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Landowners thinking of planting 500 trees or more are encouraged to book their free site visit.

The Rideau Valley Conservation Authority offers private landowners a tree planting program that helps them get technical advice, planting plans and funding for trees. The goal is to make planting trees easy and affordable.

Rideau Valley Conservation Authority (RVCA) and its many partners gathered on June 23 to celebrate the official opening of its newest conservation area. The new Motts Mills Conservation Area is a small but beautiful site that sustains a significant piece of wetland habitat and is home to the recently decommissioned Motts Mills Dam.

“Thanks to the RVCA, Rideau Valley Conservation Foundation (RVCF) and many special partners, a crucial piece of wetland and local history is now protected in public ownership,” said Lyle Pederson, RVCA Chair and member of the Motts Mills Restoration Committee. “We are celebrating several achievements today and acknowledging the commitment, dedication and vision of many partners.”

The 2016 Rideau Valley Conservation Authority tree planting season is complete with some 230,000 trees being planted across the watershed. RVCA is proud to be working with Forests Ontario to help deliver the province’s promise of 50 million trees by 2025.

“We saw over 90 thousand trees planted in the City of Ottawa which is quite impressive,” said Scott Danford, RVCA Forestry Program Manager. “The remainder was planted throughout the upper and middle watershed thanks to our participating property owners.” The RVCA offers private landowners tree planting programs that help landowners get technical advice, planting plans and funding for trees. “We have numerous community-minded partners providing funding to projects to help reduce landowner costs,” says Scott Danford. “We offer planting programs that make it easy and affordable for landowners. At 15 cents a tree — it's a great deal.”

Rain on June 5 was sufficient to improve the drought status to minor severity on the Rideau watershed.

Streamflows and water levels increased as a result of the rain from about 10 percent of normal for the time of year to 50 percent. However, such flows are typically seen in mid-July to early August. Little rain is forecast for the next two weeks which means that water levels can be expected to drop noticeably throughout the watershed again.

The Mississippi-Rideau Source Protection Committee is in need of a new Chair. Under Ontario’s Clean Water Act, a Source Protection Committee representing multiple stakeholders is required for each source protection region in Ontario. The Source Protection Committee oversees the drinking water source protection program and the composition ensures that a variety of local interests are represented at the decision making table.