WHITEWATER REGION (Cobden) — Fifty people, representing 37 Renfrew County organizations, associations and groups gathered at the Freshwater Partners Renfrew County’s Celebration of Progress at the Whitewater Brewery, Lakeside on Tuesday, October 1. The social and dinner celebrated the collective efforts and achievements of the Freshwater Partners Renfrew County initiative as well as recognizing and celebrating the many other Renfrew County groups who are taking positive action to protect and preserve Renfrew County’s freshwater resources.
Highlighting the evening was a sharing of progress stories from eight of the organizations in attendance. Fred Blackstein spoke about the establishment and success of the Shaw Woods Outdoor Education Centre that provides natural history learning in an outdoor setting to thousands of Renfrew County students, residents and tourists. Fred also spoke about the 14 years of work towards and the final success of establishing the Heritage River designation for the Ottawa River. The emergence and successes of the Muskrat Watershed Council, including the planting of 30 thousand native trees and shrubs along agricultural shorelines in the Muskrat Watershed was outlined by Muskrat Watershed Council president, Karen Coulas. MJ Proulx from Ottawa Riverkeeper, a grassroots charity, and director of the Ottawa River Watersheds Network spoke of the evolution of the organization that has grown exponentially since 2002, with volunteers and programs that span the length of the Ottawa River covering both the Quebec and Ontario sides, bringing together volunteers, communities and business and all levels of government to find solutions to issues that threaten the health of the Ottawa River. Valley Climate Circle representative, Duncan Noble, spoke of how the group has grown and partnered with other local organizations to bring climate related educational sessions to communities across Renfrew County and has supported actions on Climate Change including the recent Climate March in Ottawa on September 27. Rob Norris, represented an ad hoc group of residents and government officials, who have been working on an amendment to the Bonnechere River Water Management Plan, to modify water levels in Round and Golden Lakes and the Bonnechere River. Kathy Lindsay, Chair of the Bonnechere River Watershed Project spoke about the success of the Celebrate Our Rivers paddle series that has seen 1500 people on our rivers and lakes over the past eight years, including one of the most popular , the Paddle and Fiddle, in partnership with the Bonnechere Caves, Valley Heritage Radio and Twp. North Algona, Wilberforce. Kathy also spoke about the annual Renfrew County Stewardship Forum, started in 2012, that has focused on climate change, watershed governance, shoreline assessment and naturalization, the Renfrew County trails strategy, updating of the Renfrew County official plan and local freshwater concerns. Forum outcomes include emergence of the Muskrat Watershed Council, the Renfrew County Water Quality Leadership Group, the Renfrew County trails strategy working group, the Freshwater Partners Renfrew County initiative and just recently, the related One County-One Voice initiative.
After a delicious dinner, Master of Ceremony, John Brady concluded the evening by stating that the Freshwater Partners Renfrew County’s 18-month $30,000 Ontario Trillium Foundation supported initiative, involved activities and outreach efforts to raise awareness and build support for effective freshwater action amongst community, environmental, business organizations and public sectors with the goal of bringing everyone together to achieve greater collective impact on freshwater issues, stewardship and watershed planning and management in the County. These activities revealed a general consensus that acting collectively with improved coordination across partner organizations would achieve greater success, and that a “One County-One Voice” approach is being undertaken and is recruiting key leadership positions to move the idea forward. Kathy Lindsay announced that more funding will be sought to support the Freshwater Partners Renfrew County “One County, One Voice’ initiative, and asked for support from the organizations present at the celebration of progress event. She also announced the intention to initiate freshwater recognition awards in 2020 for communities, NGOs, individuals, business and government. A couple of lucky attendees went home with a cloth bag of merchandise donated by Whitewater Brewery.
The event was organized and hosted by Freshwater Partners Renfrew County, a partnership of nine organizations supported by $30 thousand in funding from the Ontario Trillium Foundation. The Ontario Trillium Foundation support was leveraged many times over by in-kind donations and volunteer time towards the initiative.
