Formed in 1951, the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority is committed to working with our community partners to create a healthier environment. Our area of jurisdiction covers the watershed, or drainage area, of the Maitland, Nine Mile and Eighteen Mile Rivers, along with smaller watersheds on the Lake Huron shoreline.
Mission
Maitland Conservation is a community based organization dedicated to providing leadership to protect and enhance local water, forests and soil.
Who We Are
- Maitland Conservation is jointly owned by its member municipalities.
- Conservation Authorities are established by the provincial government at the request of municipalities.
- Our activities are driven by local municipalities, landowners and community organizations. We are committed to providing effective community-based conservation services in a cost efficient manner.
Services and Priorities
Flood and Erosion Safety Services
Key Functions:
1. Regulation of activities in hazardous areas to prevent the loss of life and reduce property damage due to flooding and erosion.
2. Flood forecasting
3. Assisting municipalities with flood and erosion emergency preparedness.
Current Priorities:
- Update of shoreline and gully erosion rate information and mapping. This will improve the accuracy of erosion risk information and assist staff with identifying any changes required to our development and stormwater management policies.
- Harriston Hydrology Project – partnering with the Town of Minto to develop a drainage and stormwater strategy for the North Maitland watershed as well as improving the flood forecasting model for the area.
- Create and implement a public awareness strategy about the Maitland Conservation’s development regulation. The intent of the strategy is to improve understanding about the risks of developing or altering floodplains, river valleys, shoreline areas, wetlands and watercourses.
- Develop a local climate trends and impacts information strategy for Maitland Conservation’s Directors, staff and member municipalities.
Watershed Stewardship Services
Key Functions:
1. Assist municipalities and landowners to manage rural stormwater and to develop soil and water conservation systems (reforestation, berms, grassed waterways etc.) that will reduce damage to drainage infrastructure and reduce the loss of soil and nutrients from agricultural land.
Current Priorities
- Identify areas at high risk for runoff and erosion. Develop strategies to encourage landowners in these areas to adopt conservation practices.
- Find ways to increase support to extension activities and priority projects.
- Identify lower cost approaches to reducing non-point source pollution, especially methods to prevent, trap and treat runoff.
Conservation Area Services
Key Functions:
1. The management of 28 Conservation Areas encompassing 4,600 acres including wetlands, floodplains and river valley areas. These areas range from urban day-use parks to provincially significant environmental sites.
Current Priorities
- Reforestation of marginal land at Conservation Areas.
- Naturalization of turf areas at Gorrie Conservation Area and the Administration Centre in Wroxeter.
- Assessment of CA infrastructure including the Logan and Maitland Mills.
Corporate Services
Current Priorities
- Update financial forecast and work plan for services, infrastructure and equipment for 2017-2019.
- Update server storage and file management system to ensure file security and improve functionality for staff.
- Upgrade website to improve municipal and landowner access to information.
What is Resiliency?
The key overall priority for Maitland Conservation is building watershed resiliency to reduce flooding and soil erosion and to improve water quality. Resilience refers to the ability of the watershed to absorb the impacts of disturbances such as climate change, drought, flooding, pests and invasive species while still having healthy forests, rivers and soil.
Our focus on resiliency is based on a review of local climate trends. This analysis indicates that climate change is having adverse impacts on the watershed and the magnitude of these impacts is expected to increase. Local climate data shows:
- A change in precipitation patterns to more intense scattered thunderstorms.
- Despite this increase in thunderstorms, total annual precipitation has been declining over the past 40 years,
- Fewer days below freezing which may result in more winter precipitation falling as rain instead of snow. Less snow usually means less water storage resulting in