2023 SCRCA Stewardship Program Highlights

December 2023 | SCRCA Stewardship Team

 

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.

 

Healthy Watersheds Program

Environmental stewardship projects are completed annually throughout the St. Clair Region watershed to improve and protect rural water quality and soil health. SCRCA staff actively seek grants to provide funding to support the efforts of local landowners. In 2023, $537,000 in grant funding was secured to support 41 projects, with participating landowners contributing an additional $121,300. In total, over 37 hectares of agricultural land (valued at approximately $805,000) were taken out of production by local landowners to allow for the implementation of stewardship projects.

 

2023 Stewardship Projects:

• 28 tree planting projects (33 hectares)
• 7 wetland projects (4.8 hectares)
• 4 erosion control projects (including 30 berms and 1 municipal drain erosion project)
• 2 cover crop projects (36.5 hectares)

 

 

Tree Planting
The SCRCA had another successful tree planting year in 2023, with 74,740 seedlings and 887 large-stock trees planted throughout the St. Clair Region watershed. A total of 65,730 tree seedlings were planted by SCRCA seasonal staff on 28 properties. Large-stock trees and the remaining 9,010 seedling trees were provided to local landowners and municipalities for plantations, windbreaks, and roadside plantings, among others.

 

Tree Seed Collection
Every fall, SCRCA staff collect seeds from native trees throughout the watershed. These seeds grow into trees that will be used in future afforestation projects in the SCRCA region to ensure the trees produced are genetically adapted to our local growing conditions. Seed collection in 2023 improved significantly from 2022 with a variety of native tree seeds collected. A total of 3,387 L was collected throughout the watershed by SCRCA staff and two dedicated landowners with an abundance of black walnuts on their property. Seeds from a total of 10 different species were collected which will result in a greater diversity of trees available for the 2025, 2026, and 2027 tree planting seasons.

 

Lambton County Woodlands Conservation By-Law

Since 2011, the SCRCA has partnered with the County of Lambton and has provided professional forestry services in administering the County of Lambton Woodlands Conservation By-Law. The By-law aims to encourage good forestry practices among County woodland owners to ensure sustainable harvesting and maintenance. The SCRCA also implements an educational component to engage landowners on the environmental and social benefits of woodlands and best management practices to promote the preservation of tree cover within the County.

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.