State of the River 2005-2006

Grand River, Ontario
In the Heartland of Southern Ontario
Designated 1994

Through a participatory process called The Grand Strategy, the Grand River Conservation Authority (GRCA) continues to work with its partners to encourage and implement actions that support the Canadian Heritage Rivers designation for the Grand River and its major tributaries, the Nith, Conestogo, Speed and Eramosa Rivers.  These activities are focused on improving water quality, ensuring adequate water supply, protecting the natural environment, conserving heritage resources, supporting sustainable outdoor recreation and promoting cultural and eco-tourism.

In 2005, the GRCA signed Memoranda of Understanding with Wilfrid Laurier University and Conestoga College, joining the University of Guelph and the University of Waterloo.  Through these memoranda, the post-secondary institutions agree to formally participate as a partner in The Grand Strategy.

The purpose of the memoranda is to promote research and education to watershed health, increase heritage awareness and conservation improve human/environment relationships within the watershedassist in the planning, design, management and operations of GRCA lands and other areas within the watershed, and provide meaningful and challenging projects, data, and opportunities for researchers and students.  The memoranda outline how the institutions and the GRCA will advance shared goals in research and education.

The Grand River Conservation Authority released its 2005 Watershed Report in September at the fifth annual Grand River Watershed Water Forum, attended by over 400 participants.  The report provides an overview of the condition of water and land resources along the Grand River and its tributaries and was widely distributed through local newspapers.

The 8th annual Heritage Day Workshop and Celebration attracted over 225 people to Fergus, despite hazardous weather.  Held on Heritage Day,it featured the theme for the Bridging Time.  The keynote speakers focused on bridging time by highlighting aspects of our heritage, which connect the past to the present.  These included heritage bridges of the Grand, artifacts of natural history that tie us in time to the last ice age, limestone construction and adaptive re-use of buildings in Fergus and Elora, and the influence of David Boyle on the intellectual life of Elora residents in the late 1800s and to the present day.  Boyle was one of the founders of the Ontario Provincial Museum, a forerunner to the Royal Ontario Museum.

A number of improvements to heritage features were undertaken in 2005 including the continuing clean-up of the Welland Canal – Lock 27 in Port Maitland; restoration of Ruthven National Historic Site in Cayuga and a local citizens group actively pursuing means to restore and manage the Caledonia Old Mill. A celebration was held in October to commemorate the restoration of one of the Grand’s distinctive concrete bowstring bridges – the seven span Freeport Bridge in Kitchener with a heritage plaque as part of the Region of Waterloo’s Heritage Bridge Recognition Program.  The Brant Bowstring Bridge, Brant County’s only concrete bowstring was threatened with removal by scheduled repair work.  The local municipal Heritage Committee was successful in presenting the importance of the bridge to Council who in early 2006, approved work for rehabilitation at a cost of $1.1m.

Some significant heritage losses occurred in 2005.  One of the oldest bridges in the watershed built in 1888, the Victoria Street Bridge in Elora, was dismantled since it had deteriorated to point where public safety was an issue.  The historic Forsyth Factory complex in Kitchener’s Centre Block, was designated under Ontario’s Heritage Act in 1999 but demolished in early 2006.

Work continues on developing and maintaining trails in the watershed.  The Riverside Walking Trail, Drayton’s first trail, opened in July.  The 10.5-km Upper Grand Trailway officially opened Sept. 17 after three years of planning.  The trail is just south of Luther Marsh Wildlife Management Area and extends from the hamlet of Waldemar in Amaranth Township to the East Luther West Luther Townline.

The Trailway was built on the foundation of 114 years of transportation history. This section of the former Canadian Pacific Railway was built in 1870 to serve East Luther Grand Valley until the last freight train passed through in 1984. Ownership of the right-of-way was turned over to the township in 1998 and a small group of citizens started working on turning it into a multi-use recreational trail in 2001.  A key element of the trail is a $48,400 pedestrian bridge over Boyne Creek that replaced a bridge removed when the railway abandoned the line. It was paid for with a grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation and helps "bridge the gap" with several other trails, including the Trans Canada Trail - Elora Cataract Trailway.

A well-attended Trails Workshop was held in October with the theme “Vital Connections for Healthy Communities”.  Led by local public health units, with participation from the GRCA, municipalities and trails groups, the focus of this event was to identify critical links in the trails network in the Waterloo-Wellington-Dufferin area and to discuss strategies to ensure that critical links are built. 

Work was continued on several access points for canoeists and anglers along the Grand River between Paris and Brantford as part of the Exceptional Waters Program.  A second public access to the river was added to Mill Race Park in Cambridge.  New signage and trail improvements were carried out at Dumfries Conservation Area in the heart of urban Cambridge.
The Grand River Tail-Water Fisheries Management Plan was completed after two years of work which will guide activities to protect and enhance the world-class brown trout fishery found in the tail-water of the Shand Dam, near Fergus.

Four small dams were removed, which improves water quality and natural habitat at Taquanyah (Cayuga), Chilligo (Cambridge), Beatty (Fergus) and Columbia Lake (Waterloo).

From a forestry perspective, a program to measure forest health in eleven locations as part of the national Ecological Monitoring and Assessment Network was begun in 2005.  A three-year study of the southern Grand and its relationship to Lake Erie was completed.  In addition to numerous tree plantings by community group, most notably the 10,000 Trees Project (Waterloo) and the County of Wellington Green Legacy Project, about 2,000 trees were planted at Laurel Creek Nature Centre arboretum in Waterloo.

Several well attended environmental events served to raise the profile of the need to conserve and protect the watershed natural resources including Sunoco Earth Day, Waterloo Wellington Children Groundwater Festival and the new Brantford-Brant Children Water Festival.

In 2005, well-known Canadian artist, Peter Etril Snyder released a book entitled “Painting the Grand River Valley” featuring a series of paintings of 89 scenes along the length of the Grand River, created over a forty-year span.  Katherine Jacob, a local writer, with a love for exploring, hiking and writing about the network of trails throughout the Grand River watershed, released a new book called “Footprints of the Grand”.  These publications join “Towards a Grand Sense of Place” released in 2004 in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Grand River as a Canadian Heritage River.

In July 2005, one of the most scenic conservation areas, Pinehurst Conservation Area, celebrated its 50th anniversary.  Nestled around a kettle lake surrounded by stands of tall bush and hills, the conservation area with its 277 serviced and unserviced sites, four group camping areas and three picnic shelters, attracts about 100,000 visitors per year.  That means an estimated five million visitors have enjoyed excursions in the past half century.  At the anniversary celebration a stone picnic pavilion overlooking the lake was dedicated as the Clarence Sutor Pavilion in honour of its founding superintendent.

Available in both hard copy and through the GRCA website, the Grand Actions newsletter continues to be a popular publication providing readers with information about the progress of The Grand Strategy, as well as interesting stories about watershed history, celebrations, community events, and stewardship activities.

The Grand Actions Registry annually recognizes and celebrates the efforts of many by describing a wide array of actions undertaken to improve the Grand River watershed, increase heritage appreciation, and support the designation of the Grand River as a Canadian Heritage River. The 2004 edition, published in 2005, contains 325 entries representing thousands of activities. The Registry can be viewed on the GRCA website.

All in all, 2005 proved to be a very busy year, with many activities taking place to raise awareness, appreciation and stewardship in the Grand River watershed.