Set aside conflict, baggage and confrontation. Bring enthusiasm, creativity and cooperation and be ready to get your feet wet.
This is the winning formula that the Friends of Mill Creek has adopted to improve the small creek that runs through Puslinch Township and joins the Grand River in Cambridge.
Improving the creek means working through a complicated set of environmental challenges, but FOMC has been up to the challenge.
For that effort, Friends of Mill Creek received a 2012 Grand River Watershed Award from the Grand River Conservation Authority.
Now in its 15th year, Friends of Mill Creek has aggregate companies, environmentalists, politicians, service clubs, government agencies and landowners working together. The group has a formalized structure, a board, a president and an “opportunities plan” that is the strategic document to guide them. There is a fundraising committee, a technical committee and a community outreach committee.
Two partners, Dufferin Aggregates and Capital Paving, received a 2007 Watershed Award for their work with FOMC.
Their winning formula has been noted and used in other communities. FOMC is made up of some noticeably strange bedfellows who are working together to revitalize the small tributary of the Grand River. While they do this, they gain new respect and appreciation for the variety of viewpoints in the community.
“Everyone’s knowledge and enthusiasm is respected and that energy is amplified through what we do. We don’t allow the tension to enter the (meeting) room to begin with,” said Brad Whitcombe, the president of Friends of Mill Creek and former mayor of Puslinch Township.
“Friends of Mill Creek can tap into all that energy and expertise and really get things done. It is everybody’s responsibility to meet these challenges and it means not only respect for the environment, but respect for each other.”
Most of the creek is still bordered by forests and provincially significant wetlands. It has had to endure many changes. Early settlers dammed it for power, and these dams still block the flow and warm the water, making it harder for aquatic life to thrive in the creek.
Parts of the creek were even moved when Highway 401 was constructed and then again when the Hanlon Expressway was built. Forests have been removed, land has been converted to agriculture and gravel has been extracted. Fill and garbage has been put into the creek and all of this has really impeded the waterway.
Some accepted processes used to resolve conflict are adversarial. This seemed to be the case in 1990 at a 200-day “David and Goliath battle” at the Ontario Municipal Board, Whitcombe said. At the end of the day when the hearing was over, the aggregate companies got their licenses granted with restrictions. Many in the community were disheartened by this outcome.
“The system wasn’t working for the community at that time. I felt we needed a way to celebrate the watershed. The only way we are going to succeed in our community is with a healthy watershed where we can live, enjoy and recreate,” Whitcombe said.
Cooperation is proving to ignite enthusiasm of many people. Businesses need a healthy watershed and bring some excellent resources to undertake projects.
One key to the successful rehabilitation of the creek is the Mill Creek Rangers – the team of four teenagers and a crew leader who are hired each summer to jump into the creek with hip waders and hard hats. They work all summer to restore the creek little by little.
There are now nearly 40 former rangers and many have gone on to careers in the environmental field.
The committee members and partners take great pride in seeing the creek that is at the heart of the community improve each year There are nearly 40 partner organizations and it is the community that raises the money to pay for the Mill Creek Rangers each summer.
“When it comes to the environment, agencies and governments can only do so much,” said Whitcombe, adding co-operation of community members can work towards solving these environmental problems.
Information about all seven 2012 watershed award recipients is available online at www.grandriver.ca/awards.
