Environment

Lake Huron e-news March 2010

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At Your Service ...

Continuing on the theme of biodiversity (in celebration of the International Year of Biodiversity), this issue will explore some of the services that ecosystems provide us, and why it's important to protect these benefits.

To begin, an ecosystem is a community of animals and plants interacting with one another and with their physical environment. Ecosystems include physical and chemical components, such as soils, water, and nutrients that support the organisms living within them. These organisms may range from large animals and plants to microscopic bacteria. Ecosystems include the interactions among all organisms in a given habitat. People are part of ecosystems. Our health and well-being depends upon the services provided by our local ecosystems and everything that makes them up ­ organisms, soil, water, and nutrients.  Along Lake Huron, some of our coastal ecosystems include wetlands, bluffs, dune grasslands, alvars, and woodlands.… continue reading »

Manure production across Canada

Here's a short but fascinating federal survey of manure use across Canada, with a chart showing which watersheds use how much manure (in tonnes per hectare).

Southern Ontario has six of the country's Top Ten manure-producing regions, including the top three, so we own the podium on that. The Penetangore, Saugeen and Maitland watersheds are all up there. The survey is from Stats Can, based on 2006 Census of Agriculture data, and published in December of 2008. Access is free, so it might be of interest to the whole Bruce Beach Cottagers' Association.

A geographical profile of livestock manure production in Canada, 2006

Tom Spears… continue reading »

U.S. to work on cleaning up Great Lakes

Feds outline plan to nurse Great Lakes to health.

By JOHN FLESHER,
AP Environmental Writer John Flesher, Ap Environmental Writer
– Sun Feb 21, 8:25 am ET

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. – The Obama administration has developed a five-year blueprint for rescuing the Great Lakes, a sprawling ecosystem plagued by toxic contamination, shrinking wildlife habitat and invasive species.

The plan envisions spending more than $2.2 billion for long-awaited repairs after a century of damage to the lakes, which hold 20 percent of the world's fresh water. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the document, which Lisa Jackson, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, was releasing at a news conference Sunday in Washington.

… continue reading »

Asian Carp

Here is a news item, just three hours old, about Michigan's legal efforts to keep asian carp out of the Great Lakes.

More information is available on the Internet if you use the Google search for "Asian Carp".

Our representative for the Ontario government is Minister Donna Cansfield; no federal Canadian representative has been mentioned in anything that I have read.

Please pass this news item along to anyone you think could help to keep the asian carp out of the Great Lakes. The time for action is now, and it may already be too late.

Bill Barnard (108 Bruce Beach)

Hamilton, ON

"Asian carp: Michigan report disputes cost of closing canal locks"

Bruce Beach Year Book Enclosures

If anyone has good digital pictures of summer activities.

Activities such as:… continue reading »

  • North-South Baseball Classic
  • Sports Day
  • Sports Day Winners
  • Games Day

CBC features town, Bruce Power and Kincardine on February 11st 8 pm

In case any of you are interested in watching, thought I would pass this along.


Bruce Power and Kincardine will share the spotlight in a CBC documentary to air in February. My Nuclear Neighbour, a one-hour Reel Time Images film will air Feb. 11 at 8 p.m. on CBC's The Nature of Things with David Suzuki.

The documentary follows the lives of two Peace River women, Lorraine Jensen and Brenda McSween, after they find out about Bruce Power Alberta's plans for a nuclear facility.

"We wanted to take a look at their point of view of a new plant literally being built in their backyard, along their fence line," director Donna Zuckerbrot said in a recent interview. "You will get the sense they're initially very fearful and you'll see how their view transforms as we go along. It shows both sides of the issue, where people have very strong opinions." … continue reading »

Lake Huron e-news February 2010

 Stepping Back

In our last issue, we introduced the term "biodiversity", the diversity of living things in our environment. In this issue we'll discuss biodiversity from a broad lake-wide perspective, and how plant life in particular contributes to the health of our lake environment.

 When we observe environmental problems showing up at the beach, like excessive algae washing ashore, or posted beaches due to high bacteria, often these problems originate beyond the local beach area. Some of these issues are compounded by the state of our watersheds.  The Lake Huron watershed covers roughly 134,000 square kilometres.  Since European settlement of the Lake Huron region, the watershed has undergone significant changes, particularly south of the Bruce Peninsula, and along southern Georgian Bay. Forest cover, for instance, has been reduced from  an estimated pre-settlement extent of 90% to around 18%, and as low as 6% in some of Huron's river systems.

… continue reading »

Taxes - Township approves SVCA budget

Kincardine TimesKincardine TimesBy Liz Dadson

Despite facing a six-per-cent increase in its own levy, Huron-Kinloss council has approved the draft 2010 budget for the Saugeen Valley Conservation Authority (SVCA).

At the council meeting Monday night (Jan. 18), there was little discussion. However, at the Jan. 11 committee meeting, councillor Anne Eadie explained that the overall SVCA budget increase was only two per cent. The general levy increase was 1.48 per cent which equals $19,327. … continue reading »

Lake Huron e-news January 2010

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It's a Wonderful Life

This new year celebrates the International Year of Biodiversity.  Over the course of 2010, e-news will include topics that are linked to biodiversity - and more specifically, coastal biodiversity.
… continue reading »

Lake Huron e-news - December 2009

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Give like Santa, Save like David Suzuki

Having a hard time thinking of a unique gift for a family member or friend? Why not give something that is not only special, but benefits Lake Huron's environment? We've listed some ideas that anyone with a passion for Lake Huron would love to receive. Just select an item from the list, send a cheque with a note naming your selected gift, the name and address of the recipient, and we will send them a gift card from you with the item you bought for them.
… continue reading »

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