Lake Huron: the power of community

People who live, work, and play on the shores of Lake Huron are drawn to its beautiful blue waters and sandy beaches. Now, they are taking action to protect them. Along the southeast shoreline, people from Sarnia to Tobermory have been getting involved in efforts to improve water quality and restore the Lake Huron ecosystem.

Community groups are cleaning up beaches, helping restore wetlands and protecting habitats with assistance from Ontario’s Great Lakes Guardian Community Fund.

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.

Last year, close to $150,000 was awarded to seven projects in Lake Huron watersheds including:

• Restoring wetlands, planting trees and providing community education to help Parkhill and surrounding local communities in the Ausable watershed and Middlesex County from the headwater areas to the beaches at Port Franks and Grand Bend, through the Middlesex Stewardship Council and the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Foundation.
• Improving and protecting native brook trout habitat along the headwater areas of Beaver River through community engagement and awareness programs — a Beaver River Watershed Initiative with the Grey Sauble Conservation Authority.
• Reducing sediment transport in Spring Creek to create new spawning beds and help enhance fish habitat productivity and improve water quality led by the Hepworth Anglers Club.
• Planting trees, restoring wetlands and enhancing the watercourse to protect water quality in the main Bayfield watershed, surrounding local communities, and farmland between Clinton and Bayfield with the Bayfield Ratepayers Association and the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Foundation.
• Naturalizing and stabilizing the banks along the Maitland River, as well as enhancing in-stream habitat by implementing bioengineering site designs to create 2.75 hectares of new green space in the town of Gorrie, Howick Township, with the Howick Optimist Club and the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority.
• Re-establishing habitats and native plants, reducing soil and beach erosion and engaging the Sarnia community to enhance the ecological functions of five area public beaches with Return the Landscape and the Corporation of the City of Sarnia.
• Restoring fish and wildlife habitat on the east side of Jericho Creek within the Mud Creek watershed in Lambton County to conserve and enhance biodiversity in the region with the Rural Lambton Stewardship Network and the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Foundation.

To learn more about these efforts to protect the Great Lakes visit ontario.ca/environment-andenergy/great-lakes-and-watersheds.