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Season's greetings!

from all of us at Ausable Bayfield Conservation

We would like to take this opportunity to wish all the best to you and yours on this Christmas holiday season and into the New Year. Thank you for all your work during the year to protect water, soil, and living things. May you have a happy, healthy, prosperous New Year in 2019!

Exeter Chrysler helps to build bridge to safer, more active community


Exeter Chrysler helps to build bridge to safer, more active communityExeter Chrysler has made a generous platinum-level donation of $5,000 to the community project to build Jones Bridge, a new pedestrian bridge on the South Huron Trail.

Thanks to this donation, there is less than $40,000 left to raise to reach the $300,000 goal to complete the project.

To find out more read this news item:

Celebrating Giving Tuesday by giving thousands of dollars in community grants


Grand Bend Community Foundation donates to Jones Bridge - Photo.On Giving Tuesday, November 27, the Grand Bend Community Foundation announced its 2018 grants – more than $60,000 in funding to community groups and initiatives across our region.

Grand Bend Community Foundation LogoThe Foundation donated to many worthy causes including this one - To the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Foundation, to support the Jones Bridge project, making the community safer and more active with a new Pedestrian Bridge (downstream of Morrison Dam) on the MacNaughton-Morrison Section of the South Huron Trail.

To learn more click on this news item:

Now great time to donate


Donate before end of 2018 to get a 2018 charitable gift receipt for 2018 income tax purposes


Pedestrian Bridge Community Working Group asks people to donate to Jones Bridge project as year’s end draws near


Wordmark - Building a bridge to a safer, more active community - Jones BridgeThe year 2018 is drawing to a close and now is an excellent time to consider charitable donations, according to the Pedestrian Bridge on the South Huron Trail Community Working Group.

By donating to the project now, before the end of 2018, you may receive tax benefits in just a few months’ time. 

“Now is a perfect time of year to donate, to receive a charitable gift receipt for income tax purposes,” said Dave Frayne, Chair of the Pedestrian Bridge Community Working Group. Donations received by December 31, 2018 are eligible for charitable gift receipts for income tax purposes which can be used when preparing your 2018 personal income tax return. 

To find out more read this web post:

First steps on Jones Bridge


Staff and community working group members take ceremonial first steps on bridge.It was an exciting moment as members of the Pedestrian Bridge on the South Huron Trail Community Working Group took ceremonial ‘first steps’ on Jones Bridge after the new trail bridge was placed at the South Huron Trail site, downstream of Morrison Dam, in November of 2018. 

The bridge is now open for trail users with final landscaping to be completed in the Spring. Donations of more than $260,000 have been received but close to $40,000 still needs to be raised. 

The community group hopes to finish fundraising in the next few months and host an official bridge opening and donor recognition ceremony in April of 2019. 

To read more click on this news item: To donate now visit the Jones Bridge web page:

Owl Prowl raises $900 for Jones Bridge


More than 250 people attend Owl Prowl, help to raise $900 in donations for new pedestrian bridge on South Huron Trail


Attendees at Owl Prowl help to make community safer, more active 


250 people at Owl Prowl donate to Jones BridgeThe annual Owl Prowl event at Morrison Dam Conservation Area is more popular than ever with more than 250 people having attended the owl-themed event east of Exeter on Saturday, November 3, 2018. 

“We were very pleased to have such tremendous turnout again this year,” said Denise Iszczuk, Conservation Educator with Ausable Bayfield Conservation. “The Owl Prowl continues to draw people from all over the region. It was a great evening.”  

The owl event raised funds for Jones Bridge, which will provide a safer, more scenic alternative for people so students, nature campers, and other trail users won’t have to walk by the roadway beside vehicle traffic to enjoy both sections of the popular South Huron Trail.

Attendees at the Owl Prowl donated $900 towards Jones Bridge, the new pedestrian bridge built on the South Huron Trail to make the community safer and more active. 

To learn more visit this link: 

Give gift of community this holiday season


Tickets for 30th Conservation Dinner in 2019 give gift of community this Christmas season


Committee sets April 11, 2019 as date for 30th Conservation Dinner; Organizers announce tickets are now available; Volunteers invite people to buy tickets as holiday gifts 


Give the gift of community this season - buy a Conservation Dinner ticketA community committee invites people to consider giving ‘the gift of community’ this Christmas holiday season by buying tickets for the 30th Conservation Dinner. The charitable auction on April 11, 2019 will be a very special one as this local success story celebrates three decades of helping local communities, according to Co-Chairs Jim Beckett and Larry Taylor.

“If you are thinking of getting a present for the ‘person who has everything’ this year, consider giving a gift of a Conservation Dinner ticket this Christmas season,” said Taylor. “You will give someone a night of fellowship and entertainment and great food and you will also be helping programs that benefit local communities.”

To buy a ticket as a present, or for yourself, or to donate to the 2019 Conservation Dinner, visit the Ausable Bayfield Conservation office east of Exeter at 71108 Morrison Line (just south of Highway 83) or phone 519-235-2610 or toll-free 1-888-286-2610 or email info@abca.ca 

The 30th Conservation Dinner takes place on April 11, 2019 at South Huron Recreation Centre at 94 Victoria Street East in Exeter. Tickets are $85 each. Patrons receive a charitable gift receipt, for income tax purposes, for a portion of that amount. 

This popular Conservation Dinner charitable fundraiser supports projects in local communities. These projects include accessible nature trails in Bayfield, Clinton, Parkhill, Lucan, Arkona, Exeter, and Varna; busing for students to experience outdoor nature education programs; a $1,000 student environmental bursary benefitting students in local communities; a summer job at Ausable Bayfield Conservation for a senior secondary school student; turtle monitoring and events in Port Franks and Ailsa Craig; aquatic habitat studies in Old Ausable Channel at Grand Bend; and other projects like nature day camps, fishing derby and Owl Prowl, and parks and conservation areas.

To find out more read this news item:

Innovative drainage project receives federal-provincial funding to move ahead


Huron County Demonstration Farm behind Huronview complexFunding from the Canadian Agricultural Partnership (the Partnership) will support an innovative project to demonstrate and monitor contoured drainage on a field at the Huron County demonstration farm near Clinton. 

Technology is opening new opportunities for farm drainage that could improve both yields and water quality. Control gates manage water levels in field tiles, effectively ‘shutting off’ drainage systems when they aren’t needed and sub-irrigating a crop. While they’ve been tried on flat fields in Ontario, this Huron County field will be first in the province to try controlling drainage on a slope. The trick is to run tile laterals on precise contours with a 0.1% grade to allow the control gates to work. 

“Through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership we are investing in on-farm solutions for soil and environmental sustainability,” said Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. “This collaborative, in-field, innovative approach will enhance water management and environmental practices for farmers and help keep the sector on the cutting edge of sustainable growth.”

“We’re working with farmers and others in our agricultural sector to keep improving nutrient and water management and other practices to benefit both productivity and the environment,” said Ernie Hardeman, Ontario’s Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. “Not only will this project help agriculture become more competitive and sustainable, but it also supports our made-in-Ontario environmental plan.” 

Huron County Soil and Crop Improvement Association (HSCIA), in partnership with Huron County, Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA), and two landowners are installing a side-by-side comparison of two contoured systems in June 2019.

The contoured and controlled drainage system will be compared with a conventional pattern-tiled field with a contoured terrace to control surface erosion, and a third field area which will remain untiled. ABCA will be monitoring the surface and sub-surface flow and water quality, while Huron Soil and Crop will compare yields across the various systems. 

“Traditionally, only gently sloped fields benefited from controlled drainage and sub-irrigation,” said Jeremy Meiners of AGREM, the Illinois-based drainage design company that made the plans for the site behind Huronview. “But our designs reduce erosion while improving yield on sloping ground, and that should work well in Huron County.”  

“The Huron Soil and Crop Improvement Association would like to thank the Canadian Agricultural Partnership for supporting this innovative research and recognizing the yield and water quality benefits that are possible by studying and sharing methods of in-field water management,” said Doug Walker, President of the Huron Soil and Crop Improvement Association. “Huron Soil and Crop is pleased to work with industry partners to introduce innovative approaches to managing water including controlled drainage on a slope.”

To learn more, click on this news item:

Office closed December 24, 2018 to January 1, 2019


The Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA) office is closed on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2018. The office re-opens on Wednesday, January 2, 2019.

From all of us here, we wish all of you the very best of the season to you and yours.

For this and other Notices of Service Disruptions click on this web page:

This is issue 10!


This is our tenth issue of the year 2018 ... that's the highest number of editions in a single year since we began this electronic newsletter back in 2011.

We would like to thank everyone who has subscribed.

ABCA Board of Directors approves release of new draft updated Shoreline Management Plan for public comment 


Public invited to review, provide written comments until January 25, 2019 on draft plan, posted online at Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority website at abca.ca


The Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA) Board of Directors met on Thursday, November 22 and approved the release, for public review and comment, of an updated new Draft Proposed Shoreline Management Plan (SMP). 

Members of the public can download the document online at abca.ca and interested people can provide written comments until January 25, 2019. 

The document was posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2018, on the abca.ca shoreline management plan page at this link: A hard copy of the document is also be available for inspection at the ABCA administration centre office east of Exeter.

The current Shoreline Management Plan was created in 1994 and updated in 2000. 

The conservation authority started work in 2015 to update technical information to support updates to the 2000 SMP document. “This new draft updated Shoreline Management Plan is the result of in-depth technical work completed since 2015,” said Geoffrey Cade, ABCA Manager of Water and Planning. 

“This new draft document has benefitted from comments from the public and municipalities over the past four years,” he said. “This new draft plan reflects a great deal of research, thought, and local input.”

To learn more click on this news item: To find out more visit the shoreline management web page: To receive updates about shoreline management, please sign up for the shoreline management email updates here:

Spring tree order form posted online


Spring tree order form is available online at abca.caThe spring tree order form is now available at abca.ca

The Christmas season is here and the first days of winter are still ahead of us but spring is not far behind. 

Landowners plant tens of thousands of trees through the spring and autumn tree order programs but the spring program is the largest of the two.

People in the watershed buy trees for conservation projects such as windbreaks, watercourse buffers, reforestation of erosion-prone slopes, or tree planting on marginal agricultural lands.

Grant programs are available for projects such as windbreaks, watercourse buffers and larger scale reforestation projects that cover between 50 per cent and 100 per cent of the project costs, depending on the type of project and availability of local funding programs.

Staff at Ausable Bayfield Conservation work on behalf of landowners to access applicable funding programs where they exist. Landowners pay the costs of the trees but in many cases there are cost-share programs to help local people with some or all of the cost of planting projects.

For more information on grant programs or ordering trees phone 519-235-2610 or toll-free 1-888-286-2610. 

To download the spring tree order form visit this page:

Do you know where your drinking water comes from? New animated video explains

Conservation Ontario has released a short, animated video so people can learn – in a fun way – about their sources of drinking water. The new video features a young man named Matt and his dog Buddy. The animated video opens with the question “Do you know where your drinking water comes from?” Click on this link to play the video: To learn more click on this news item:

Family Day WinterFest South Huron to return in 2019


Free family snowshoeing returns at Family Day WinterFest South Huron in 2019The Friends of the South Huron Trail are bringing back free family snowshoeing for Family Day in 2019.

The Family Day WinterFest South Huron organizing committee is pleased to announce the popular winter festival is returning in 2019. Jeff Musser and Dave Frayne return as Co-Chairs to help bring together the many community partners who make this family-friendly winter festival a success each year. 

“Mark your calendars for February 18, 2019,” said WinterFest Co-Chair Jeff Musser. “Dave and I are looking forward to the return of Family Day WinterFest South Huron.”

“We were pleased to be Co-Chairs last year and we are looking forward to being part of this great community event again,” said co-Chair Dave Frayne.

To find out more click this web page: You are also invited to visit the WinterFest website:

Agricultural producer has seen increased adoption of cover crops in Huron County 


Huron County Clean Water Project provides cover crop incentive, grant support for landowners, community groups to protect water


Doug Walker is one of the Huron County residents who have done water quality and soil health projects with support of Huron County Clean Water ProjectAgricultural producer Doug Walker has seen an increase in planting of cover crops over the past three decades. The Belgrave-area man remembers a time when he was one of the few people using cover crops in his part of Huron County and now almost all his neighbours are planting cover crops. A lifelong resident of his family farm near Belgrave, he has seen more cover crops, less tillage, and an increased interest in soil health.

Many Huron County residents have undertaken projects to improve soil health, preserve topsoil, reduce erosion, and protect water quality with support of the Huron County Clean Water Project. Doug Walker is one of the Huron landowners who has completed projects with support of the county program. 

Find out more - read this news item:
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