HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2015-02-05, Page 17THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2015. PAGE 17.
Scotts hope to inspire with demonstration project
Murray and Wilma Scott of the
Belgrave area say they are honoured
to be among the nine recipients of
the Minister’s Award of
Environmental Excellence from
Minister of Environment and
Climate Change Glen Murray.
While the Scotts haven’t officialy
received the award yet, Scott
explained it is on the way.
Scott is currently recovering after
a medical situation and was unable
to attend the gala presentation event
in January in Toronto.
While he was honoured by the
recognition, Scott admitted that,
looking at the other eight recipients,
he was a little shocked.
“I was surprised that we were the
only people that weren’t an
organization,” he said. “It is a great
honour.”
The awards, which recognize
people and groups that, through
conservation, preserve or restore
wildlife habitat, water and energy
and prevent pollutants and nutrients
from entering water systems, were
handed out a year after the projects
are recognized, meaning that the
Scotts’ award is considered one of
the 2013 awards.
The projects on the Scott farm aim
to restore habitat and encourage
repopulation of native species while
also using natural features of the
land to practise better farming
techniques.
The latter is likely one of the more
important projects Scott feels he has
ever undertaken.
“The one project that has got me
thinking the most was a drainage
project,” he said. “The fact is we
always used to drain in a certain
manner and as long as it got rid of
the water, farmers were happy.”
He said thinking had to change
and, after going through with some
water table projects on his land, he
believes it’s possible for farmers to
implement projects that protect
water and marginal land.
“It’s good to retain the water and
let it soak into the aquifers and have
impurities removed naturally,” he
said. “It recharges the water table
and prevents flooding downstream.”
The project, which has
transformed several areas on his
farm into catch-basins for run-off
from his and his neighbours’ farm,
alleviates the strain on nearby
drains, which is actually how he first
got involved in conservation
projects.
“When we started out in 2005 on
the projects on our farm, there was a
municipal drain that ran through our
property that needed to be cleaned
out as it was being plugged with silt
and other impurities,” he said.
“The drain took water from our
own land, as well as our neighbours,
in the water shed, so we asked for a
clean-out and went through the
process for that,” he said. “The
Maitland Valley Conservation Area
asked if we would like to use part of
the drain after the cleaning as a
demonstration project and we
decided to try it.”
This was the first conservation-
minded change that was attempted
on the farm and Scott said it’s one of
which he enjoys seeing the effects.
“Part of the project was to make a
natural channel for the drain instead
of a man-made channel,” he said.
“By creating a natural channel, we
made a natural stream and, with
pinching in the banks, it creates
swirling in the water which doesn’t
disturb the natural soil and cleans
itself. Hopefully that will work a lot
longer to keep the water flowing
than the conventional, man-made
way.”
From that starting point, the Scotts
started subsequent projects,
including berms to protect the run-
off from the streams, wind-breaks to
protect from wind erosion and
keeping soil and grass out of the
waterways and natural habitat
restoration along the property.
“It does take up quite a bit of
land,” he said. “We’ve given up, I
suppose, 10 to 12 acres of marginal
land to make the project all work and
it is enhancing the features of the
cold water stream that’s there. We
have fish coming back in here.”
Scott said that one of the primary
benefits of the project isn’t the
conservation, but being able to show
people how it works.
“The whole thing for me about it is
I enjoy seeing how things like this
work and how they look through
every season,” he said. “We have
people come here and see this can
work and see the benefits and
hopefully that will encourage them
to keep trying.”
Scott said he enjoys seeing how
the trees are growing, what new
birds appear and how the other
wildlife is faring.
“That’s what you get out of it – the
ability to help nature and to enjoy it,”
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