Baxter Creek
The Baxter Creek Watershed Alliance (BCWA) is finishing up preparations for our second Community Watershed Forum scheduled from 6:30 to 8:30 pm on Monday, September 25th, 2023 at the Millbrook Royal Canadian Legion at 9 King Street East in the heart of the business district of Millbrook.
We are honoured this year to welcome Chief Taynar Simpson from Alderville First Nation as our keynote speaker. Chief Simpson will be speaking to reconciliation and how we can move forward together with a united vision of preservation and environmental health.
The theme for this year’s Forum is “Watershed Resiliency”.
What is watershed resiliency?
Watershed resiliency is the ability of a watershed to maintain its characteristic system state while resisting, adapting to, and reorganizing after a disturbance whether from a hydrological source (for example, drought, flooding) or biogeochemical (for example, pollution such as excessive sediment or nutrient loading).
A focus of BCWA’s work is to identify and characterize our watershed ecosystem features including what some call “vulnerable waters” which are critical to watershed resiliency.
Vulnerable waters include areas such as wetlands outside of floodplains (technically called “isolated wetlands”) and headwater streams which are the source areas of our creeks and streams.
Our focus areas, what we have come to call our “three pillars” of Agricultural Stewardship, First Nations Reconciliation, and Environmental Education, are guiding our work towards watershed resiliency.
Our Forum tabletop presentations are still being finalized but we are thrilled to announce the following organizations have confirmed attendance:
- ALUS Peterborough (formerly Alternative Land Use Services) | Kate Powell, Program Coordinator
- Cavan Monaghan Community for Common Grounds | Mary Preston
- Kawartha Land Trust, Partners in Conservation Program | Rachel Barrington, Partners in Conservation Coordinator
- Squirrel Creek Farm | Steve Brackenridge
- Township of Cavan-Monaghan, Planning Department | John Connolly, Executive Director of Planning and Development
- Trent University, Community Research Centre | Brittany Finigan, Coordinator, Trent Community Research Centre
- Trent University, Institute for Watershed Science | Dr. Nolan Pearce
- Trout Unlimited Millbrook Chapter | Karin Torgenson
This is a great opportunity for people living and working in the community to convene and have an open dialogue about our watershed and how we can be resilient during a time of change.
Refreshments and snacks will be served throughout the evening with a cash bar. Hope you can come out and join us!
Details for the event are being posted online at www.baxtercreekwatershed.org and in our social media. To receive updates from BCWA subscribe to our mailing list using the e-Newsletter form on our home page or sign up as a general member online or in print using the Membership Page (https://baxtercreekwatershed.org/our-members).
