2019 SCRCA Stewardship Program Highlights

December 2019 | SCRCA Stewardship Team

 

Stewardship and Forestry

The SCRCA promotes and supports activities that will create healthy watersheds and improve local water quality and soil health. Conservation Authority staff achieve this by providing educational opportunities, technical advice, and financial assistance to local landowners interested in  establishing Best Management Practices (BMPs) and stewardship projects on their properties, such as tree planting and wetland creation. The SCRCA also offers several forestry services to promote sustainable woodlot practices including the development of woodlot management plans and certifying woodlands under the Managed Forest Tax Incentive Program (MFTIP).

 

Healthy Watershed Program: Connecting Landowners with Environmental Stewardship Funding

The St. Clair Region Conservation Authority’s Healthy Watersheds Program provides landowners with technical and financial assistance to improve and protect rural water quality and soil health. Our staff actively seek grants that will help support the conservation efforts of private landowners. Projects can include wetland creation/rehabilitation, sediment traps, agricultural erosion control structures, cover crops, buffer strips, riparian/stream bank protection, wildlife habitat creation, windbreaks, and reforestation.

In 2019, our staff secured $236,000 in grants to support 25 projects on private landowner property.

 

$236,000 in grant funding secured in 2019 to support 25 projects:

• 15 tree planting projects (20 hectares)
• 7 wetland projects (4 hectares)
• 2 erosion projects
• 1 fencing project

 

 

Tree Planting

• 68,570 seedlings and 232 large stock trees planted by SCRCA staff.
• 5,340 seedlings and 586 large stock trees supplied to local landowners.
• 2,700 litres of seed collected from 8 native tree species throughout the watershed.

 

Tree Seedling Program

Every fall, SCRCA staff collect seed from native trees throughout the watershed. The seeds grow into trees that will be used in future afforestation projects in our region and ensure the trees produced are genetically adapted to our local growing conditions.

 

Woodlot Management Services

Managed Forest Tax Incentive Program (MFTIP):

• 5 new plans, managing 58 hectares of forest
• 1 renewed plan, managing 12 hectares of forest

 

Lambton County Woodlands Conservation By-Law

The St. Clair Region Conservation Authority has administered the Woodlands Conservation Bylaw on behalf of the County of Lambton since 2011. This partnership not only assists with the regulatory aspect of the bylaw but has expanded local outreach and education related to conserving woodlands.

 

Oak Wilt Monitoring

In 2019, the SCRCA partnered with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) to monitor insects known to host the fungal pathogen Oak Wilt – a disease that has impacted oak tree populations throughout the United States. The fungus is carried by the Nitidulid beetle (or picnic beetle) and can infect a tree when the host insect encounters open wounds. Three insect traps were set up in St. Clair Township between May and June that used pheromones to attract picnic beetles. The captured insects were collected and sent to the MNRF to be analyzed for the presence of the fungus. No Oak Wilt fungus was detected in the insect traps located in St. Clair Township or any of the other traps set-up throughout Ontario.

Oak Wilt Prevention:

• Don’t prune oak trees from April to August to prevent contact with picnic beetles, which spread the disease
• Don’t move firewood, as this can promote Oak Wilt and other diseases
• Watch for signs of Oak Wilt, which include sudden leaf drop or colour change in summer months

Interested in undertaking a stewardship project?

If you are interested in undertaking a stewardship project on your property or would simply like to learn more, fill out our Healthy Watersheds Program Survey.

We will add you to our contact list and reach out to you if funding becomes available to support the projects you are interested in implementing on your property.

You can also choose to receive occasional updates about upcoming expert-led and peer-to-peer knowledge sharing events.