Landowners plant trees for many reasons
Property owners can order trees now through the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA) fall tree planting program.
“We have many local landowners who order trees from us for windbreaks, roadside plantings, and other planting projects,” said Ian Jean, ABCA Forestry and Land Stewardship Specialist.
For more information visit: http://abca.on.ca/newsfull.php?NewsID=233
Local residents have participated in spring and fall tree order programs for many years. Last year, ABCA planted tens of thousands of trees in cooperation with landowners. Spring is the most active time of year for tree orders and planting, according to Jean, but autumn is a good time to plant ball and burlap evergreens and potted deciduous trees.
A number of grant programs are available to help with the cost of planting farm windbreaks, watercourse buffers, land retirement, and other stewardship projects, he said. ABCA staff can provide landowners with information on funding programs such as the Huron County Clean Water Project, the Government of Canada Habitat Stewardship Program, Trees Ontario, Canada-Ontario Farm Stewardship Program, and local grant programs through Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. Funding is also available, in some cases, from the Ontario Ministry of Transportation for windbreaks along provincial highways 4 and 21.
Even when grants are not available, landowners are helping to improve forest cover in the watershed.
Local people may have many reasons to plant trees, according to Jean. They may want to help improve air and water, create windbreaks, have more birds and wildlife, or better mark property lines.
Windbreaks can be very helpful to a landowner, according to Jean.
“They can keep drifting snow away from homes and farms, reduce winter heating costs, reduce soil erosion, protect livestock from extremes of heat and cold, increase yields, provide habitat for birds, and moderate soil and air temperatures,” he said. Trees have benefits in both winter and summer. “It’s been said that one mature deciduous tree can cool the air as much as ten room-sized air conditioners.” |
Low water advisory for Ausable Bayfield watersheds
The Ausable Bayfield Water Response Team (WRT) issued a Level 1 Low Water Advisory for the entire Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA) watershed. The team made the decision based on very low stream flows and July rain patterns. For more information visit: http://abca.on.ca/newsfull.php?NewsID=231 |
Conservation Strategy Team completing year of work
Thirty-four people from Ausable Bayfield watershed communities have been hard at work for almost a year preparing a Conservation Strategy document to guide Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA) in the coming decade. The community group's twelfth meeting takes place on Wednesday, September 14 when the community members will discuss a revised draft document. ABCA thanks all the contributors who have volunteered their time to this important work and wishes them well on their continued work.
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Port Franks meeting to fight five-metre-high Phragmites plants
Residents would not likely have noticed the few scattered clumps of a tall reed when it first appeared in Port Franks but the rapid and intense spread of the five-metre-high invasive plant along riverbanks, wetlands, roadside ditches, islands, and beaches has created concern for citizens and organizations. The Port Franks Beach Homeowners’ Association, the Windsor Park Association, and the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA), with the support of Municipality of Lambton Shores, are cooperating on an effort to control Phragmites australis (common reed) in the Port Franks and surrounding community. The beach associations and the ABCA have met with Phragmites experts and are proposing demonstration pilot control projects this autumn on the Port Franks Beach and a small island near the mouth of the Ausable River. A public meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, August 30 at 7 p.m., in the large meeting room of the Port Franks Community Centre, at 9997 Port Franks Road, and will provide information on the distribution of Phragmites, the impact on the community and ecosystem, and control methods. For more information about the meeting, please call Nancy Vidler at 519-243-2562. For information on Phragmites control visit mnr.gov.on.ca and search the keyword Phragmites. For more information visit http://abca.on.ca/newsfull.php?NewsID=232
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Triebner Tract Dedication Ceremony on August 23
You are invited to attend the Triebner Tract Donor Recognition and Dedication Ceremony on Tuesday, August 23, 2011 from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. Meet at the corner of Bells Line and MacDonald Road. Wear closed-toed shoes and appropriate clothing for protection from flying insects. Watch abca.on.ca in coming days for details on this significant event.
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Fossil, artifact, mussel experts to attend event marking museum 25th anniversary
Fossil, artifact, and mussel experts are to attend Arkona community day and car show which features Arkona Lions Museum and Information Centre 25th anniversary, displays, celebration, prizes, classic cars, free admission to conservation area. Do you have a fossil or artifact you would like to have identified? If so, Arkona is the place for you on Saturday, September 17 during the Arkona Lions Club’s Seventh Annual Car Show and Community Day and the Arkona Lions Museum and Information Centre’s 25th Anniversary. The Antiques Roadshow television show has experts travel to a location to provide information on antiques. The Community Day at Rock Glen Conservation Area in Arkona, on the other hand, will have fossil and artifact experts attending to provide you with information about your keepsakes. Another display will feature information on Ausable River mussels. Organizers invite you to come see The Fossil Guy (Bob O’Donnell), The Artifacts Guy – Flint Knapping and Artifact Identification (Ron Watt) and The Mussels Gal – Ausable River Mussels (Kari Jean). The displays run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The public is invited to have cake at a short ceremony to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the museum at 11 a.m. Arkona Lioness Club will also have food available for purchase at the food booth. There will be a Trails Open Ontario Fantastic Fossils Guide Hike at 1 p.m., led by Denise Iszczuk of the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA). There is free admission for spectators to see the car show and the special treat of free admission to the conservation area (courtesy of Arkona Lions Club). The Arkona Lions and Lioness clubs will also provide a special commemorative Arkona Lions Museum 25th Anniversary key chain to the first 250 spectators. For car enthusiasts entering the car show, the admission is only $5 and there are dash plaques and goodie bags to first 100 cars entered. Watch abca.on.ca for more information or any changes to the schedule.
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Foundation raises more than $4,000 at Gord Strang Memorial Golf Tourney
The Ausable Bayfield Conservation Foundation (ABCF) took over the reins of the Gord Strang Memorial Golf Tournament this year and the organizers say they are very pleased with the success of the sixth annual tournament. Participating golfers, donors and volunteers helped raise $4,187 for the South Huron Trail through this year’s tournament, the organizing committee announced. The tourney has now raised more than $28,000 in its six-year history. For more information visit: http://abca.on.ca/newsfull.php?NewsID=229 |
Erb Family Foundation provides $100,000 for Main Bayfield Watershed water quality
The Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation, a U.S. foundation dedicated to nurturing environmentally healthy and culturally vibrant communities in metropolitan Detroit and supporting initiatives to restore the Great Lakes Basin, is providing Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA) with $100,000 for its work with landowners to restore wetlands, conduct community-based planning at the local watershed scale, and other work to improve water quality between 2011 and 2013. The project will involve the Main Bayfield River Watershed which includes Trick’s Creek Watershed. A local announcement of the grant was made during an anniversary celebration at Bayfield Arena and Community Centre on July 21, 2011 marking 40 years since the Bayfield River Watershed, and some small streams draining into Lake Huron, were added to the area of responsibility of the former Ausable River Conservation Authority. For more information visit: http://abca.on.ca/newsfull.php?NewsID=227 |
Province supports three water quality projects
The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) is working to protect and improve water quality along the southeast shore of Lake Huron by investing in three projects. One of those projects is a community-based Sub-Watershed Plan for the Main Bayfield River. Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA) will receive $60,000 for the completion of a water management strategy for the Main Bayfield River watershed. Other projects supported included $70,000 to support the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority’s Garvey/Glenn Watershed Project, which will increase water storage capacity and control erosion that adds sediment to the water in the Maitland Valley, and $20,000 to support the County of Huron’s Clean Water Project, which provides up to 50 per cent funding to owners of farms and rural properties to build livestock fences and plant trees along waterways, and properly decommission old manure storages and abandoned wells.
For more information visit: http://abca.on.ca/newsfull.php?NewsID=228 |
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