Southern Ontario Stream Monitoring and Research Team (SOSMART) Fall Meeting

Transcription

1 Southern Ontario Stream Monitoring and Research Team (SOSMART) Fall Meeting Participants December 2, 2013 Seneca College, King Campus Main Dining Room at Eaton Hall Al Corlett Trees Ontario Bill Humber Seneca College Carmen Schlamb Seneca College Claire Harvey Seneca College Gary Pritchard Seneca College Hilary Van Welter Ascentia/Ladies of the Lake Ian Ockenden Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Jane Lewington Conservation Ontario Jayme Crittenden Conservation Ontario Joyce Chau Ecospark Laura Del Guidice Toronto Region Conservation Lionel Normand Toronto Region Conservation Namrata Shrestha Toronto Region Conservation Ray Bolton Lake Simcoe Conservation Tatiana Koveshnikova Credit Valley Conservation Amanda Wong Conservation Halton Brent Tregunno Kawartha Region Conservation Cheryl Evans REEP Green Solutions Dan Moore Central Lake Ontario Conservation Helen Doyle York Region Health Unit Ian Kelsey Central Lake Ontario Conservation Ian Walker Lake Simcoe Conservation Janet Wong Region of Peel Jennifer Dawson Lake Simcoe Conservation Kim Ootjers Conservation Halton Les Stanfield Ministry of Natural Resources Nadia Kelton Seneca College Nick Gollan City of Kitchener Rob Wilson Lake Simcoe Conservation Vicky McGrath Toronto Region Conservation Presentations Action: Scott Jarvie to post all presentations on the SOSMART website 1. New approaches to Connecting Human and Watershed Health - Tatiana Koveshnikova - CVC Use indicators to monitor both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem health to assess watershed health Link ecological goods and services to watershed health to assess human well being Understand the links between ecosystem health and human health Surveys 68% said that natural areas were important to well being Millennium ecosystem assessment Report from 2011 Struggling to come up with a set of indicators to connect human health and ecosystem health Indicators: Security (flood, climate change), Basic material for a good life (clean water, fish consumption), health (green space, safe drinking water), good social relations 2. Conservation Ontario s Connecting the dots between watersheds and people Jamie Crittenden Conservation Ontario 90% of Ontarians are managed by a Conservation Authority Watershed based, science based, cost efficient, partner building Watershed planning, watershed management Mandate climate change & flood protection Integrated watershed management, communicating science

2 Outdoor recreation 270 publicly accessible Conservation Areas, 8400 campsites, 2500km trails, environmental education Watershed report cards watershed checkup Green economy roadmap more accessible information Healthy hikes encourage people to hike in our CAs and natural areas Working with public health on many initiatives 3. Regional Health Units and Ecohealth - Helen Doyle, York Region Health Unit Public health activities Ecohealth initiative 592 premature deaths from air pollution in York Region, $1.4 billion in lost productivity Urban forests took up 830 tonnes of air pollution Health hazard prevention and management, safe water, chronic disease prevention Promote healthy environments both natural and built Building healthy communities work group Education and outreach Advocating healthy public policy Research York region forestry 1 millionth tree planting Long range planning - urban heat islands, climate change Transportation planning pedestrian and cycling corridors Environmental services Active healthy communities The ecohealth collaboration research, policy, stakeholders Have formed sub committees including a literature review committee Research objective literature review, scope the project Mental health summary lower stress, positive mood Research question: type of greenspace? Period of time? Physical Activity: associating with greenspace Heat health risk parks 1C cooler than built areas Improving air quality Improving water quality Reduced flood risk Climate change Research Question evolving Influence land use planning in Ontario 4. Trees Ontario: working towards an integrated approach to managing landscapes Al Corlett A healthy dose of green: a prescription for a healthy population publication by Trees Ontario Trees clean air we breath Forests promote physical activity Trees contribute to natural playgrounds Natural spaces calm our minds Trees provide Many other services

3 Environment Canada how much is enough minimum 30% forest cover Forests being cleared for crop and residential development Current status is between 5-20% forest cover depending on region Tree planting stopped in billion trees planted between 1920 and CAs involved with Trees Ontario planting initiatives Tree programs: seed collection, storage, seedling growing & selling Public outreach Develop capacity: workshops, mentorships 50 million tree program reduces cost of tree planting by 90% for landowners Trees Ontario adapts as knowledge is gained CAs plant 2/3 of total program Priorities: increase forest interior, buffer watercourses and wetlands, protect fragile lands, protect identified high value conservation areas, establishing corridors between isolated natural areas Using NHS mapping to prioritize planting areas, corridors, interior forests 5. Current status of SOSMART Ecohealth preparedness and A vision for a Decision Support System Little Steps Les Stanfield Need for sustainable communities Integrated monitoring Level playing field for decision makers Transparent levies user pay system Access to information Citizen engagement Adaptive management Ecohealth network, user pays planning process Adaptive management cycle Develop a common vision Collaborative monitoring Common solution development Lots of stream data Standardized datasets within the province to build a cumulative health effects model, geology, climate, modifiers, monitoring data to put into a model Comparable datasets, watershed creation and attribution, prediction capabilities, modify land use and run compare model, zooming capabilities OFAT released as a web based application, run highdat model, landuse, flow patterns, hydrologic models, flow models Canwet-4 locally derived/calibrated models for flow FWIS information management Imagine a system where the polygons are at the lot level, SWM levies, riparian rebate, LID etc. We have the pieces of the puzzle...just need to put it together. 6. People and Nature: Understanding what motivates people to act Hilary Van Welter Community based social marketing for Lake Simcoe clean up Getting people to recognize the type of relationship they have with nature

4 Literature review of social marketing, behavioural change, belief transformation, multi-intelligences, etc Bringing people and nature together to rewild a river and some shorelines for the enhancement of both 7. Next Steps in Watershed Reporting One-Upping Chesapeake Bay - Jane Lewington CA watershed report cards 26 have been done with template, 2 without template, 1 is coming Watershed checkup website monitoring info etc. Overview of what is in the watershed report cards for each CA Chesapeake Bay watershed reports Conservation Ontario had workshop with Chesapeake Bay to improve the report cards, create online tools Similar goals Need to get online data management tools, trend reporting, build partnerships to get up to speed with CB Working groups and subcommittees to improve product, 5 year goal, report every 5 years 8. Kitchener s Stormwater Utility and Credit Policy Implementation - Nick Gollan Challenges growth, flooding, erosion control, storms and unfunded infrastructure repair and improvements. Stormwater management feasibility study Victoria Park lake sedimentation problem sparked idea of funding through stormwater charges Making the property tax more fair in terms of stormwater use (all contributors pay) Creates an incentive to reduce stormwater runoff at the property owner level. Increasing education and awareness Created a tax levy that was based on impervious area of property. Small, average and large residential properties as well industrial/retail properties First bills with SWM charge issued in February Consistent messaging to public and people dealing with public Credit policy implemented following public consultation for reductions in stormwater discharging from properties Financial incentive residential and commercial Enforceable incentive for private infrastructure Incentives for pervious pavers, infiltration galleries, and rain gardens, etc. Discussion Data management is the biggest challenge, data management group through Conservation Ontario for CA report cards could be a conduit to tackle this challenge How do we collect the human health data to link to the watershed health. Collect the human health data from other agencies. Environment Canada interested in the decision support tool possibly through Lake Simcoe/Georgian bay funding. Use data that we have already collected health may have to collect new datasets. Other agencies are compiling data on human health and environmental health.

5 Need a prototype communication tool (AKA the easy button) that is integrated. This can be changed to meet future needs if necessary. o Let s get it built and refine it on the fly. Tell positive stories/messaging to attract more interest. How do you bring both the social science and hard science together and communicate it to the public? Thinking of the next generation of report cards. How do we benefit the communities that we work in? Start a community to direct how we report our data/message. Conservation Authority has a committee and welcome more people to be involved. City of Kitchener is also doing a report every 5 years and would like to be on the committee on how to communicate the health of the river. Use language, arts to communicate point of from a natural standpoint to ecohealth. Healthy people and ecosystems coalition Lionel Normand to contact Ian Ockenden with more information. Laura Del Guidice interested in sitting on a subgroup to continue the discussion on ecohealth and moving the ball forward. City of Kitchener also interested in subgroup outcomes.