawk Council of began to parallel those of the commis- and dioxins. Akwesasne, delivered the traditional sion. Early Ontario provincial The impact on First Nations Thanksgiving. Conservation Authority publications the nearby First He reminded delegates that every sin- even included the commission as a spe- Nations community cial section. gle living and non-living component of was devastating, tak- this earth supports life and we need to The two agencies were merged in Henry Lickers ing away the tradi- pause to thank the Creator for these 1966 and became the Grand River tional livelihood of gifts. Lickers also expressed his hope Conservation Authority we have today. the people and creating conflict among that we listen to the “small voices” of neighbours. great teachers that “echo through the A fiercely independent nation, the corridors of time” to guide us in finding Akwesasne followed the teaching “bend the answers to handle environmental our necks to no one,” but, this is bal- issues and guide our hearts toward peace anced with the “great way of peace.” and harmony. Working with local municipalities and GRCA chair Alan Dale and chemical industries, the residents of Cambridge MPP Gerry Martiniuk, greet- Akwesasne have been able to change ed participants. A cheque for $37,000 to attitudes and promote understanding of enhance habitat on private land for the issues they face by working together aquatic species at risk was presented to to remediate local lands and waters. the GRCA by a representative of Cambridge MP, Dr. Gary Goodyear. Paul Emerson Paul Emerson, CAO for the Grand Denis Auger River Conservation Authority, launched Denis Auger from the Canadian the fifth annual Space Agency manages the earth obser- Grand River vation application development program Watershed Report and he said the Great Lakes region is so that focuses on the big that it can be seen clearly from twin challenges of space. population growth The 2007 S. C. Johnson Scholarship Auger explained that Canada’s and climate change. recipient is Marian Saavedra, a fourth sophisticated earth observation satellites With a rapidly year University of Waterloo environ- help scientists learn what is happening growing population mental engineering student. This schol- arship is given out at the Water Forum to our natural resources. They measure Paul Emerson that depends on each year to a student at a watershed things such as the thickness of ice in groundwater and educational institution. rivers and lakes, changes to the nature surface water, these two challenges put GRAND ACTIONS • November/December 2007 3 About 300 people attended Water Forum 2007 which was held outside at the GRCA administration centre in Cambridge. more pressure on the natural system. tions from the Walkerton Inquiry and Saad Jasim Emerson stressed the need for munici- other committee members were appoint- Dr.