Huron Clean Water Project supports individual action

Joanne Scott is one of many landowners who are preserving topsoil, limiting wind and soil erosion, and keeping creeks, rivers, and Lake Huron healthy with help from the Huron County Clean Water Project.

Scott has completed five tree-planting projects since buying her farm east of Kippen in 1990.

She says trees give added life to the landscape and the Huron Clean Water Project makes it possible for her to do more planting.

"It’s an excellent program," she says.

She also likes the variety of birds that sit on the branches of her trees and the fact that trees keep her property cool in summer.

"Trees reduce erosion and stop nutrients from leaching into my creek," she says. "Tree planting also conserves topsoil and you can’t easily replace the topsoil if you lose it."

Scott has planted many trees herself and paid for most of her planting projects. She has also received grants through the Huron County Clean Water Project and other programs.

And she is not alone in her commitment to protecting precious water resources and the local environment. Since 2004, Scott and other landowners have completed 1,636 projects under the initiative, including:

• Completing 440 tree planting projects
• Decommissioning 389 wells
• Upgrading 310 private wells
• Decommissioning 69 liquid manure storages
• Fencing cattle from more than 40 km of streams
• Planting more than 150 hectares of trees
• Establishing more than 90 km of windbreaks.

And more than $1.7 million in funding has resulted in projects valued at more than $7.2 million. The county is continuing that support with $400,000 in new funding for 2014. A new category of eligible projects was added last year. Huron County landowners can apply for 50 per cent funding, up to $1,000 maximum, for Forest Management Plans and Woodlot Enhancement.

These will help landowners optimize forest health, create long-term, sustainable returns from woodlands, and enhance forests to prevent soil erosion and benefit ground and surface-water quality.

The Huron County Clean Water Project is funded by the County of Huron and is delivered by the Maitland Valley and Ausable Bayfield conservation authorities.