March/April 1996
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March/April 1996 |
Canadian Great Lakes 2000 Cleanup Fund Excels in Building Partnerships
by Cliff Evanitski
Partnerships -- it is the buzzword many programs in government and the private sector use to attract support for their initiatives during these times of fiscal restraint. For one program within Environment Canada, however, partnerships have proven to be the sturdy backbone of a successful initiative to help restore and rehabilitate the world's largest freshwater system. Environment Canada's Great Lakes 2000 Cleanup Fund started in 1990 as part of the federal Great Lakes Action Plan. In its five years of existence, the Cleanup Fund has given $43 million to over 200 projects involving in excess of 280 partners. These partners in turn have contributed over $78 million in finances and services to the various environmental projects supported by the Cleanup Fund on the Canadian side of the Great Lakes.
For the fiscal year 1995-1996, the Cleanup Fund is providing $8 million towards more than 100 projects. This investment in federal funds has generated $18.5 million in contributions from various partners. The Cleanup Fund focuses on the demonstration of technologies and remedial methods that will help clean and restore Canada's remaining 16 Areas of Concern and other priority sites.
Funding priorities for the Cleanup Fund include remediating contaminated sediment; controlling combined sewer overflows, stormwater and rural runoff; optimizing municipal wastewater treatment plants; and the rehabilitation of fish and wildlife habitat. Partners play a significant role in these projects that goes beyond financial support. The Cleanup Fund is helping to develop new solutions to persistent environmental problems as a result of their partners' expertise in science and other fields, as well as their commitment to cleaning up the Great Lakes basin. For example, in the Severn Sound Area of Concern, located on the southeastern part of Lake Huron's Georgian Bay, the Cleanup Fund has helped to restore aquatic and shoreline habitat in Penetang Bay, study stormwater quality and flows in urban municipalities, rehabilitate fish and wildlife habitat on streambanks and optimize wastewater treatment plants.
Keith Sherman, Coordinator of the Severn Sound Remedial Action Plan, has used Cleanup Fund resources to forge partnerships with the Province of Ontario, municipalities, environmental groups, service clubs and community volunteers. "Municipalities with small urban centres especially benefit from the advice, technologies and funding provided by the Cleanup Fund," says Sherman. "Innovative and cost-effective solutions to environmental problems are very much needed, in both rural and urban areas."
The Cleanup Fund's partners include other levels of government, corporations, communities, advocacy groups, local institutions, citizens, businesses and industry. "Private partners have been instrumental in making Great Lakes 2000 Cleanup Fund projects a success in delivering the Nipigon Bay Remedial Action Plan (RAP)," says Ken Cullis, Nipigon Bay RAP Coordinator. Cullis points to Domtar Packaging Limited as an example. Domtar, in what Cullis describes as a "truly cooperative community spirit," not only provided long-term access to their property for construction of a uniquely designed marina/breakwall, but also contributed $50,000 of topsoil needed to complete the landscaping of the newly constructed facility. The marina/breakwall provides Red Rock, a small community nestled on the northwestern shores of Lake Superior, with much-needed access to the waterfront while incorporating a wide variety of aquatic and terrestrial features. These features have contributed greatly to restoring degraded fish and wildlife habitat in Nipigon Bay.
Domtar has been a constant supporter of the RAP process and an active participant of the Nipigon Bay RAP and Public Advisory Committee since its conception in 1989. Ontario Hydro has also played a significant role in the Nipigon Bay RAP. For many years there was a major conflict between Ontario Hydro and other users of the Nipigon River over fluctuating water flows relating to hydroelectric power generation. In 1992 the RAP team and public advisory committee initiated, with Cleanup Fund support, a consensus building process designed to reach agreement among local stakeholders as to an appropriate water management program which recognized the needs of those using the Nipigon River, from boaters to spawning brook trout. The willing and active participation of Ontario Hydro led to the successful conclusion of the project in 1996.
And while it remains to be determined what the impact of the mini-budget presented by Ontario's provincial government in late 1995 will be on the province's contributions to Cleanup Fund-supported projects, there is little doubt that the Cleanup Fund and its other partners will do their best to maintain the program's success.
Cliff Evanitski is a Communications Officer with Environment Canada in Downsview, ON. For more information, contact John Shaw, Chief, Great Lakes 2000 Cleanup Fund, 867 Lakeshore Road, Burlington, ON L7R 4A6.
Sommaire
Les partenariats - c'est un terme à la mode, utilisé par nombre de programmes publics et privés pour gagner des appuis en cette période d'austérité. Pour un des programmes d'Environnement Canada, par contre, les partenariats sont devenus la pierre angulaire d'une initiative couronnée de succès, qui vise à restaurer et à réhabiliter le plus grand système d'eau douce au monde. Le Fonds d'assainissement du programme Grands Lacs 2000 a été lancé en 1990 dans le cadre du Plan d'action des Grands Lacs, piloté par le gouvernement fédéral. Dans ses cinq années d'existence, le Fonds a permis de distribuer 43 millions de dollars à plus de 200 projets impliquant plus de 280 partenaires. Ces derniers ont à leur tour versé plus de 78 millions de dollars en argent et services aux divers projets environnementaux appuyés par le Fonds, du côté canadien des Grands Lacs.
Revised: 28 February 1997
Maintained by Kevin McGunagle,
mcgunaglek@ijc.wincom.net