The Lake Huron Centre For Coastal Conservation
Advocating Wise Stewardship of Lake Huron's Coastal Ecosystems
Targets and Actions
The community developed a series of targets, along with manageable action items for the Centre to pursue to meet the targets.
Target A: Improve nearshore water quality
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Septic system management: advocating policy change for mandatory inspections and pump-outs; promote education and awareness of septic system maintenance in the coastal zone.
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Agricultural non-point pollution: research gaps in technology; advocate research to provide better direction on how non-point source pollution can be mitigated.
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Encourage improvements to local Sewage Treatment Plants that may need improvements but have been delayed due to other municipal funding priorities.
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The Coastal Centre provide awareness, education, research into point and non-point pollution in the coastal zone.
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Work to improve the monitoring, analysis and reporting of water quality data along the Lake Huron coast.
Target B: Be “the” Centre for Communications
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Strengthen the link with academic / research community (all SW Ontario universities including Wilfred Laurier, Guelph Waterloo, McMaster and Western)
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Strengthen the link with cottage groups / community groups
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Improve the visibility / maintain the credibility of the Coastal Centre
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Improve the communication “vehicles” that are used by the Coastal Centre to convey its environmental message:
Newsletter
Web site
Board Members, Technical Advisors, members
Partners
Conferences and workshops.
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Maintain / expand network of coastal affiliations (Climate Change Adaptations and Impacts Research Network, Canadian Coastal Science and Engineering Association, International Society of Ecosystem Health, Coastal Zone Canada Association)
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Maintain Centre resource materials
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Establish regular communication with partners
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Explore affiliations with new groups who may assist us achieving our goals (e.g. Green Communities, Federation of Ontario Naturalists, Conservation Ontario, Stewardship Ontario).
Target C
Information management: know what existed, what exists, and what needs to exist
1. Include traditional ecological knowledge (TEK)
2. Know where to access local historic inventories, reports and studies.
3. Inventory resource materials
a. For practitioners (Planning, management, engineering materials).
b. For researchers (theses, journal articles)
c. For general audience.
4. Document the evolution of shoreline development (seasonal permanent) as an indicator of environmental stress along Lake Huron.
5. Know how the physical environment has changed to guide future management (eg. Lake in Windsor Park at Port Franks needing lake management)
Target D
Raise level of awareness and engage all levels of government (federal, provincial and municipal) to become more active and involved in addressing environmental issues on Lake Huron
1. Take the opportunity to engage the Lake Huron Southeast Shore Committee of Environment Canada to assist in the implementation of this target.
2. Continue to engage local political representatives (federal/provincial) in awareness of the Centre, our goals regarding coastal environmental health and their role in facilitating those goals.
3. Continue outreach programs to involve local staff of traditional environmental government agencies (MNR, MOE, DFO, OMAF) in Coastal Centre work with the objective of a better understanding of how the Coastal Centre can partner with, and assist, these agencies in effectively dealing with Lake Huron environmental issues.
4. Target non-traditional government offices (e.g. Ministry of Tourism) and local municipalities and educate them regarding the socio-economic impacts of a degraded coastal environment and the need to consider people’s impacts on sensitive coastal ecosystems.
5. Working with First Nations will be a specific Target (see Target F below).
6. Continue to be involved with the Lake Huron Bi-national Partnership with Environment Canada, Provincial Ministries and the Office of the Great Lakes, Michigan.
7. Secure a consistent level of cooperative involvement with local agencies (such as the 3 Counties and/or the 5 CA’s)
8. Target those municipalities who are not currently supporting the Centre and investigate opportunities to gather their support.
9. Provide strong advocacy on behalf of coastal communities to ensure accountability in policy development.
10. Investigate the potential partnership with Conservation Ontario with respect to Source Protection Planning and its influence on the health of Lake Huron’s coastal environment.
Target E
Secure Funding that will sustain the Centre
1. Develop a marketing / fund raising plan.
2. Investigate multi levels of funding including both short and long term funding possibilities.
3. Investigate the use, and secure access, of the Centre’s web site for on-line giving, and purchasing resources.
4. Investigate individual, corporate and foundation based funding.
5. With local support, pursue federal and U.S. based funding.
6. Consider specifically targeting local industries (Bruce Power, OPG and Wescast in the north and “Chemical Valley” companies in the south.
7. Develop funding through donations, planned giving and memorial contributions to the Coastal Centre.
8. One opportunity discussed at the focus group meetings was the idea of an “environmental tax” for coastal environmental services. One approach to implementing such a “tax” is the application of special benefiting levy through the CA structure. Through this approach, there is the added benefit of maintaining a strong connection with the local watershed agency, and coordinating efforts that help both watershed and coastal ecosystems.
9. Develop Coastal Centre memberships with landowners, cottage associations, and coastal communities.
10. Investigate opportunities with Environment Canada to act as a community based organization for their program implementation. Models have already been established between Environment Canada and East Coast coastal communities.
Target F
Develop a working relationship with area First Nations
1. Seek to engage First Nations in key issues relating to coastal ecosystem health.
2. Specifically, the Centre, through its Biodiversity program, should promote the recognition of the value of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) in local decision-making as identified in the International Convention on Biodiversity.
3. Specifically, invite First Nations participation at the Board of Director level.
4. Investigate other means of participation using both formal and informal arrangements (eg. Annual update meetings, telephone consultations).
5. Work toward breaking down barriers that exclude or limit First Nations involvement in environmental programs (eg. jurisdiction issues).
6. Investigate opportunities to advance the Centre as a nongovernment organization that can engage First Nations in an impartial and non-threatening capacity.
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The Lake Huron Centre for Coastal Conservation P.O. Box 178, Blyth, Ontario, Canada N0M 1H0 Phone: (519) 523-4478 Email: coastalcentre@lakehuron.on.ca |
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