Published in the Apr. 10, 2013 issue of the Interlake Enterprise, by Teresa Carey…
EICD Chair Harold Foster (centre) and Vice Chair Rick Gamble (left) accepted the award from Minister of Conservation, Gord Mackintosh at a ceremony at the Manitoba Legislative Building
The East Interlake Conservation District (EICD), based in Gimli, received an Excellence in Sustainability award, while the Lake Winnipeg Foundation received an honourable mention.
EICD won in the category of Sustainability in Water and Natural Area Stewardship for its work in implementing programs to support sustainable land and water management and improve watershed health through integrated watershed management planning.
EICD Chair Harold Foster and Vice Chair Rick Gamble accepted the award from Minister of Conservation, Gord Mackintosh at a ceremony at the Manitoba Legislative Building in Winnipeg, on Apr. 3.
“One of the main reasons the EICD received this award was because the EICD promotes activism and participation at the grassroots and municipal level,” said Armand Belanger, Manager of EICD.
” We work with the local residents and all levels of government to create long term plans to protect, restore and better manage land and water resources on a watershed basis,” he said.
“As you can imagine we were all very happy to receive this award as the EICD and all of our partners have been working very hard over the past few years to complete the on-the-ground work that needs to get done to improve and maintain the health of our watersheds.”
Belanger said the EICD has completed many projects in keeping with the goals of their three completed Integrated Watershed Management Plans. Belanger cited the Fisher River Integrated Watershed Management Plan (IWMP) that EICD is currently completing and the three other IWMP’s that have already been completed in the Interlake.
“We will continue to partner with many people at the grassroots level to complete these actions which work towards our goals of sustainability,” he added.
Belanger explained the successes EICD and its partners has had in moving from plan development to plan implementation. With the three completed IWMP’s the EICD has developed over 170 actions that will be implemented over the next five to ten years.
Belanger highlighted some of actions that have already been implemented:
• Helped landowners install over six miles of exclusion fencing which has removed over 800 cattle from the Icelandic River and Washow Bay Creek Waterways.
• Planted over ten thousand willow trees that quickly replenish the riparian vegetation (plants next to shorelines) helping to provide habitat, remove nutrients from entering our waterways and reduce the risk of erosion.
• Partnered with landowners and Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation, to permanently protect and/or restore 255 acres of forest, riparian area or wetlands.
• Decommissioned 212 abandoned wells, and documented current ground water quality and highlighted any risks by taking inventory, assessing and sampling over 1865 private wells.
• Continued long term water quality monitoring at nine stations. The samples from these stations are analyzed and made public annually through a surface water quality report card.
The Manitoba Excellence in Sustainability Awards honour people, projects and ideas that successfully turn the province’s principles and guidelines of sustainable development into concrete and lasting achievements.
The complete list of this year’s recipients is available at http://www.gov.mb.ca/conservation/susresmb/mrtsd/mesa/winners.html.
