Pine River Watershed Committee 2006 Summary

By Anne Eadie

Vision -- "Clean water and a healthy ecosystem within the Pine River Watershed"

Goals of the Pine River Watershed Initiative Network:
No. 1 -- to explore and encourage all possibilities for improvement of the Pine River Watershed.
No. 2 -- to promote dialogue and education about watershed processes among all stakeholders within the Pine River Watershed (residential, agricultural, etc.)
No. 3 -- to make stakeholders aware of existing or new programs and sources of funding that can improve the Pine River Watershed e.g. Environmental Farm Plan grants, Stewardship Rangers, Source Water Protection, etc.
No. 4 -- to raise awareness of the needs of the Pine River Watershed and coordinate activities with stakeholders, government agencies and environmental groups e.g. Source Water Protection Committee, Lake Huron Coastal Centre,
SVCA, etc.

The Pine River Watershed Initiative Network is a Committee of Council and has representatives from the various stakeholder groups such as the Township of Huron-Kinloss, the Beach Associations, the Pine River Boat Club, Bruce County and the Federation of Agriculture. Representatives from SCVA, the Health Unit, and the Lake Huron Centre for Coastal Conservation also sit on the committee.
Members names are listed on the Huron-Kinloss website. Doug Brown of the Lurgan and Blair’s Grove Beach Association is currently the Chair.

We have had special meetings to meet our education and awareness goals.
For example, Jayne Deitrich and Ray Robertson made presentations to our local farmers on the new Environmental Farm Plan requirements and some completed projects in 2005. Wayne Caldwell spoke on Nutrient Management and Water Quality Issues in 2006. Wayne encouraged participation from the audience which included both farmers and non farmers. At another meeting, Geoff King spoke on how to restore an area in a watershed. We have had other very interesting speakers as well.

A grant has been made available to the Pine River WIN to help farmers make environmental improvements to their property through Environment Canada’s
Adopt –A –Watershed program. Environment Canada is interested in our watershed because baseline data on water quality has already been collected by Huron- Kinloss and there is a grassroots group ( Pine River WIN).

In return for the grant money of $25 000, Environment Canada would like surveys from landowners in the watershed to give researchers more accurate information for environmental needs. All information collected on the surveys will be strictly confidential. We would appreciate your cooperation since this will assist our farmers. If enough surveys are completed, we will obtain more grants the following two years.

We already have two farmers who are participating in the Adopt-A –Watershed Program and hope to have more join the program in the future. Tavira Harford, a recent graduate in Environmental Science, has recently been hired to assist with the surveys. Tavira will be contacting both farmers and non farming landowners in the Pine River Watershed over the next few months with survey information.

Our first project got underway this spring with Anne Eadie as project coordinator.
We first made arrangements with the landowner.
Members of the Committee helped the farmer plant trees on his farm on Bruce County Road 6 near side road 25. The farmer built a fence to keep around two hundred head of cattle out of the river. More trees need to be planted next year to complete the project.

Gail Farrell is the coordinator for our second project, which is also on Bruce County Road 6 but is west of Highway 21. A bed level cattle crossing will be constructed. The cattle will have river access only as they are driven across the watercourse and a gate will be closed to ensure no access. The banks will be protected from erosion with rip rap, native vegetation and shrubs. Also included in the proposal are supplies to provide the cattle with water, since they will be fenced out of the watercourse.

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