GRCA Minutes Grand River Conservation Authority, 400 Clyde Road, Cambridge, Ontario N1R 5W6 Tel: 519-621-2761 Fax: 519-621-4844 Internet: www.grandriver.ca January 2010 Many GRCA celebrations near Guelph Lake. for 75th anniversary in 2009 Volume 15 – No. 1 The UN considers a key challenge of After many public events and cele- our time to be the difficulty in bring- GRCA brations, the GRCA’s 75th anniversary ing people together from different dis- in 2009 is behind us. ciplines and jurisdictions to work on General Membership forestry and hydrology. The conserva- The GRCA used this as an opportu- tion authority model that is practiced Chairman - Alan Dale nity to engage the public with a series by the 36 conservation authorities in 1st Vice-Chairman - Jane Mitchell of events in a variety of locations. Ontario successfully encourages this 2nd Vice-Chairman - Vic Prendergast Several parks held anniversary cele- type of collaboration. Within a conser- brations with their visitors. An open vation authority, people from several Townships of Amaranth, East house took place at the GRCA head- disciplines and different political Garafraxa, East Luther Grand Valley, quarters in October. jurisdictions work together not only Melancthon and Southgate - for forest health, but also be build Tom Nevills The GRCA partnered with the Grand Valley Trails Association to healthy watersheds. Townships of Mapleton and hold a series of hikes. About 20 peo- Wellington North - Pat Salter ple completed the 275-km trail and High water warning issued Township of Centre Wellington - received GRCA 75th anniversary Dec. 9 for Port Maitland Shawn Watters crests. Several dozen members of the The Ministry of Natural Resources Town of Erin, Townships of Ancient Mariners held a special pad- issued a high lake level advisory for Guelph/Eramosa and Puslinch - dle for their 75th km along the Grand Lake Erie on Dec. 9. Brad Whitcombe River. City of Guelph - The communications department Police monitored roads along the Vicki Beard, Mike Salisbury also provided a series of four posters lakeshore and implemented closures as necessary. The Haldimand County Region of Waterloo - to all schools, and lots of articles and information highlighting the major flood co-ordinator was on call to warn Jane Brewer, Kim Denouden, affected residents and businesses Jean Haalboom, Ross Kelterborn, events of the past 75 years. along the Grand River downstream of Claudette Millar, Jane Mitchell, Dunnville Dam and in the village of Wayne Roth, Jake Smola, Bill Strauss, GRCA presenter at Port Maitland. Lynne Woolstencroft UN’s World Forestry Congress Town of North Perth and Township For information on the Flood of Perth East - George Wicke The GRCA was asked to make a Warning system see the Flood presentation about the Watershed Warning System page on Region of Halton - Forest Plan for the Grand River to the www.grandriver.ca. J. Barry Lee United Nation's World Forestry City of Hamilton - Congress in Buenos Aires in October. No watershed conditions report for Jeanette Jamieson the month of December was presented This event takes place every six to the board, since the meeting took County of Oxford - years and it attracted 7,500 people place Dec. 11, only two weeks after Alan Dale from 160 countries. the last report was presented. County of Brant - Martin Neumann, supervisor of ter- Robert Chambers, Brian Coleman restrial resources, spoke about "Forest Oakland swamp donation City of Brantford - and Water: Working Together - a 75- Eleven hectares of the Oakland Robert Hillier, Vic Prendergast Year Success Story." He described the Swamp in Brant County have been collaborative approach taken by the Haldimand and Norfolk Counties - donated to the GRCA. Lorne Boyko, Craig Grice GRCA, giving several examples, including the Rotary Forest project The property includes hardwood THE GRAND - A Canadian Heritage River forest and provincially significant But this is nowhere near the rate of A registration form and schedule is wetland. There are no structures on it. one million in the 1980s, before gov- available on www.grandriver.ca. The The GRCA has accepted four dona- ernment funding cutbacks. Heritage Day Workshop is held in a tions in the past three years in this different part of the watershed each For more information see the same complex. year with a focus on a different aspect Forestry section of www.grandriver.ca of the Grand River's heritage. It is or call 519-621-2763, ext. 2250. The Oakland Swamp is one of three hosted by the Heritage Working large wetland complexes where the Group of The Grand Strategy. The GRCA has acquired donated land How to subscribe to GRCA news workshop is free, although donations recently. The other two are the are always welcome. Space is limited This is a reminder that anyone can Roseville Swamp and the Beverly so please register in advance. Swamp. All three have many land- self-subscribe to receive press releases, locked firewood lots. It is the GRCA’s flood warnings, GRCA Minutes and Conservation Areas open policy to acquire environmentally-sen- Grand Actions by e-mail. If you do for winter activities sitive lands if they become available. this, you will receive this information at the same time as the news media. Currently, the GRCA owns and Three GRCA conservation areas manages 2.8 per cent of the land with- To subscribe, send a blank e-mail opened for winter activities in early in the watershed. (no subject line) to GRCAnews-sub- January. [email protected]. You will receive Shade's Mills in Cambridge, an e-mail acknowledgement to which GRCA begins work Pinehurst Lake south of Cambridge you must reply within five days to on new water gauge at York and Belwood Lake, east of Fergus are have your e-mail address added to the all open for ice fishing. Pinehurst is list. You will then receive a verifica- The GRCA has started work on con- offering snowshoeing. Cross country tion e-mail. To unsubscribe, send a struction of a new water monitoring skiing will be available at Shade’s blank e-mail (no subject line) to gauge in York to provide better infor- Mills and Laurel Creek when condi- GRCAnews- mation on water flows and water tions allow. quality in the Southern Grand. [email protected]. Check the newsroom on People may wish to subscribe only The new automated station will be www.grandriver.ca for updates on to Grand Actions, the newsletter that built on the riverbank just down- winter activities and the calendar for describes the many efforts of the stream from the York Bridge, which is special winter events, because condi- GRCA and our partners to improve located midway between Caledonia tions change quickly. and Cayuga. It will replace a smaller, the environment within the Grand less sophisticated station on the side River watershed. This can be done of the bridge. free of charge by sending an e-mail to [email protected] or calling ext. The new station will look like a 2302 and providing your contact small garden shed. It will house information. Please indicate whether equipment that will automatically you would like to receive it by mail or This issue of "GRCA Minutes" measure water levels and water quali- e-mail. was published in January 2010. ty information around the clock, every day of the year. Heritage Day workshop Feb. 12 It is a summary of the December 2009 business conduct- Trees available for purchase The theme for the 2010 Heritage ed by the It is a summary of the Day Workshop on Feb. 12, 2010 is December 2009 business conduct- Landowners with 2.5 acres or more Beyond 20/20 Vision: A New Lens for ed by the Grand River of land (exclusive of buildings) can Heritage, Arts and Culture. ConservationAuthority board and order trees from the GRCA by March committees. 15. The workshop takes place at the Cambridge Centre for the Arts. It will Space permitting, other note- The list of available trees, a price list celebrate the links among heritage, worthy happenings and topics of and an order form are on arts and culture and their significance interest have been included. www.grandriver.ca in the Forestry to a community's well-being and pros- The Grand River Conservation section. The list is updated periodical- perity. While the spotlight is on the Authority welcomes the photo- ly. Orders for these trees must be for a City of Cambridge, there are rich copying and distribution of minimum of 200 seedlings or 20 examples of cultural heritage through- "GRCA Minutes" or visit our saplings. out the whole Grand River valley. website at www.grandriver.ca. Tree planting in the watershed has The 13th annual workshop will fea- Reports mentioned in the GRCA grown from 180,000 in 2008 to more ture community leaders, interactive Minutes are also available online than 230,000 in 2009, and more trees sessions, tours and opportunities for in the Meetings section. are expected to be planted this year. hands-on learning. THE GRAND - A Canadian Heritage River GRCA Minutes Grand River Conservation Authority, 400 Clyde Road, Cambridge, Ontario N1R 5W6 Tel: (519) 621-2761 Fax: (519) 621-4844 Internet: http://www.grandriver.ca February 2010 Alan Dale re-elected to GRCA Pearson told the GRCA board when for fourth term as chair he presented the business case for Volume 15 – No. 2 maintaining the infrastructure. The Alan Dale was acclaimed as chair of current value of the infrastructure in GRCA the GRCA for a fourth one-year term. the Grand River watershed is $750 Also re-elected by acclamation were million to $1 billion and it is crucial to General Membership maintain it to protect people and first vice-chair Jane Mitchell and sec- property from flood damage.