Environmental Activities
CFUW Perth and District has advocated for clean air and clean water, both locally and globally. The club regularly invites speakers who inform us about issues ranging from food security to Lyme disease.
Club members have advocated successfully for the anti-idling bylaw in the Town of Perth, improvements to the quality of local waterways, and support for local food production.
We have donated funds to the Guatemala Stove Project to support their work to provide healthier, cleaner air and better health.
For 2025, our meeting fell on April 22, Earth Day, and our speaker was Don Johnston, past president of the Mississippi Madawaska Land Trust, a non-profit charity that acquires and protects wilderness property in Eastern Ontario. Don spoke about the importance of wetlands and the regulatory regime covering their protection.
The committee wants members to be aware of the impact on wetlands, encourage them to take action to preserve wetlands and to support local government and the preservation of our natural heritage.
7 Useful Things We Can Do
01
Keep informed about the changed provincial regime: realize that long-standing rules, laws and processes no longer work as we may assume they do.
Climate Network Lanark presentation at Friends of Tay meeting, March 2025
Ontario Nature booklet: Wetland Conservation for Local Planning Authorities in Southern Ontario: Wise Practices
Ontario Nature February 2025 webinar: Wetland Conservation Policy for Local Planning Authorities
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Ontario Nature webpage: Minister's Zoning Orders
More Homes Built Faster Act and what it means for planning in Ontario report by Canadian Environmental Law Association
02
Support our area’s Land Trusts and Nature Conservancies — donate, volunteer, attend fundraisers.
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Mississippi Madawaska Land Trust
Land Conservancy for Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox & Addington
Thousand Islands Watershed Land Trust (Cataraqui, parts of Leeds-Grenville)
Ontario lLand Trust Alliance & the Indigenous land stewardship connection
Nature Conservancy of Canada (has a team for eastern Ontario)
Ontario Nature's nature reserve properties
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Interactive map Canadian Protected and Conserved Areas Database
03
Consider if a Land Trust or a Nature Conservancy can be an alternative way to save or set aside a specific wetland.
— through legacies, covenants; fund-raising towards a purchase.
Short overview on legal mechanisms to conserve property
Federal eco-gifts tax programme
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Ontario Conservation Land Tax Incentive Program
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04
Rally behind hard-pressed municipal and other local conservation planning….
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either those started or being reviewed, for example the Lanark County Natural Heritage System Plan process
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attend Town Council or County meetings sometimes; review meeting agendas on line
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Climate Network Lanark's Natural Heritage Systems Planning workshop, May 2024 (summary)
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Lanark County news release on its Natural Heritage Systems planning, Dec 2024
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Town of Perth old Official Plan: section 8.6 Environmental Protection Area Designation
(new Town of Perth Official Plan, due in 2025, to have a Natural Heritage Systems Plan)
Nature Canada's Municipal Protected Areas project: umbrella and best practices guides
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Map of Conservation Authorities
Rideau Valley CA
Mississippi Valley CA
Cataraqui Region CA
Quinte CA (well north into Frontenac)
ALUS Mississippi-Rideau (biodiversity for ag-zoned properties programme)
05
…then poke our provincial reps regularly to show that we voters and taxpayers expect them to care about local Plans and local input
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email your MPP constituency office to let them know what you’re paying attention to: e.g. that you took part in a Planning community meeting…that you’re glad a municipal-level Plan was adopted…that you’re concerned that a local Plan is at risk of being overruled​
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email a relevant provincial cabinet minister’s own Queen’s Park political office (less so the usual Ministerial departmental email)​
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political staffers won’t read your email’s content, but they do tally up email numbers by the Subject headers​
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identify which social media forum your MPP’s own political staffers monitor (ask the constituency office advice on which ones they’d recommend to a new area resident?), and post there regularly​
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add your voice to existing campaigns by organizations such as David Suzuki Foundation, Ontario Nature: sign on-line petitions, use prepared letter and email texts
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Sign the Ontario Nature campaign for a better regulatory regime to protect wetlands.
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06
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Join with other local organizations and Indigenous communities that are already leading action.
You'll find an excellent list of local organizations HERE, collated by the Friends of the Tay Watershed
07
Enjoy and treasure wetlands!
—create arts inspired by local wetlands
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eBird Canada and iNaturalist Canada- log observations through
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join in a citizen science programme: Great Lakes Marsh Monitoring Program, Frogwatch, IceWatch, LoonWatch, etc.
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Some Citizen Science programmes: Cataraqui CA's list, posted by Perth's own Watersheds Cda
Environmental Action Award
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We are thrilled to receive the very first Carolyn Day** Award for Environmental Action at the CFUW Ontario Council AGM.
This award recognizes the work of CFUW Perth and District and its Environment Committee who organized two screenings of the climate change documentary, Anote’s Ark. In celebration of Earth Day, the committee screened the film to students at Perth District Collegiate Institute, along with a panel discussion on local impacts of climate change and a teacher resources package to engage students in discussion and activities about climate change.
We then screened the film to CFUW members and the public, to raise awareness about climate change and stimulate conversation and action at the local level.
** For those of you who did not know Carolyn Day, her concern about the environment had started with water problems in Walkerton, just a few miles from her home in Southampton. That passion led her to helping CFUW Ontario Council writemultiple briefs and letters.