Ontario supports local projects to protect Lake Huron

Ontario’s Great Lakes Guardian Community Fund is supporting efforts by local communities and organizations to ensure the waters of Lake Huron remain ‘swimmable, drinkable and fishable’ for generations to come.

Established in 2012 as part of Ontario’s Great Lakes Strategy, the fund provides grants of up to $25,000 to community groups for grassroots activities such as cleaning up a beach or shoreline, or restoring a wetland.

Close to $190,000 was awarded in 2012 to eight projects in Healthy Lake Huron watersheds. They include:

• Clearing Phragmites in the Port Franks community of Lambton Shores and re-establishing native plants (Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority)
• Planting trees and improving community access to trails, especially for older and disabled visitors (Bayfield River Valley Trail Association, with local partners and community volunteers)
• Restoring and monitoring six streams (Bruce Peninsula Biosphere Association, with area landowners and students)
• Implementing a Living Beaches hands-on student education program to teach students about beach-dune ecosystems and coastal science (Lake Huron Centre for Coastal Conservation, with municipalities and local schools)
• Water quality monitoring and public outreach to encourage protection of Lake Rosalind and Marl Lake (Lake Rosalind Property Owners Association)
• Constructing barriers to slow stormwater runoff, reducing erosion and fertilizer runoff in the Garvey/Glenn Drain watershed (Mid-Huron Beach Property Owners Association, with Maitland Valley Conservation Authority and area landowners)
• Building an interpretative trail and planting native trees along the Pine River (Pine River Watershed Initiative Network, with community partners, volunteers and students)
• Clearing trails and planting trees to restore natural habitats along the Lake Huron shoreline (Saugeen Valley Conservation Authority, with community volunteers).

More information about the Great Lakes Guardian Community Fund and Ontario’s Great Lakes Strategy is available on the Ontario Ministry of the Environment website.