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The 2006 Moraine Hero Awards
Click here to view the media release about this gala event. [165 kb pdf]
Award Recepients:
Pictured left to right: David Burnett on behalf
of the CAMC,
Emil Kolb on behalf of the Region of Peel, Kathy Guselle,
David Donnelly and Alex Grant.
Collaborative Planning:
Conservation Authorities Moraine Coalition
Conservation Authorities have a 60-year history of conserving
the water and natural heritage resources of the Oak Ridges Moraine
(ORM). The nine individual conservation authority members of the
CAMC have worked with government agencies and citizens to help
establish the ORM Conservation Plan, and continues to monitor
and defend it at the Ontario Municipal Board. The CAMC works to
build local partnerships for the securement of environmentally
significant moraine lands for public access, recreational uses
and environmental education programs. Over the last five years,
the CAMC has worked with private landowners and numerous partners
to deliver effective watershed stewardship services across the
moraine. The CAMC strives to advance the science and understanding
of the ORM through community-based watershed plans and ORM-wide
groundwater study partnerships.
Proactive Policy Approach: Region of Peel
The Region of Peel has long recognized the importance of its groundwater
resources and the steps needed to ensure their sustainability
for future generations. This commitment of the Region to proactively
plan and manage groundwater extends over twenty years. As early
as 1987 the Region initiated comprehensive groundwater studies
in the Town of Caledon and in 1997 and 2000 respectively, wellhead
protection policies were incorporated into the Regional and Caledon
official plans– one of the first municipalities in Canada
to do so. The Region has also initiated a private well abandonment
program, completed groundwater quantification studies, was instrumental
in initiating the York, Peel, Durham, Toronto Groundwater Study
(YPDT), launched the Peel Rural Water Quality Program in 2005
and more recently, initiated technical work to update the Region’s
wellhead protection areas using more advanced 3D modeling.
Municipal Leadership: Alex Grant
As the CAO of a municipality of which 40% lies within the Oak
Ridges Moraine Plan Area, he has risen to the challenges presented
by this new planning environment and isn’t afraid to admit
it! Alex publicly acknowledged “It’s made our life
in some ways easier here. We don’t get the planning proposals
that don’t have the planning merit.” Naturally Alex
has examined things from the financial side and concluded, “Although
municipalities had to spend money to conform with the plan, it
may have saved even more. We may have had a multitude of applications
(on the moraine) we didn’t want.” Alex has also gone
beyond focusing only on the economics of municipal governance
by acting as the lead staff person assisting the Mayor and dedicated
Uxbridge residents in the development and implementation of a
town-side strategy for the rural areas called Uxbridge Naturally.
The focus of Uxbridge Naturally is to create a town-wide trail
and natural spaces system that connects communities to communities
and incorporates existing trail systems such as the Oak Ridges
and Trans-Canada.
Community Champion: Kathy Guselle
Kathy’s involvement with the Oak Ridges Moraine began in
1988 with the purchase of a copy of the Durham Regional Official
Plan. Concerned about the growing threat of development in the
Ganaraska River headwaters, she helped unite a group of citizens
into “SAGA, - Save the Ganaraska Again”. Through an
Environmental Assessment Advisory Board hearing and the resultant
Report #38, SAGA was successful in drawing attention to the inadequacies
of the planning and approvals process in the Ganaraska headwaters
and the Oak Ridges Moraine as a whole. In the subsequent fifteen
years, SAGA continued to press for the expression of Provincial
Interest on the Moraine, the Planning Strategy and the rewriting
of the Planning Act. As President of SAGA, Kathy has frequently
spoken on moraine issues at conferences and seminars.
Community Champion: David Donnelly
In 1992 the executive of SAGA needed help in raising awareness
of the threat of urban development in the headwaters of the Ganaraska
River. The province had by this time recognized the significance
of the Oak Ridges Moraine, however there was little awareness
beyond local communities of the cumulative impacts of site-specific
developments on the headwaters areas. David, as Executive Director
of the Canadian Environmental Defence Fund (now Environmental
Defence), organized one of the first press conferences at Queen's
Park for SAGA to bring the issue of the moraine directly to provincial
politicians and the people of Toronto. From 2000 - 2002, he was
counsel to Save the Rouge at the now famous Oak Ridges Moraine
OMB hearing in Richmond Hill. As a lawyer at Gilbert's LLP and
legal counsel for Environmental Defence, David continues to advocate
for the protection of the Oak Ridges Moraine.
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