The Maskinonge River Recovery Project

[Spiel]

The Maskinonge River needs our help!

The Maskinonge River Recovery Project can help

 

 

 

Where is the Maskinonge River?

 

The Maskinonge River headwaters, or starting point, begin in the south near Queensville (East Gwillimbury) and in the north near Lockie Road (Georgina).The river flows through Ontario's Greenbelt through Keswick into Lake Simcoe.

 

Problems

 

The Maskinonge River's water quality and quantity as well as fish and wildlife habitat have declined steadily. This is a result of poor land stewardship practices like the removal of shoreline vegetation, increased urbanization and poor farming practices. This degradation has resulted because of a combination of many factors. Ultimately, it is because of poor land use practices in both the urban and rural areas of the subwatershed. A subwatershed is the area of land that drains into the river.

 

 

Why Should I Care?

 

The Maskinonge River subwatershed area encompasses 4,733 parcels of land -- one of those could be yours! Many of you use the Maskinonge River for recreation, for wildlife viewing, for fishing, for aesthetics from your property. It is also used by numerous fish and wildlife species as their home and drinking water source. In fact, the snapping turtle which is a species of concern (a species of special concern because of characteristics that make it particularly sensitive to human activities or natural events), has been identified in the Maskinonge River.

 

The Maskinonge River subwatershed is in bad shape - but the collective action of individuals can revive it.

 

 

What's Being Done?

 

In 1998, the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority and the Town of Georgina, along with input from the community, developed the Maskinonge Remedial Strategy. This identified some of the problems with the Maskinonge River subwatershed.

 

Now, with the Lake Simcoe Clean Up Fund, there is a developing project called the Maskinonge River Recovery Project (MRRP) comprised of groups like: the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority; Save the Maskinonge; York Environmental Stewardship; the Town of Georgina; and the Town of East Gwillimbury to work with the Maskinonge community to clean up the subwatershed.

 

 

How Can I Help?

 

After two public workshops, the MRRP has established a public committee to help develop a stewardship and education plan for the Maskinonge River subwatershed over the next several months.

 

In the meantime, you can help by:

 

• Help us spread the word about the state of the Maskinonge River subwatershed
  
• Sign up for a free property visit if you are a Maskinonge subwatershed landowner
  
• Tell us if you are interested in what we are doing so we can keep you informed of upcoming Maskinonge events and ways you can participate
  

What is a property visit?

 

A property visit is free and is conducted by a MRRP project partner staff. Typically, they would come out to your property on a mutually agreed date for 1/2 - 1 hour to discuss with you any environmental questions, concerns, and/or issues you might have as a Maskinonge landowner. From there, they would discuss with you any potential environmental projects that might be suitable for your property. If there is a project that you would like to do, they would help you finding funding (typical cost share right now is about 50% from the Conservation Authority and 50% from the landowner or other sources) and filling in the necessary paper work.

 

 

Examples of Potential Projects:

 

• tree planting
  
• removing hardened shorelines and replacing with naturalized, gradual sloping shorelines
  
• naturalizing (either through planting or by not mowing) the river's edge thus increasing the riparian buffer
  
• enhancing an existing wetland
  
• removing in-stream barriers
  
• etc
  

All with our help! You don't have to do this alone

 

 

Who do I contact to get involved?

 

Please contact:

Andee Pelan,

Maskinonge River Covery Project Coordinator

Phone: (905) 895-1281 ext. 244

E-mail: [email protected]

 

 

 

More reading

 

Maskinonge Remedial Strategy

 

York Environmental Stewardship

 

Landowner Environmental Assistance Program (LEAP)

 

Town of Georgina

 

Town of East Gwillimbury