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Funding available under the Great Lakes Protection Initiative
Today, Environment and Climate Change Canada launched a call for applications to freshwater funding programs, including funding under the Great Lakes Protection Initiative.
Applications are now being accepted under the Great Lakes Protection Initiative for projects in support of restoring water quality and ecosystem health in Canadian Great Lakes Areas of Concern. The deadline to submit applications is January 11, 2019 at 11:59 p.m. EST.
To learn more about this funding opportunity and how to apply, please visit www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/great-lakes-protection/funding.
For general information on the Great Lakes Protection Initiative, please visit https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/great-lakes-protection.html.
Stay Informed!
We appreciate and value your interest in the progress of Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Great Lakes programs. If you wish to update any of your contact information, or to be added or removed from this distribution list, please send an email to ec.grandslacs-greatlakes.ec@canada.ca with the following:
- Your name, company or organization and mailing address
- Your preference to receive documents in electronic or print format
- Your email address
- Anything else you would like to tell us, or ask about the Great Lakes!
As always, your details will be treated as privileged information and will only be used to distribute our Great Lakes information to you – our stakeholders. These distribution lists are never shared outside of Environment and Climate Change Canada.
Financement disponible dans le cadre de l’Initiative de protection des Grands Lacs
Aujourd’hui, Environnement et Changement climatique Canada a lancé un appel de demandes pour les programmes de financement sur l’eau douce, y compris le financement dans le cadre de l’Initiative de protection des Grands Lacs.
Les demandes sont maintenant acceptées dans le cadre de l’Initiative de protection des Grands Lacs pour des projets visant à restaurer la qualité de l’eau et la santé de l’écosystème dans les secteurs préoccupants des Grands Lacs canadiens. La date limite pour présenter une demande est le 11 janvier 2019, à 23 h 59 HNE.
Pour en savoir davantage sur cette possibilité de financement et sur la façon de présenter une demande, veuillez consulter le site Web https://www.canada.ca/fr/environnement-changement-climatique/services/protection-grands-lacs/financement.html.
Pour obtenir des renseignements généraux sur l’Initiative de protection des Grands Lacs, veuillez consulter le site https://www.canada.ca/fr/environnement-changement-climatique/services/protection-grands-lacs.html.
TD Tree Days 2018
Gina Pannunzio, Kelly Laforest, Claire Sanders and Ian Naisbitt
On Saturday, 20 October, TD Bank sponsored their TD Tree Day program by inviting our Windsor-Essex community to help TD employees plant trees. Groups that participated included: City of Windsor, Detroit River Canadian Cleanup, Essex Region Conservation Authority, Essex County Nature – Little River Enhancement Group, TD Friends of the Environment Foundation and Caesars Windsor – CodeGreen.
The planting site is located in the Detroit River Watershed in East Windsor’s Little River Corridor Park, west of Florence Avenue and north of McHugh Street. This natural area is the same site that our community has planted to celebrate numerous Earth Days.
We enjoyed a typical and pleasurable Autumn day: a mix of sun and cloud, mostly cloudy, temperature in the morning of 8 Celsius increasing to 12 C by 11 a.m. There was a calm breeze of 30 km/ hour and the UV index was 3 or moderate. All of this created a pleasant planting experience for the 70 eager tree planters.
Field of Volunteers
Children, their parents and other community volunteers participated by digging holes; planting, wrapping and mulching 300 trees! We started planting at 9:00 a.m. and the job was completed at 11:15, what an effective group!
Once the volunteers walked into the field, hundreds of grasshoppers took flight. A little later on a gaggle of Canada Goose flew overhead, but they were flying in a northern direction, their inner compass must be spinning? A solitary Monarch Butterfly was checking out the purple New England asters in the area, it too was flying in the northern direction. Maybe they were looking for cover since they knew a thunderstorm was on its way? The heavy afternoon rain will be a great help to settle the soil around the newly planted trees.
The species of trees that we planted included: Burr Oak, Swamp White Oak, American Elm, Red Oak, Basswood, Hackberry, Freeman Maple and American Sycamore. About 80% of the trees that we have planted at this site over the years survived and their leaves are providing fall colours for us to enjoy.
Bur Oak Leaves Broadcasting the Autumn Season
Essex County Nature – Little River Enhancement Group would like to thank TD Bank, Essex Region Conservation Authority and the Detroit River Canadian Cleanup for planning this well – organized community event. This TD Tree Day 2018 volunteer effort addressed the Beneficial Use Impairment, “Loss of Fish and Wildlife Habitat” of the Remedial Action Plan by improving the ecosystem health of the Detroit River Watershed.
Today’s TD Tree Day planting event brings the total number of trees and shrubs planted by community volunteers in the Little River Watershed to 42169. This is definitely a “Gain of Fish and Wildlife Habitat!”
The “Old Channel” of Little River North of McHugh Street: Fish and Wildlife Habitat
TD Tree Days 2018 Photo Gallery
Many thanks to everyone who came out to the Detroit River Evening on June 14th at the historic Mackenzie Hall in Windsor. There were over 80 people in attendance! We would also like to thank all of the presenters who provided updates including the work being done by Environment and Climate Change Canada and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans on fish communities, indicator species reproductive health and populations, submerged aquatic vegetation, mud and sediment and the overall health of the Detroit River system.
A special thank you goes out to the
Windsor Detroit Bridge Authority for hosting the Detroit River Canadian Cleanup’s Steering and Implementation Committee in the afternoon on a tour of the Canadian Port of Entry for the new Gordie Howe Bridge! Speakers representing WDBA also provided an informative update as the keynote presenter on the significant project at the Detroit River Evening.
Photo Gallery
Forests Ontario 2018 – Community Tree Plant – Windsor
Gina Pannunzio, Paul Giroux and Ian Naisbitt
“Cinco de Mayo!”
On Saturday, 5 May, the Windsor-Essex community celebrated the “Community Tree Plant” event with Forests Ontario. Essex County Nature was invited to participate by Paul Giroux, City of Windsor Forester. This also marked the end of Arbor Week, so we concluded that celebration by giving ourselves a nickname, “The Closers!”
Along with Forests Ontario, Essex Region Conservation Authority and the City of Windsor, the partnership included: TD Friends of the Environment Foundation, Ontario Wood, Thomson Emergency and Enbridge.
This is the sixth consecutive year our group has supported the Forests Ontario initiative; the Tranby Park location has been planted the past 2 last years and we returned this year to further expand the “swamp” woodland in the park. The Little River Enhancement Group will include the trees planted today, 134, in our watershed total of 41869.
Mother Nature provided the perfect planting day: Mr. Golden Sun was shining brilliantly all morning, the UV Index was 6 or high, temps started at 15 C at 9 a.m. and rose to 23 C by noon. There was a brisk breeze of 20 km/ h, gusting to 35 km/ h, enough to keep us cool.
Over 30 hardy community volunteers (children, parents and elders) participated by digging holes; planting and mulching the trees, followed by a tree wrap for protection! Volunteers worked from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Two of the young families filled up the morning by planting trees, enjoying the playground equipment and having lunch at the picnic tables. Another family requested a permanent marker to print the name of a deceased family member on the tree wrap as a memorial. One young lad was very excited to see a Gartersnake. He proceeded to try and catch the slithering creature, but it was much too fast for his hands. The reptile sought refuge in a clump of grass at the base of a tree and vanished.
The species of trees that we planted included: Burr Oak, Swamp White Oak, Pin Oak, Red Oak, Freeman’s Maple and American Sycamore. These species of trees are happy to have wet feet/ roots; that’s a good thing, because the holes we dug filled in with water quickly! Spring time in Windsor – Essex is notorious for soakers in natural areas. Some unfortunates forgot to wear wellies.
The final site inspection was completed by a natural overseer, a Red-tailed Hawk soared with the wind and circled the site; we believe the supervisor approved of the woodland expansion.
Community Volunteers
A big “Thank You” to the Boy Scout group that participated today, great volunteers!
Also, today was The Cornell Laboratory’s eBird “Global Big Day.” In the future, you can participate by watching for birds on 5 May: You don’t need to be a bird expert, or go out all day long. Even 10 minutes in your backyard will help. Global Big Day runs from midnight to midnight in your local time zone. You can report birds from anywhere in the world. Go to: http://ebird.org for more information.
“We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.” ~ALDO LEOPOLD
