October 20, 2002
Mission Statement:
"We are the stewards of this place. Our commitment to nurturing the human community and our respect for the wise council of others will help us make our environment flourish. We are responsible".
Haliburton County is located approximately 200 kilometres north of Toronto. Comprised of over 600 lakes, 1,100,000 acres and approximately 16,000 permanent residents, the Haliburton Highlands is the heart of cottage country and a magnet for recreational activities. Over 60,000 seasonal residents and tourists swell the population of ten municipalities between the months of June and October.
In the village of Haliburton, a unique project evolved from a group of community members who empowered its youth to make positive change in their community process.
This project began with the vision of two local high school teachers concerned for the education of thirty youth who were at risk of falling through the cracks. Science Teachers Dave Mowat and Derek Little of Haliburton Highlands Secondary School devised a practical ecological field exercise to rehabilitate the Drag River which runs through the heart of Haliburton Village. The teachers found the project captured the attention and overwhelming enthusiasm of the community. Perhaps the most important part of the project, was the sense of purpose and community it installed in the students. It gave them an unforgettable experience in real-world science and opened their eyes to a realization that they could make a real and lasting diffenence. By overcoming the inertia that had developed in the community and by raising awareness of the threats to the fisheries, the students have become the catalysts of an exciting community adventure.
The Drag River Rehabilitation Project commenced in a partnership after completion of a fisheries study and spawning bed management program for walleye in the five lake chain served by the Drag River. The Drag River, which runs through the town, was a tangled mess of difficult environmental problems including serious erosion, river siltation, bank slumping and fuel oil leeching into the river. Walleye from throughout the Kashagawigamog chain of lakes travel here every spring to spawn. This project was to improve the river valley and preserve the spawning bed for walleye, also to stabilize and restore the river bank and create a river trail with pleasing environmental and visual scenes. This would require a significant effort to create partnerships and cooperation. Their efforts resulted in the formation of community partnerships. The partners encouraged the beautification of the site as an educational tourism opportunity.
A series of partnership meetings were held and in a very short time the following organizations committed to the $750,000 project. In consultation with Dave Mowat, Derek Little and their students, Easterling Technologies Corporation coordinated a cooperative community development project to complete the broader river rehabilitation work and create an attractive nature trail and park along the river. The process was custom designed to continue serving the youth by incorporating the ongoing involvement of the teachers and students in each aspect of the work from design to finish. A committee of local volunteers, representing a broad spectrum of community members administered the project under the supervision of Easterling and other partners in the administration aspect of the project.
Throughout the fall of 1999, as part of their environmental science program and during the summer of 2000, as employees the students worked on the river. In accepting stewardship of the Drag River these students have learned skills in studying fish, altering riverbanks, learning the history and heritage of their village, recreating shoreline ecosystems and interacting within the political framework of public and private lands. They were politically proactive in changing the fishing regulations with the Ministry having Head Lake declared as a fish sanctuary.
COMMUNITY BENEFITS:
- With a revitalized flourishing walleye fishery, the tourist operators have used the rehabilitation project as a tourism tool to attract this broader spectrum of visitors; thus, tourism has seen a significant increase in the sport fisherman coming to this area
- Economically, the landowners and stakeholders are now more focused on the value of their shoreline and value of their waterway as a healthy biological community
- The students developed an advertising tool to educate property owners in shoreline stewardship
- The Haliburton Highlands Secondary School Science Department was comissioned to prepare a site assessment of the Deer Point Condominium Shoreline on Lake Kashagawigamog Lake
- A significant increase and direct impact to business opportunities for local businesses
- The Drag River Project was selected by the Federal Ministry of the Environment to be listed as an environmental project showcase
- Boreal Laboratories Ltd., a company that sells supplies for science related courses, circulates a catalog across Canada and has featured the Drag River Rehabilitation Project on the cover and inside cover of the 2002 issue
- Community sectoral participation
The rehabilitation of the river as a fish sanctuary and as a heritage park is an environmental legacy that the students of Haliburton Highlands Secondary School have left to the community. The broad spectrum of community support especially in-kind contributions from small business to the Drag River Rehabilitation Project has become a model that other communities in the Province of Ontario have come to compare.
The Haliburton County Development Corporation is strongly supportive of this community based project and are proud of the achievements of the youth and the direct impact they have had on the ever growing economy of Haliburton County. The Drag River is an ongoing environmental classroom which has touched the lives of thousands of people in this community. Perhaps the most important part of the project was the sence of purpose the community installed in the students. It gave them an unforgettable experience in real-world science and opened their eyes to a realization that they could make a real and lasting difference.
COOPERATIVE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE:
COMMUNITY SECTORAL PARTICIPATION DRAG RIVER REHABILITATION PROJECT
Total Project Costs - $750,000 (cash & inkind contributions)
A vibrant community is the product of dynamic people with a common vision coming together to realise their dream. In Haliburton village, a unique project evolved started by a group of community members committed to the empowerment of its youth, the enhancement of its fisheries resources and the beautification of its natural setting.
COMMUNITY PROJECT PARTNERS:
- Trillium Lakelands District School Board provided purchasing framework for major out-of-town items as well as curriculum support for student efforts
- Haliburton Highlands Secondary School - Mr. Dave Mowat & Mr. Derek Little provided material, clerical and staff support (in-kind value approx $60,000)
- Human Resources Development Canada major financial sponsor providing $100,000
- Haliburton County Development Corporation administered/monitored HRDC contract, provided ongoing administrative and consulting support
- Haliburton Rotary Club financial sponsor $3,000 and provided monetary and consulting support
- Haliburton Highlands Trails & Tours Network provided consulting support and coordination of summer student employment (inkind value $5000)
- CIBC - Haliburton Branch financial sponsor $3,000 plus provided free banking services
- Haliburton Forest & Wild Life Reserve provided material for many of the wooden building projects (inkind value of wood supplied $15,000)
- Municipality of Dysart et al major partner, hired students, provided consulting and logistic help, provided material and equipment and matched donations with in-kind labour (in-kind value $20,000)
- Ministry of the Environment - MOE major financial sponsor providing up to $200,000 for environmental clean-up
Haliburton Highlands Outdoors Association provided volunteer labour
- Haliburton Field Naturalists Society provided financial and consulting support
- Ministry of Natural Resources - MNR major financial sponsor providing $160,000 and ongoing mentor on the environmental relevance of the work
- Ontario Federation of Anglers & Hunters financial sponsor $5,000 for work related to the fish in the river
- Easterling Technologies Corporation consulting services (in-kind value $25,000)
- Golf Green Enterprises financial sponsor $1,000, plus consulting of landscaping work (in-kind value $3,000)
- PineStone Golf & Conference Resort provided free consulting and staff for any landscaping
- Haliburton Highlands Stewardship Council financial sponsor $5,000
- Emmerson Lumber financial sponsor $1,000 and provided all rentals to students for free plus reduced costs on large orders (in-kind value $5,000)
- Canning Lake/Soyers Lake/Kashagawigamog Lake Property Owners Associations financial sponsor $1,000
Broad Spectrum of other Community Organizations financial sponsors $5,000
- Tembec Corporation financial sponsor $3,000 for reforestation of the river banks
- Mervin Johnston Trucking donated limestone slabs for community garden (inkind value $6,000)
- Blair Sand & Gravel provided trucking services, backhoe, highhoe, access to plant stock for shoreline, ripraps (inkind value $5,000)
- Trent University - U-Links Program student consultants
- Tarandus Associates financial sponsor $500,
- Benthia analysis of river bed (in-kind contribution $500)
- M.J. Hunter Lumber supplied wood chips and trucking for community gardens (in-kind value $1,000)
- Sir Sandford Fleming College - Haliburton Campus consulting services, use of facilities, blacksmithing expertise for heritage walkway (in-kind value $10,000)