By Cecilia Nasmith
On Friday, Northumberland became the site of one of the biggest consultations the province has ever mounted, as Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks Jeff Yurek made stops in Colborne and Port Hope.
Yurek described the consultation on Conservation Authorities as an examination of land-use issues in advance of potential regulation changes in legislation he expects will be enacted at Queen's Park.
The Colborne visit was to the Keeler Centre, which saw a capacity crowd show up for round-table discussions among a wide range of stake holders, from land owners and conservation authorities to municipal authorities and members of the agricultural community.
Participants broke into small discussion groups, with Yurek circulating among them all.
Yurek and his host, Northumberland-Peterborough South MPP David Piccini – as well as Ganaraska Region Conservation Authority officials and board members – adjourned to the GRCA office in Port Hope for a presentation on the many roles the agency fulfills for the afternoon session, with all agreeing that the morning had been a huge success.
Vice-chair Mark Lovshin expressed his appreciation for the morning's event as he emceed the Port Hope session.
“It was quite interesting to hear all the different points of view,” Lovshin said.
“I found there was a lot of misunderstandings of how conservation authorities work at my table. A lot of people had second- and third-hand stories that weren't really true.”
It was an opportunity he took to share some information – along with Cobourg's manager of planning services Rob Franklin, who was also at the table - that left everyone more aware of the whats, whys and hows of these regulations.
In discussing the work of the GRCA, Lovshin led off with what he called the Jewel of the Forest – the education centre in the Ganaraska Forest that was refurbished and updated about 10 years ago. Along with programming for local students, Lovshin noted, it hosts private functions such as weddings.
“Thousands of people travel through that in a year,” he estimated.
Outside the centre stretches the forest's beautiful acreage, whose trails attract horseback riders, bikers, hikers skiers and motorized-vehicle users, not to mention treetop-trekking enthusiasts, who come from as far away as Newcastle and Toronto.
Along with trail maintenance and educational programming, staff assume such forest-management functions as logging and tree planting. Healthy Land and Safe Water programs allow people to pursue projects that otherwise might not have been possible, and they also do GIS mapping.
As well, Lovshin continued, staff are closely involved with municipalities to offer input on permits and planning.
“They are like another department for our municipalities with their expertise and good advice that staff at the municipal levels – especially some of the smaller municipalities – might not have,” he stated.
“The staff here are capable and also helpful.”
GRCA watershed services coordinator Cory Harris, who came to the GRCA from Halton, expressed his admiration for how much smaller conservation authorities like the GRCA can do with the limited resources they have to serve such a big area – some 932 sq. km. between Lake Ontario and Rice Lake.
They work collaboratively to share staff and expertise with neighbouring conservation authorities to accomplish even more, Harris said. As a result, they can accomplish important work like assessing tree health and updating flood-plain mapping and shoreline hazards.
Stewardship technician Pam Lancaster grew up in the area, enjoying programming at the forest centre. She told the minister that the Ganaraska Region is pretty well where the conservation movement started with a key program to prevent downstream flooding on the Ganaraska River.
Positive stakeholder relations is a priority in their programs, such as tree planting, well management and many other initiatives undertaken in rural and agricultural communities. And they are always pleased to answer questions and hear feedback when someone needs information or assistance.
“We do our best within the region to work together, and I am really proud of this area,” Lancaster said.
“My family is a long-time generational family here, and it's more than just an organization. It's a way of life in some ways, and I am super-pleased to be part of that.”
“We are one of the oldest conservation authorities in the province, second by only a couple of months, formed in 1946,” chief administrative officer Linda Laliberte said.
“We are rich in history here.”
In a brief interview before returning to Toronto, Yurek said he'd enjoyed being in the area, giving a shout-out to the Big Apple.
Commenting on a great event at the Keeler Centre, Piccini offered a shout-out to Black Dress Catering for the food and another to one of his favourite teachers Malcolm Pacey, who took his students to the Ganaraska Forest Centre for some memorable programming. To this day, he added, he still enjoys his hiking and skiing outings in the forest, and so does his dog Max.
Yurek said that the day's events were the second in a series of such consultations being held with conservation authorities and municipalities and other stakeholders like farmers, land owners, environmental associations.
“We have one more in London next week and one in the north,” he said of the series of four consultations scheduled.
“What we are doing is listening to all the ideas we feel are necessary to modernize and bring some accountability into the system and fix regulations that are not working.
“The best part about this is, I am able to listen to a wide variety of folks. We went to different groups – just like Barrie last week – and some amazing ideas were brought forward from all the groups. And I think it even gives those organizations a better understanding of what other organizations are doing and, at the same time, gives conservation authorities the chance to explain the meaning behind their regulations. It's a great way to consult,” Yurek said.
From its initial-discussions stage to this point in the process, he said, it's been a year and a half of work that has already resulted in some changes in Bill 108, the More Homes More Choices Act.
Consultations will continue with an ultimate view to formulating regulation changes for legislation he hopes to see written, debated and passed before Queen's Park rises in June - “and hopefully they don't shuffle me before then,” he joked.
Piccini said he was also pleased with the wide variety of participants in Colborne and what it means to the consultation process.
“I don't think they have ever had such a wide swath of representation,” he said – an important factor for the potential to learn from one another.
“We saw a robust dialogue with different groups, different stakeholders at every table, and the minister walked the room to speak with all of them,” Piccini said.
“It is our goal in a good democracy to have conversations with local residents of all different backgrounds reflected in our legislation.”
