Community Resource Planning Guides Available

Local people are more interested than ever in protecting the health of their local environment, but also wonder, “What can I do to help?” They can have some of their questions answered in two stewardship guides that have been prepared for the area.

The first residential stewardship guide, the Stewardship Guide for the Lake Huron Coastline was designed specifically for the people living along the Lake Huron shoreline. In the past five years this homeowner manual has been revised for rural non-farm properties and is known as the Rural Landowner Stewardship Guide for the Lake Huron watershed.

The Rural Landowner Stewardship Guide for the Lake Huron Watershed is fashioned after the successful Environmental Farm Plan (EFP) for agricultural landowners but it is aimed at engaging rural non-farm residents in the protection of their natural environment through individual actions. The Guide helps rural non-farm landowners evaluate their property and identify areas where they might positively impact the local environment.

The Guide itself is a series of worksheets that landowners work through. Worksheets cover topics ranging from wells and septic systems to managing forest, stream and wetland ecosystems. Once landowners have completed going through the Guide, they will be able to create an action plan for environmental improvements that can be undertaken on their property. Instructions on how to create this action plan can be found in the manual or explained through local workshops. The Guide also contains valuable stewardship tips and resource information.

Since 2006, stewardship guide programs for lakeshore communities, and rural non-farm homeowners, have been implemented from Port Franks north to Sauble Beach and also in the Georgian Bay and Lake Simcoe area, by many partner organizations. The village of Auburn is taking the stewardship guide approach to engage residents in looking at septic system management, water conservation, water wells, fuel storage, and urban landscaping in 2011. The people in the community will then undertake action plans to implement the positive actions they have identified. Other communities are encouraged to take part, if they have not done so already.

Under sections of each of these guides is a discussion on private septic systems. The municipality of Huron-Kinloss, in conjunction with its partners, has developed a guide on Septic System care and maintenance for homeowners.

We are all part of the solution – homeowners, tenants, business people, producers, seasonal residents, students. Each of us can help to improve Lake Huron by using guides such as those identified above to create a healthier lake.