MINTO – The Maitland Valley Conservation Authority has released key strategic priorities to implement over the next three years at an Aug. 13 council meeting.
The ministry requires each conservation authority to consult with member municipalities and stakeholders in order to obtain their feedback on the proposed strategy, stated councillor Ed Podniewicz.
Podniewicz attended the meeting as a representative of the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority.
The plan was developed in October 2023 with the major points in the plan spread out from 2024 to 2026.
“We have taken this approach because it is extremely difficult to be able to plan more than three years ahead,” Podniewicz added.
The work plan focuses on:
- helping municipalities reduce the potential for loss of life, property damage and social disruption in flood and erosion prone areas;
- assisting municipalities and landowners to develop and implement soil and water conservation systems that help soil and nutrients on the land and stay out of watercourses;
- ensuring the management of the conservation areas set high standards of conservation practices and are safe for the public to use; and
- developing a stable financial base so the conservation authority can help municipalities develop a “healthy, resilient and prosperous watershed.”
Maitland Valley is a community-based organization formed in 1951.
The valley’s jurisdiction covers the watershed/drainage area of the Maitland, Nine Mile and Eighteen Mile rivers along with smaller watersheds on the Lake Huron shoreline.
Maitland general manager and treasurer Phil Beard presented the plan alongside Podniewicz.
Beard explained the conservation authority doesn’t receive science support from the province like they did “many decades ago.”
Because of this the organization has begun working with citizen science.
“We’re working with volunteers to get them to help us collect information on the health of the forests so we cover a lot more of the watershed,” added Beard.
Officials said people are “eager to help” and interested in learning more about the watershed’s health.
“They all live here too and they care about the land,” Beard said.
The conservation authority is hoping to receive feedback from council by Sept. 30 as the strategy must be submitted to the ministry by Dec. 31, noted Podniewicz.
“I know that you guys do a lot of work with the money that you’re allocated every year,” Mayor Dave Turton stated at meeting.
“Every year you have this work plan and it seems like it far exceeds the people you have to do the work,” he added.
The watershed strategy will be circulated to member municipalities and posted on the Maitland Conservation’s website for public review and comment.
Visit mvca.on.ca for more information or to view the full strategy.
