South Nation

Have you seen an American Eel lately?

If so, South Nation Conservation wants to hear about it! Once plentiful in the South Nation watershed and throughout this part of the province, it’s estimated the eel population has declined by more than 90 per cent.

The reasons are many, said Naomi Langlois-Anderson, SNC Senior Fish & Wildlife Technician, who’s collecting anecdotal information about eels. They include man-made dams and weirs, over-fishing, pollution and parasites.

While the words technology and wilderness are often at odds, SNC is introducing QR codes at Two Creeks Conservation Area in Iroquois. We have installed visitor signage that incorporates Quick Response (QR) codes—a type of barcode that can be scanned by a smart phone.

Located throughout the 4 km trail, signs with QR codes give visitors instant access to digital information at nine points of interest, including what species can be found on site. A cell signal is available all throughout the trail.

SNC mitigates property damages and public safety risks by mapping lands that flood. SNC is entering a five-year plan to update flood risk mapping in the City of Ottawa. Staff are surveying watercourses with existing and future development pressures along Greys Creek McCooye Creek, and the Cassidy Municipal drain in Osgoode Ward. We gather elevation data, bridge measurements, and previous flood damage to build a computer model that calculates flows during floods.

A new Ontario Nature initiative brings various stakeholders together to raise awareness of biodiversity offsetting in the province. On October 23, 2013, SNC staff made presentations at a workshop in Toronto to share knowledge and insights about biodiversity offsetting in Ontario.

Municipalities within the Raisin-South Nation Source Protection Region will receive $50,000 – $87,000 in funding from the Ontario Ministry of the Environment to help implement local actions to protect drinking water sources.

Funding from Ontario Source Protection Municipal Implementation Fund was announced on November 1, 2013, and will support Municipalities as they carry out their locally-developed Source Protection Plans.

South Nation Conservation has donated copies of its book, “Our Watershed, Our Heritage” to
the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry County Library, in recognition of the support of library staff
in researching information for the book.

Each day, 70 per cent of young Canadians spend one hour or less outdoors. A new Ontario’s Children’s Outdoor Charter strives to turn that around by encouraging organizations and individuals to help children to get outside in order to be more active and to experience nature.

Geocaching is an ideal way to discover South Nation Conservation lands. SNC has several caches hidden in the watershed. Watch this video of young Ethan exploring the latest addition to our network of parks along a 400 m wetland trail at the Leitrim Boardwalk in Findlay Creek, a community in the south of Ottawa.

SNC partners with the South Nation Branch of Delta Waterfowl to guide groups of first-time youth hunters. We introduce local 12- to 15-year olds to respecting safety, wildlife, habitat, and private property. SNC and Delta Waterfowl sponsor all costs to the program, which covers the Hunter Safety course and the Canadian Firearms course. For six years running, all 10 spots have been filled for the September training and October Youth Hunt weekend.

SNC and our municipal partners are enabling communities to plant more trees. We invite landowners to support reforestation efforts by ordering seedlings through our tree planting program. We offer a subsidy for native stock from the Ferguson Forest Centre in Kemptville. The North Grenville nursery grows high quality, ecologically suitable trees and shrubs, which we have been purchasing for 30 years. Place your 2014 orders early for the best selection of conifer seedlings and transplants, hardwoods, and shrubs.