96
|
AUTUMN
/
EARLY WINTER
2015
If youhadneverheard
of theBlueMountainWatershedTrust,
youmight think that itwasanassociationof landowners.OraREIT.Could
it perhapsbea local credit union?Hard to say.
If youhaveheardof this small butmightyorganization, however, youwill
know that it consists of a couple of hundredpeople advocating for and
protecting theBlueMountains’ remainingwildplaces.
On September 26, theWatershed Trust celebrated its 20
th
Anniversary.
Therewasquiteabit tocelebrate.Over thepast twodecades, theorgan-
izationhashelpedplant close tohalfamillion trees. Ithasundertakenover
45water quality improvement projects in theBeaver River watershed. It
playedamajor role inpreserving theSilverCreekWetland—aprovincially
significant wetlandandbiodiversity hotspot—from the developer’s bull-
dozer. Ifyouhaveseenoneof theBe theChangeFilmSeries’environmen-
tally themed films, that’spart of theWatershedTrust’s fundraisingefforts.
Like theSilverCreekWetland’sendangeredSpottedTurtle, thepeopleof
theWatershedTrust areadifficult bunch tocatch inaction. If youwant to
see themgoingabout theirwork, takeawalk ina rainstorm.Youmight see
George Powell taking water samples at points along any of a dozen
creeksand rivers fromNottawa toThornbury.Walkbyanynewdevelop-
ment andyoumight findNormWingroveor Peter Tollefsen checking the
progress of constructionagainst environmental impact studies. Andona
weekendmorning in the spring, you’ll find awhole bunch of members
planting treesalongside theNottawasagaValleyConservationAuthority.
It’swhat youdon’t see,however, that’smost significant.Members insiston
attendingmeetings betweenmunicipalities anddevelopers. They track
project for years, sometimes decades. They engage three levels of gov-
ernmenton issues fromgolf coursepesticide runoff tozoningbylaws to re-
sourceextractionon theNiagaraEscarpment. Every sooften, they score
a real victory.Moreoften thannot, they influence thecourseof events.
Thisbehind-the-sceneswork ishardlyexciting. It’softenunrewarding. But if
nobodywasout theredoing it, theBlueMountainsareawouldbeadifferent
place.Our regionwouldbea littlemorebuilt up, a little lessgreen. LikeDr.
Seuss’ Lorax, theWatershed Trust advocates for the floraand fauna that
can’tadvocate for themselves.Theorganizationagitates for thepreservation
ofgreenspacesand forstricter limitson tracthousingdevelopment.Afterall,
mostof us liveor vacation in theBlueMountainsarea foronemain reason:
itsspectacularnaturalattributes.TheWatershedTrust isagrassroots,all-vol-
unteerorganization that helpsprotect theplacesweplay.
If these sound likepeople that youwould like toget to knowa littlebetter,
theyarequitewelcoming. Theywant you to know the issues, what needs
doingandwhat’sbeingdone right now.Andasanall-volunteerorganiza-
tion, they never haveenoughablepeople todoall of the things that they
want todo.
|E|
If youwould like to learnmore about thewatershed trust, help, join (it’s cheap!) or donate,
please visit
Thank you for your support.
ESCARPMENT
®
community
We need the
natural world:
help us protect it.
Story | Carl Michener
