Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat News

The Newsletter of the Great Lakes
Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund

The Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat News is the newsletter of the Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund, published five times per year. The News is intended to provide a forum for the free exchange of ideas among citizens and organizations working to protect aquatic habitats in the Great Lakes Basin.

Volume 15, Number 4 • Winter 2007

Lake Erie Basin Update - Canada Side

Ontario Incentives For Improving Shoreline/Riparian Habitats

By Cherish Elwell, Niagara Restoration Council

It is an environmental issue threatening all of Ontario’s watersheds draining into the Lake Erie basin. Specifically, it is a lack of “it” that is the issue. “It” is an area of vegetation that occurs where landmeets water (commonly known as riparian buffers), and includes streamside or riverbank grasslands, forests or wetland areas.

As the Niagara region developed with agriculture, cottages, and urban areas – vegetation adjacent was removed for access to the water and views of the water without concern for environmental sustainability.

You would be hard pressed to find a remedial action plan or watershed strategy for watersheds draining into Lake Erie that does not mention the lack of riparian buffer zones contributing to poor water quality, erosion and sedimentation, nutrient loading, poor wildlife habitat, and increased human health risks.

The benefits of riparian buffers, thanks to numerous conservation and restoration initiatives and organizations, have been widely publicized and taught in the past two decades. These benefits include, but are not limited to the following.

  • Submerged, aquatic and emergent plants along waterways have extensive root systems that help hold sediment in place, thus decreasing erosion.
  • Woody stems from trees and shrubs help trap sediment before it can enter the watercourse.
  • Streams with natural shoreline vegetation provides more in-stream habitat for fish and invertebrates.
  • Riparian vegetation shades the waterway,moderating in-stream temperatures and providing fish,molluscs and invertebrates cover from airborne predators.
  • Through biological processes,many species of plants help to fix excessive nutrients present in run-off, helping to decrease nutrient pollution.
  • Riparian zones provide food for all trophic levels of the food chain.
  • Riparian vegetation helps to slow the flow velocity of the stream, and control floods by soaking up excess water through root systems.

In June of 2002, the Nutrient Management Act was passed. Administered by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) and the Ministry of the Environment (MOE), the purpose of the act is to “provide for the management of materials containing nutrients in ways that will enhance protection of the natural environment and provide a sustainable future for agricultural operations and rural development.” Under the Act, a three-meter vegetated buffer strip is required where agricultural nutrient spreading is occurring, and for those properties that fall under the Nutrient Management Act.

In response to this Act and the issue of the lack of riparian buffers, a number of funding initiatives were created to help stewards and private landowners create riparian buffer areas on public and private properties.While the following does not represent a complete list of currently available initiatives, they represent some of themost common and accessible initiatives to private landowners along Ontario’s Lake Erie shore. If you are a landowner whose property features, or is adjacent to a waterway, the following programs may be of interest.

Ontario Environmental Farm Plans (OEFP)
www.ontario soilcrop.org, 1-800-265-9751

Community Fisheries and Wildlife Involvement Program (CFWIP)
www.mnr.gov.on.ca/fishing/cfwip.html, 1-800-667-1940

Conservation Ontario
www.conservation-ontario.on.ca/, (905) 895-0716

For more information of the Natural Heritage Inventory,
please contact: Brianne Wilson,
Project Coordinator (905) 788-3135, Ext. 237,
bwilson@conservation-niagara.on.ca.

Disclaimer: The interpretations and conclusions presented in this newsletter represent the opinions of the individual authors. They in no way represent the views of the Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council, the C.S. Mott Foundation, subscribers, donors, or any organization mentioned in this publication.

The Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund builds effective community-based citizen action to protect and restore the water quality of the Great Lakes basin. We work toward this goal by providing financial assistance, communications and networking assistance and technical assistance to citizens and grassroots watershed groups throughout the Great Lakes basin. Through these efforts we work with over 1,800 grassroots watershed groups and citizens to protect and restore the rivers, lakes and wetlands in their communities. The Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund, Inc. is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization.

For more information, please contact:

info@glhabitat.org
P.O. Box 2479, Petoskey, MI 49770
PH (231) 347-1181;
FX (231) 347-5928