In 1996, the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority (NVCA) received support from its board of directors to establish the Land and Water Conservation Program. The goal of the program was to work with landowners and environmental groups to complete water quality improvement and habitat restoration projects.
I had the privilege of co-ordinating the new program as manager of stewardship services and worked to build momentum in two main categories. The first focused on providing grants to support private land stewardship activities, and the second involved working with partner groups to address watershed restoration priorities identified with scientific assessment data.
Building momentum in stewardship takes time, but we were fortunate to work with strong partners like the Nottawasaga Steelheaders and the former New Tecumseth Streams Committee (now Nottawasaga Futures/South Simcoe Streams Network) in the first year of the new program.
Together, we completed habitat improvement work on the Boyne River in Alliston. We worked with these two groups again in 2003 on dam decommissioning and floodplain restoration projects and gained experience, which would be pivotal for larger projects in the future.
In 2005 and 2006, the NVCA was fortunate to add two talented young biologists, Shannon Stephens and Sarah Campbell, to the staff of the stewardship department, which had been renamed the Healthy Waters Program in 1999.
Shannon’s abilities in agricultural outreach, her education in nutrient management, and her talent for fundraising proved to be invaluable for the grant incentive program. Sarah’s natural talent for partnership development, communication, and experience in aquatic biology and invasive species management provided a big boost to priority environmental restoration initiatives. These two hires formed a strong core staff team that has only become more experienced, talented and effective over the past 19 years.
In 2017, we received a call from the Breedon family in Adjala-Tosorontio, who expressed interest in partnering with the NVCA to complete environmental restoration work on their property on the upper Nottawasaga River, where they pastured about 200 head of cattle. Coincidently, scientific data had suggested this was a high-priority site for environmental restoration.
Between 2018 and 2022, livestock fencing was installed and 900 metres of river bank stabilization was completed at this site. The restoration work completed by the NVCA in partnership with the Breedons formed the basis for the development of the Nottawasaga River Restoration Program, or NRRP, which continues to this day as the largest trout stream restoration initiative in southern Ontario.
In 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the stewardship team was looking to improve staff capacity to deliver more field projects under the NRRP and expand partnerships to take advantage of grant funding that was not being used due to the uncertainty associated with the pandemic.
We were able to bring Laura Wensink on as our new river restoration technician. Laura’s previous work with Trout Unlimited and Credit Valley Conservation brought invaluable experience. She fit right into her new role and provided strong support for the removal of the Petun Dam, arguably the most challenging dam decommissioning project NVCA has ever completed.
In 2021, Emily Phillips came on board as a co-op placement from Trent University. She has worked in the stewardship program ever since and has proven to be a versatile and effective member of the stewardship team. She is a strong team player with great academic experience, strong surveying skills and rapidly developing abilities in the field of project design and environmental restoration.
I have been fortunate to have played a role in co-ordinating the work of a fantastic team of biologists who are committed to improving the environmental health of the NVCA watershed. Through our collective efforts, we have established strong grant incentives, volunteer tree planting, invasive species management, and native grassland restoration programs. This success is complemented by partnerships with local landowners, municipalities, community groups, environmental associations, federal and provincial ministries, foundations, and private businesses.
In my teenage years, I developed a passion for restoring cold-water trout streams, but I was raised in southern Ontario, where these habitats were relatively uncommon and were threatened by a variety of land use practices. Looking back, I feel incredibly blessed to have had an opportunity to work in the Nottawasaga River watershed, which boasts the second-largest complex of cold-water trout streams in southern Ontario as well as incredible natural features like the Niagara Escarpment World Biosphere Reserve, the internationally recognized Minesing Wetlands and the world’s largest freshwater bay.
Even more unbelievable has been the opportunity to work with a wide variety of highly committed partners to develop the NRRP, which has become arguably the largest river habitat enhancement program in southern Ontario. I hope the new manager of stewardship services also fully embraces the privilege.
With a talented and effective staff team already in place, I feel the future of the NVCA stewardship program is bright. My retirement will pave the way for the other staff and a new manager to better develop their own creative talents for conceptualizing, designing and constructing environmental projects that reflect societal priorities for addressing climate change, restoring wetlands, and improving the Great Lakes. The new team will raise the bar for environmental protection under urban development pressure and expand the financial resources available to farmers to help better address agricultural intensification in the Nottawasaga River watershed.
Fred Dobbs is the manager of stewardship services at the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority. In January, he will be retiring after committing 30 years of his career to environmental restoration in the Nottawasaga watershed.
