Back to HomeFeature Article - August 20, 2009 GBCLA Rehabilitates WalleyeSpawning Groundby Martin Yates

Ontario Stewardship Rangers distribute  rocks in the stream.

Last Monday, a team of (rather mature!) volunteers from the Greater Bobs and Crow Lakes Association, led by Fisheries Director Gord Thompson, spent the hottest day of the year rehabilitating the Walleye spawning grounds at the mouth of McEwans creek at the north end of Bobs Lake.

The task consisted of moving rocks from a pile on the roadside, where they were left by the contractor, to the bank of the stream, then spreading them on the bottom to provide a surface for the walleye to spawn over.

Gord enlisted the help of students from the Ontario Stewardship Rangers who, under the supervision of Kathleen Pitt, looked after distributing the rocks in the stream while the GBCLA volunteers moved them from the pile. The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources partially funded the project, and the GBCLA covered the remaining costs.

Photo left: GBCLA members enlist the aid of gravity to place the rocks.

This project forms part of the ongoing implementation of the GBCLA's Lake Stewardship Plan, completed in 2006, which identified the various lake fisheries as areas of high priority. This summer, as well as McEwans Creek, the association intends to rehabilitate Thompson Creek in Long Bay, and plans are now in place to do this later this month.

Gord Thompson said; “Our suspicions were confirmed last summer when the MNR's survey of Bobs Lake showed that the walleye are not reproducing sufficiently to sustain a healthy fishery. A key part of the long-term solution is for us to do all we can to ensure that the spawning grounds are kept in good condition to enable reproduction to take place. That is why we are taking a lot of trouble to rehabilitate the areas that used to be good spawning grounds and are now no longer.”

He added; “We could also use some more volunteer help – particularly from those people who enjoy the great fishing in Bobs Lake or who benefit from the fishery on the lake. We need be able to rely on more than the same few people for every project.”

By mid-afternoon, under a baking sun and with three quarters of the rocks moved and in place, the workers were starting to wilt and a jump in the lake looked more and more attractive. So Gord called a halt to the proceedings, and the project will be completed in the next few days.

Any volunteers interested in helping with the Thompson Creek rehabilitation or other fisheries projects, please call Gordon Thompson at 613-375-7359. 

Back to HomeFeature Article - May 28, 2009 Frontenac County Council - May 20/09By Jeff Green

Consultant's governance plan rejected

The four township mayors who make up Frontenac County Council have heard their own councilors express the near unanimous opinion that a ward system for directly electing members of county council is not the solution they are looking for.

A $35,000 report by Doug Armstrong, which called for an expansion of the council to seven members, including three directly elected members, was thus jettisoned at a meeting of county council last week (May 20). No firm plan for proceeding on governance reform was established.

“The first thing I want to say is that I really hate the fact that we put out an RFP and hired a consultant, and then really don't act on it,” said South Frontenac Mayor Gary Davison, “but I don't see how the recommendations that were brought forward can work.”

North Frontenac Mayor Ron Maguire said that while County Council put forward the Armstrong proposals, they were “never something that the county was underwriting; it was never palatable from the start ... but it behoves the council to move forward, not to postpone this and leave it to another council.”

Maguire then put his support behind a proposal from South Frontenac Council, calling for an increase of county council to 8 or 9 members.

“I agree that each township should have two representatives and I agree with South Frontenac having an extra vote. I'm optimistic the townships would approve that,” he said.

Frontenac Islands Mayor Jim Vanden Hoek said he did “not think the $35,000 we spent on the Armstrong report was wasted; we certainly don't want to shelve it entirely, but I agree that the ward system will not fly.”

Vanden Hoek said the county does not have to hurry a decision along now that the ward system is off the table. “I don't sense there is a gun to our had in terms of timing here.”

Janet Gutowski, Central Frontenac mayor and current county warden, said she is “concerned about the lack of engagement of the public.”

A series of seven public meetings on county governance brought a total of 11 members of the public out, including eight at the final meeting on Howe Island.

“Do we need to make a decision right at this moment? I don't think so,” Gutowski said. “Perhaps we need a little more time to reflect on where the county is going. I don't see bringing anything forward today.”

The County Integrated Community Sustainability Plan (ICSP) is due to be released in June, and Gutowski said that since the ICSP will have an impact on the future of the County and the process to develop it has had much public input, the governance issue should be held off until the ICSP has been launched.

In order for a change in council composition to take effect at the next municipal election in November of 2010, it would have to be approved by County Council and ratified by at least three member townships comprising a majority of the county population, before the end of the 2009 calendar year. 

Naturally Rich Frontenacs

Graham Halsall, the Sustainability Coordinator with Frontenac County, presented a report to Frontenac County Council that proposes the publication of a magazine-format booklet, “Naturally Rich Frontenacs”, to be spearheaded by the Frontenac Stewardship Council.

In his report, Halsall wrote that the booklet would be “a voyage through a sampling of the great wealth of Frontenac County – natural resources, human resources, stories of good stewardship of the land, the evolution of creative activities, and new forms of sustainable activities growing out of the same natural resources that sustained pioneer communities.”

The proposal called for a $9,100 expenditure from Frontenac County towards the $42,000 project, with the Stewardship Council putting in about the same amount in cash and $4,000 worth of labour as an in-kind contribution. The rest of the cost, about $20,000 towards an intern, would be covered through a grant from the Frontenac Community Futures Development Corporation, for which proponents of the project are planning to apply.

Gray Merriam, chair of the FSC, and Chris Raffael, resource person, appeared before Council to answer questions about the booklet.

Raffael passed out a couple of examples of magazines that have been produced through similar partnerships, including a 134-page booklet about Lanark County and a smaller one done in Renfrew County that focuses on privately owned forests.

“We see considerable economic benefits that could come from this project. Future economic development is going to link natural and human riches, maximize economic yield and minimize impacts on future economic yield,” said Merriam.

Merriam also said that the stewardship council has been faced with a similar problem that Frontenac County Council has faced, bridging the north-south gap of Frontenac County, and said the booklet would go some ways to doing that for both organisations.

Frontenac Islands Mayor Jim Vanden Hoek said, “Nobody is disputing the riches of the Frontenacs; but I can't resist asking something. I have yet to talk to someone from a wildlife service that has any interest in the constraints faced by municipal politicians, and they are often very skilled, more skilled than proponents of developments, in the political process. I know the types of individuals that go on your boards. How do I get some comfort that this won't turn out to be something that ends up coming back at us in our planning or political process?”

“I can give you a bit of comfort,” said Merriam, “we don’t do advocacy. I'll give you an example from Wolfe Island. We have spent a lot of money supporting the Big Sandy Bay rehabilitation. That's not a political issue.”

Warden Janet Gutowski said, “I’m going to support this project. It's really difficult to find promotional tools that identify to the rest of the world who we are. I think this could be a very valuable tool.”

South Frontenac Mayor Gary Davison said, “I feel that promoting the Frontenac brand is a great thing. I worry about this turning into another level of objection for development. We feel that our Official Plan, which has been recognised throughout the province, is sufficient. We already have the conservation authorities, the ministry of the environment, and all the rest; we don’t need another layer. That's the only thing that gives me a bit of a twinge.”

Despite some of these misgivings, council approved the expenditure, which will be taken from the county portion of Federal Gas Tax Rebate money. 

The Frontenac Stewardship Council is a community-based group, affiliated with Ontario Stewardship, a program of the Ministry of Natural Resources.

The local stewardship council operates independently of the ministry, which provides a resource person and $9,000 per year in seed money.

With that money as a base, the FSC seeks other funding and provides support for stewardship projects undertaken by individuals and groups within Frontenac County.

Efforts supported by the stewardship council include a tree-planting program, wetland rehabilitation projects, support for the butternut and bald eagle recovery programs, and support for landowners and lake associations wishing to develop stewardship plans for their properties.

The council also sponsors talks, including one on Fishers last year, and a heavily-attended talk on Coyotes this past winter. In late June a day of events about Loons is planned for Sharbot Lake. 

Back to HomeFeature Article - March 19, 2009 Snakes, Snappers & Skinks

On Wednesday, April 1 at 7 pm. in the Lions Hall in Verona, snake lovers and fraidy cats are invited to an evening of snakes, snappers and skinks with Shaun Thompson, District Ecologist at Kemptville MNR and Todd Norris, District Ecologist at Peterborough MNR. It is sponsored by the Frontenac and Lennox & Addington Stewardship Councils, and Friends of the Salmon River.

Come and touch a live black rat snake. They are totally harmless. The longest, record-setting one stretched out at 8 ½ ft long. As Canada’s largest snake, the black rat has a maligned reputation although it’s actually quite docile. They can be found sunning on rocks in the Frontenac Axis region in southeastern Ontario.

The ecologists will talk about the black (eastern) rat snake and its biology, distribution and status in Ontario. They will also cover other reptiles and amphibians for the area with an emphasis on Species at Risk – Blanding’s, stinkpot and snapping turtles, as well as the five-lined skink. There will be slides, a real snake and fascinating stories.

Come with lots of questions, as Shaun directs an evening of audience participation. Bring the family and let the kids explore the world of snakes, turtles and skinks.

Shaun Thompson has been District Ecologist with Kemptville MNR since 1993. He spent 12 years as fish and wildlife technician, was park warden and superintendent in Ontario parks, and Deputy Conservation Officer for 12 years. He has studied the black rat snake since 1983 and is chair of the recovery team. Shaun spent 2 years in the St. Lawrence Islands National Park modelling Species at Risk with stinkpot turtles and five-lined skinks.

All are welcome, free of charge.

For more information, contact: the Frontenac Stewardship Council 613-531-5714

Bret Colman, the honorable Monique Smith, Sally Colman and Beth Pointer, executive director of Camping Ontario. Photo courtesy of Bret and Sally Colman

This weekend on Saturday Feb.13 from 10am-2pm the Frontenac Stewardship Council and Frontenac Stewardship Foundation will be holding their first Family Panfish Fishing Derby at the Desert Lake Resort near Verona and the event is entirely free of charge. Prizes will be awarded; there will be a free BBQ, hot beverages, free skating and a bonfire with marshmallows for roasting. It’s an excellent opportunity for new anglers and there will be free fishing gear on hand for those without. Because the event coincides with the MNR’s “Family Fishing Weekend” no fishing licenses are required.

To ensure that enough food is prepared, interested participants are encouraged to pre-register by contacting Cam McCauley of the Frontenac Stewardship Council at (613) 531-5714 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or with Bret Colman of Desert Lake Resort at (613) 374-2196.

The event promises to be fun for the whole family and participants are encouraged to dress warmly and to bring something to sit on.

Cam McCauley, coordinator of the Frontenac Stewardship Council (FSC), is thrilled to be able to offer this free first time event, which was made possible through a grant from the Ontario Stewardship Fund. He says the purpose of the event is to “raise awareness and to promote fisheries and angling in Frontenac County.”

Bret Colman, co-owner and operator of the resort, is also a council member of the FSC and he and his wife Sally offered the resort as a location for the event. Bret explained, “We really want to show people that the fun on the lake does not have to end once the ice freezes. We are also hoping to get more youth involved in fishing and angling.”

Bret and Sally purchased the 36-year-old resort from Sally’s parents years ago. The resort was presented with the 2009 Ontario Campground of the Year Award by the Ontario Private Campground Association in November. The Colmans believe it is their diverse recreation program for children and teenagers in particular that helped them to win the award.

Editorial by Jeff Green

Most people in Ontario had never heard of Stewardship Ontario until a couple of weeks ago, when the news about a dreaded new eco-tax began to surface.

The tax, which is really a fee, was supposed to be applied to all manufactured products that contain toxic materials and require a special, costly program in order to be disposed of safely. It has already been put in place rather successfully for tires and electronic equipment. On July 1, a botched attempt to extend it to a wide variety of products, ranging from soap to bleach to Portland cement and beyond, was rolled out.

As we all know it came back to haunt those who attempted it and turned into quite the black eye for the McGuinty Liberals, who are already facing a backlash over the HST. The eco-tax was hastily pulled and as of this week the whole thing has been frozen until it can be revamped.

It has also made people wonder about Stewardship Ontario, which is an odd duck indeed. The Board of Directors of Stewardship Ontario, which is a not-for-profit corporation, reads like a Who’s Who of the Ontario business elite. It includes VPs from McCains, Loblaws, Canadian Tire, Unilever, Sears and Apotex. Stakeholders that are listed include Waste Diversion Ontario and the Ministry of the Environment in addition to the stewards

Who are these stewards? Essentially they are the manufacturers of products that contain hazardous materials. Calling them stewards was a bit of a branding exercise. When we think of stewards we think of children planting trees or youth hauling rocks over for spawning beds. We think of landowners tending their woodlots. We think of Joe Purdon, who expanded a small number of orchids on his farm to a colony of 16,000.

These images are intentional. Stewardship Ontario was set up to engage the sources of household hazardous waste,- the producers and sellers of the products - into the goal of eliminating all the toxins in consumer products from the waste stream. Removing poisons from the land, from the watershed, is indeed an act of stewardship.

And Stewardship Ontario was, and still is, a good idea. Somehow producers and consumers must be the ones who carry out, and fund the reclamation of this kind of hazardous waste. Otherwise it would end up being charged to municipalities, which already have enough responsibilities.

The botched eco-tax introduction will have to be fixed, and sooner or later it will be. In the end, one way or another, if consumers continue to purchase products that contain poison, they will have to pay to safely deal with that poison once the product is thrown away.

But in addition to giving the McGuinty Liberals and some business people a black eye, the eco-tax debacle has damaged the branding of “stewardship” itself.

People believed the eco-tax was going to a bunch of tree huggers.

At least 10 years before someone got the idea of calling hazardous waste recycling “stewardship”, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources was facing budget cuts. The ministry could no longer afford to do education and land rehabilitation work. So they established stewardship councils in each rural county in southern Ontario. Local councils sought members, essentially among the “tree hugger” community, and the ministry provided $10,000 or $15,000 each year and funded a co-ordinator for each council.

The local stewardship councils are all affiliates of the Ontario Stewardship Council, but have nothing to do with Stewardship Ontario.

The councils meet regularly. They apply for funding from various sources, and they dole out money to habitat restoration project of various kinds, including tree planting, woodlot management, and spawning bed rehabilitation.

The Frontenac Stewardship Council, for example, includes about a dozen board members, from all four Frontenac townships. The council sponsors talks, such as the recent bear and eagle talks, is working on a school curriculum on water, and provides a few dollars for a number of local and regional projects. It has never, nor will it ever, receive money from the eco-tax, which can only be used for waste diversion.

Members of the Frontenac Stewardship Council (and I must disclose I am one of them) feel sort of like the Swiss watch-makers and financial management companies that bought into the Tiger Woods brand. One minute that brand meant integrity and efficiency and the next minute in meant cheating and a lack of self-control. Not exactly what watch-makers and financial management companies want.

It was easier for them to jettison Tiger Woods than it is for the Ontario Stewardship Councils to get rid of the stewardship moniker.

But maybe it’s worth a try.

Let’s see – what about the Frontenac Land and Water Council? Too academic sounding. Maybe Frontenac Tree Huggers? Too hippy-dippy. Frontenac Green Council? Too green. Frontenac Sustainability Council? Too unsustainable as a concept.

No, there is no solution to this problem.

We’ll have to just ride it out. Stewardship will eventually be rehabilitated as a brand.

Now, as for Tiger Woods …

Gord Rodgers, FIMLA President, presenting a copy of the lake plan report to Ron Vandewal, Councilor for Loughborough District, at the FIMLA annual meeting.

Fourteen Island and Mink Lakes Association (FIMLA) launched a lake stewardship plan for the Fourteen Island watershed at their annual general meeting on August 1.

The plan establishes a baseline for monitoring changes to the natural environment and the impact of future development around the lake. Recommendations are provided that address what needs to be done to protect and enhance the local environment for everyone to enjoy. Each recommendation is accompanied by a set of actions to achieve these aims.

It represents the views of the local community in the FIMLA watershed area. FIMLA executive plan to present the document to South Frontenac Township Council and other agencies, and request that they take into account the lake stewardship plan when considering any plans or developments that could impact on the area.

It has taken a group of dedicated residents living around the lake more than three years to research and write the plan. They followed an exhaustive process of engaging the lake community through surveys, workshops, meetings and updates in newsletters and on the FIMLA website, reaching out to the communities around all five lakes in the watershed (Fourteen Island, Mink, Little John, Little John's Sister and Buffy Lakes).

The process helped the community identify what they value about living on these lakes and the challenges to be addressed to protect them. In developing the plan the FIMLA lake plan committee has worked with the Ministry of Natural Resources to conduct fishery surveys. A water quality review has also been carried out by Ontario Lake Assessments. As a result of these efforts the community has become more involved in the stewardship of their lakes. A water quality program for all five lakes has been implemented and more people are directly involved in fisheries management on the lakes. Further goals have been set for on-going planning, education and other initiatives to reconcile sustainable development of the lake community with protecting and enhancing the natural environment for generations to come.

Presenting the Lake Stewardship Plan to FIMLA members at the annual meeting, FIMLA President, Gord Rodgers, congratulated the lake planning committee on a fine product. He stressed that the Action Plan is the most important part of the report, and finished with a call to action stating that, "Volunteers are encouraged to come forward to help achieve the plan’s goal and objectives”.

For more information email Robert Powell: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

Editorial by Jeff Green

A couple of weeks ago, we ran an article called “Deputy Minister sees diminished role for MNR”. The article was based on the transcript of a video statement by David O’Toole, the Deputy Minister of Natural Resources, that was viewed by staff throughout the ministry in the wake of the provincial budget, a budget that has now been approved by the Ontario legislature.

The statement raised a number of questions, and I attempted to get some clarity from the ministry. I waited seven days, but when I received the response last week from the communications department at the ministry, I’m afraid I found it less than forthcoming about the ministries real plans.

One of the key questions I asked was what kind of risk Mr. O’Toole was referring to in his statement “Resource monitoring programs will be re-designed to reduce delivery costs. These programs will be consistent with the ministry’s higher tolerance to risk and the move to landscape level planning.”

I received a five-part response to this one part question, the most definitive part being the following - “The MNR will not compromise on our mandate of ecosystem protection.”

This was followed by part 2, which was about how MNR service will be modernized: “Taking a risk-based approach would allow MNR to better prioritise decision-making and resource allocation within broader ecosystem considerations.”

That left me confused. Exactly how does a ‘risk-based approach’ relate to ‘higher tolerance to risk’?

This was followed by the standard spiel about holding public consultation before any changes are made. The answer concludes by saying that in the future the MNR will be focussing on “core business lines of fish and wildlife, endangered species protection, forestry, Crown land management, water, parks and protected areas, non-renewable resources, and public safety.

Aside from my own frustration at not being able to get a straight answer to my question – I still have no idea what risks will be more highly tolerated by the MNR - the last part of the ministry’s answer is simply not credible at all.

That list of core business lines is long, and there is strong evidence that those functions are already not being accomplished adequately, before the budget cuts take effect.

For example, there is only one conservation officer for Fisheries Zone 18, a massive region that encompasses most of Eastern Ontario and thousands of lakes and hunting lands. Fish and wildlife regulations can be flouted with impunity now.

When ministry officials came to talk to the local conservation community in Northbrook a few weeks ago the hall was full, and the talk in the hall was less about whether the regulations made sense and more about how the regulations were going to be enforced.

No statements about a new business plan and restructuring can mask the fact that the MNR is losing funding again and will be able to provide less rather than more protection to rural Ontario in the future.

 

Stewardship councils on the rocks

The MNR provides support for 46 stewardship councils in rural counties across the province. That funding is now under review

Stewardship councils, which are made up of volunteers with an interest in helping to maintain and learn about their local and regional ecosystems, have been in place for about 16 years. They were set up the last time the MNR underwent major cuts. The councils replaced some of the outreach functions of the MNR.

In Frontenac County, the council has about 20 members, including representatives from all of the four townships. Members bring their own interests to the council. With the help of Cam McCauley, an MNR employee who provides administrative support, and is adept at securing grant money from government and foundation sources, the council supports tree planting efforts, landowner efforts to prepare stewardship plans for their properties, fish spawning bed enhancement and more.

In recent years the council has forged a relationship with Frontenac County, producing the Naturally Rich Frontenacs booklet, and presented public talks on a host of species, including fishers, wolves, coyotes, bats, loons, and turtles.

While the council continues to meet each month, there is a feeling that it will soon face a fatal cut in support from the ministry.

An effort to save Stewardship Councils is being led by the Leeds Grenville Stewardship Council Chair Rhonda Elliott. She has started an online petition at the following url - www.gopetition.com/petitions/ontario-stewardship-councils-are-important-to-ontarians.html

When I contacted the ministry, I also asked them the following direct question about the future of Stewardship Councils. Will the stewardship councils be losing all ministry funding?

The answer could have been a yes or a no, but instead I received a three part answer.

Here it is:

- MNR will continue to have a presence in rural Ontario. Details regarding specific transfer payments still need to be worked out and finalized. MNR is committed to providing information as more details become available

- Our focus will be to engage in more strategic partnerships aligned to MNR’s core priorities and business needs, and establishing clear expectations and accountabilities for the funds provided.

- These changes are necessary to address the government’s financial realities so that the MNR can continue to better serve our clients and all Ontarians.

If anyone can make sense of the above please contact me. I think it implies that the stewardship councils are toast.

But what do I know?

 

 

David O’Toole, Deputy Minister of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), delivered a video message to ministry personnel in the wake of last month’s provincial budget.

The News has obtained a transcript of the video, which outlines what O’Toole called “the ministry's Transformation Plan” which he said “will essentially become our business-planning roadmap over the next three years."

The message starts off by saying that over the past two decades the MNR budget had declined as a proportion of government spending, while “at the same time our regulatory and legislative mandate has expanded and become more complex.”

Since 1991 the ministry's budget has been reduced from 1.5% of the provincial budget to 0.5%, and staffing levels have decreased from 5,800 Full Time Equivalent positions (FTE’s) to 3,300.

“However, during the same period, our legislative responsibility has grown from 28 pieces of legislation to 46,” O’Toole said, leaving the ministry with a “significant internal deficit, in the range of $50 million annually”

As a result, O’Toole acknowledges that the environmental community has been disappointed in the ministry's ability to manage Ontario’s natural resources; stakeholders are frustrated by the ministry's limited human and financial resources; and the environmental commissioner continues to criticize the MNR’s ability to protect the province's natural resources.

Among the changes that O’Toole outlines in the plan to reform the ministry are a “focus on core business lines of fish and wildlife, forestry, Crown land management, water, parks and protected areas, non-renewable resources and public safety.”

While the changes will include streamlined permitting processes and better use of online tools, O’Toole said the ministry will also be able to back away from some direct responsibilities and “delegate the authority to issues certain types of licenses or permits to a non-governmental organization.”

The MNR will also shift to something called a “permit by rule” system in which “individuals or organizations are deemed to have approvals if they conform their compliance with standards established in regulation as opposed to detailed review by ministry staff.”

Other parts of the plan include a decrease in the number of ministry offices, and that the ministry move “away from detailed review and approval of site-specific activities” and “take a more risk-based approach”.

O’Toole indicates on two occasions that the MNR will tolerate more risk than in the past.

“The ministry will also manage a higher level of risk in resource management decisions, compliance and enforcement, monitoring and assessment,” he said at one point.

Later, he said the following: “Resource monitoring programs will be re-designed to reduce delivery costs. These programs will be consistent with the ministry’s higher tolerance for risk and the move to landscape level planning".

Stewardship councils, which are an outreach program of the MNR that engages volunteers in all of the rural counties in the province, will apparently lose all support from the ministry.

“And we will develop a new model to support stewardship delivery and partnerships. This model will re-orient ministry stewardship assistance away from direct staff support …”

O’Toole’s statement concludes by reiterating that once all of the changes are in place there will be “fewer people, places and programs” in the Ministry of Natural Resources.

The News has contacted the MNR seeking clarification about the future of stewardship councils, the concept of “permit by rule” approvals and what exactly “higher tolerance for risk” will mean to the environment.

We did not receive a response in time for this week’s edition but we hope to have something from the MNR in time for our April 19 edition.

 

Owners of woodlots who wish to save money on their property taxes can take advantage of the Managed Forest Tax Incentive Program (MFTIP) workshop. Landowners who apply and qualify for the program have the eligible portion of their property classified and assessed as Managed Forest under the managed forests property class. The eligible land is taxed at 25 percent of the municipal tax rate set for residential properties.

On Saturday, April 14 in Sharbot Lake, the Limestone Chapter of the Ontario Woodlot Association and the Frontenac Stewardship Council are holding a workshop on this program. Local forest technician Dave Smallwood, highly experienced with the MFTIP and forest management planning, will walk you through the entire process.

The Managed Forest Tax Incentive Program (MFTIP) is available to landowners who own four hectares (excluding residences) or more of forest land. Participating landowners have their property reassessed and classified as Managed Forest, and taxed at a rate similar to farmland.

The landowner has a management plan prepared and submitted to a certified approver. When followed, the plan enhances owner participation in managing the forest, and in turn, encourages the stewardship of Ontario's private forests.

In one case, 94 acres of mixed hardwood, young spruce plantings and abandoned farmland was registered under MFTIP and the cost of preparing the plan was recovered in the first year. Tax savings in the following years have been used to carry out the management plan.

The event fee is $10, payable at the door. In the morning indoor session, participants will learn all about MFTIP and how to prepare a woodlot plan. In the afternoon session, everyone will travel to a hardwood woodlot for practical demonstrations of what was learned in the morning session. Bring your own bag lunch. Coffee and snacks will be provided in the morning.

Be sure to dress for all types of weather and be prepared for the afternoon with rain wear, boots, and warm clothing. Given our early spring, we may be greeted by black flies, so bug repellent may be advised.

The workshop is at the North Frontenac Telephone Company Business Office, Lower Level, at 1019 Windwood Drive in Sharbot Lake on Saturday, April 14 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more on the Ontario Woodlot Association, visit ont-woodlot-assoc.org. For more on the Frontenac Stewardship Council, visit www.ontariostewardship.org/councils/frontenac.

For more information, contact Dave Sexsmith, OWA at 613-373-9334 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or contact Cam McCauley, Frontenac Stewardship Coordinator at 613-531-5714, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

 

For 16 years, a group of the 46 stewardship councils in Ontario (one per rural county) have been quietly going about their business, but that business is changing.

The councils were set up by the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) as a way of fostering environmental stewardship in rural Ontario.

In the case of the Frontenac Stewardship Council (FSC), efforts have been made to keep a representative council with membership from throughout the geographically diverse county, which has meant accommodating hour-long drives to and from North Frontenac as well as the ferry schedule to Wolfe Island.

“I think that at this point we have a very good council in terms of geographical representation and the different interests and backgrounds of its members,” said current Frontenac Stewardship Council Chair, Gord Rodgers (photo right), a resident of 14 Island Lake in South Frontenac.

The councils have access to a full time co-ordinator, who is an MNR employee, as well as $10,000 in seed money. The co-ordinator provides administrative support, some environmental expertise, and a lot of information about funding sources that the stewardship council can tap into to fund projects.

The council is at arm’s length from the government and has no regulatory function in the county.

“On the contrary, all we do is give money away to people who are interested in doing stewardship projects on their own properties. We only come to see people when they want us to come,” said Rodgers.

Some ongoing projects the Frontenac Stewardship Council has been involved with include tree planting on various properties, helping landowners develop stewardship plans for their properties, and the Big Sandy Bay restoration project on Wolfe Island.

The council also sponsors workshops and talks, such as popular fisher and wolf/coyote talks, as well as a loon day in Sharbot Lake a few summers ago.

Working with neighbouring councils, particularly the Lennox and Addington Council, FSC has been involved with projects such as the Butternut Recovery Project.

About a year ago, it started to become clear that the MNR, prompted at least in part by events such as the E-Health scandal, was uncomfortable with the way the stewardship councils are structured.

At the Eastern Zone conference (an annual meeting where council representatives from Peterborough to the west and the Quebec border to the east meet with each other, their co-ordinators and MNR staff) in the fall of 2010, the MNR’s concerns were first broached.

“They made it clear that they had decided the rules need to change about how funding was allocated to organisations that are outside of government,” recalls Gord Rodgers. “They wanted to see agencies such as ours, which are outside of government, become incorporated”.

As incorporated bodies, stewardship council members, who currently have no legal responsibility for the money that councils allocate, would become directors of not-for-profit corporations. As directors, they would take on legal and financial liability for their decisions, which would make the government happy.

“One thing that arises from this is that a council such as ours will need to purchase our own insurance, which will eat into the $10,000 we receive each year from the ministry,” said Rodgers.

Late in the spring of this year, another shoe dropped. The councils found out that as MNR employees, stewardship council co-ordinators will be limited in the kinds of work they can do for the independently incorporated stewardship councils.

“We are not entirely sure what this means, but for one thing, I gather that if a council such as ours wants to hire someone to work on a project, as we did when we produced the ‘Naturally Rich Frontenacs’ booklet last year, the co-ordinator will not be able to supervise that person. Bookkeeping and other functions that the co-ordinator offers might be cut as well. With the limited resources we have, we will be looking at increasing costs or asking our own members to do volunteer labour on a day-to-day basis, which is not what any of us signed up for, ” said Gord Rodgers.

There is also an underlying concern that once co-ordinators are freed up from some of their stewardship council responsibilities, their time will be taken up more and more by different responsibilities in a ministry that has been facing funding cuts in recent years.

“We are also concerned that the way this has been dealt with has been far less than completely open,” said Rodgers.

But that is about to change, he is hoping.

When he expressed concerns to the ministry about what was going on, Gord Rodgers, along with the council chair from Wellington County, was invited to meet with an MNR Assistant Deputy Minister in Toronto.

“He listened very well to our concerns,” said Rodgers. “Even though I have no idea what will come of it, I felt it was useful that we had a chance to put our issues on the table.”

Rodgers is hoping for some real indication of how the stewardship councils will be structured when the 2011 Eastern Zone conference takes place in Kingston at the end of November, when a chunk of time has been set aside for the ‘new business model’ to be discussed. A number of senior officials from the ministry have been invited to that meeting.

“We hope we can come up with something that works so we can carry on working with property owners in Frontenac County on voluntary stewardship projects,” said Rodgers.