Frontenac Stewardship Council kicks off busy summer

Jeff Green | May 27, 2010

The Frontenac Stewardship Council will be kicking off an active summer with the presentation of a talk on Climate Change and its potential impacts on the rural lifestyle and landscape at the Clar/Mill Hall in Plevna on June 8 at 7:00 pm.

Gary Neilsen, the Climate Control Project Co-ordinator for the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, will start the evening off by providing a cogent explanation of what climate change is. Climate change is the most talked about environmental issue of our day, and yet there is a lack of understanding about how it came about, the effects it could have on our local environment, and what can be done to alleviate and/or react to its impact on our ecosystem.

For example, climate change will likely expand the habitat of certain species, such as the Eastern Blue bird while at the same limiting the habitat of others such as moose.

Neilsen’s talk promises to bring clarity to an issue that is talked about all the time but rarely explained.

After the Climate Change talk, members of the Frontenac Stewarship Council will be available for a meet and greet at the hall.

The Frontenac Stewardship Council is planning a busy year, and one of the goals of the Council for 2010 is to foster more public awareness of its very existence.

Stewardship councils were set up in counties across Southern Ontario in 1996. The Frontenac council is run by volunteers from all four townships within the county. They meet monthly to consider a number of projects that are proposed by other board members, partners with similar interests, and the stewardship co-ordinator, who is an employee of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and works under the direction of the council.

The council was involved with a number of projects over the last year, including holding a Loon workshop in Sharbot Lake and a Forest Product Workshop on Canoe Lake, as well as a family fishing derby at Desert Lake Family Resort. The council also helped to fund a wetland enhancement project on Highgate Creek, an extension of the Cataraqui River in the City of Kingston.

One of the members of the council executive, Jocelyne Steeves, has been working with two teachers on a grade 8 level curriculum “Water Unit box”, which will bring a year-long lesson plan to teachers in schools across Frontenac County. The council is also helping to bring lake assessment information that has been developed by the MNR for many of the 450 large lakes in Frontenac County to the public through its own website.

This year promises to be even busier with the production of “The Naturally Rich Frontenacs” booklet in partnership with Frontenac County. A fish survey, known as a Creel survey, will be carried out on Eagle Lake throughout the summer to give detailed information about the fish habitat in the lake. A fisheries and water quality assessment of Buck and Kennebec lakes will also be carried out and an aquatic vegetation mapping survey of Elbow Lake will take place.

A family fishing day at Verona’s Rock Lake is scheduled for July 10 in partnership with the Verona Community Association and fish and wildlife habitat enhancement is slated for Kennebec, Fourteen Islands, and Bobs lakes. A species at risk project is also being planned, pending a funding application.

Awareness events this year include a Black Bear talk in Northbrook (June 19) and a Bald Eagle talk in Sharbot Lake (July 10) as well as the global warming talk in Plevna on June 8.