Planting a reed bed is one way to reduce the negative impacts of your septic system

restricing or even banning this practice.  In response to this inevitability, and with the help of the Green Municipal Fund, Renfrew County  created a Biosolids and Septage Management Plan in 2005, which suggests eight alternative methods to handle rural sewage.

The following linked documents describe a case study of this project, as well as the actual report itself.

GMF Case Study

Renfrew Biosolids and Septage Management Plan

Memberships are $10 for individuals, and $20 for your family. The Bonnechere River Watershed Project (BRWP) will provide you with an official receipt for Income Tax purposes.  We benefit from your generosity and you get a break on your Income Tax!

To become a member please complete the form and mail to BRWP, PO Box 234 Renfrew;, ON K7V 4A3, or bring it to the registration desk at our AGM.

Thank you!

AMOUNT:  $____________

SUPPORTER NAME:  ______________________________________________________

MAILING ADDRESS:  ____________________________________________________

CIVIC ADDRESS:  ____________________________________________________

TOWN:  ________________________________________________________________

PROVINCE :  ___________________   POSTAL CODE :  _______________________

PHONE :  _______________________  E-MAIL :  ______________________________

How would you like to be involved?

__ Board member  __ Fundraising  __ Communications  __ Membership program

__ Stream assessment       __ Engagement series        __ Youth education

__ Website          __ Stewardship workshops

You are invited to attend the 10^th Annual General Meeting of the Bonnechere River Watershed Project, to be held at the Royal Canadian Legion, 30 Raglan St. S. in Renfrew, from 7:00-9:00 pm on Thursday, April 29, 2010.  Refreshments provided.

The past year has been a particularly eventful one for the BRWP with the launch of the RiverWatch program and the Future Scenarios engagement series.  With significant funding support from Ontario Trillium Foundation and Science Horizons, we were able to assess stream quality within the watershed, to further develop our website and on-line information resource for watershed education and planning, and to engage residents in critical conversations about the future of our watershed.

We look forward to sharing our results with you at the AGM.  Our guest speaker this year is Allyson Quinlan, a PhD candidate in the Dept. of Geography and Environmental Studies at Carleton University in Ottawa. Allyson has been facilitating the Future Scenario engagement series for the BRWP, including three workshops with watershed residents and local artists thus far.  She is currently conducting a “Valuing Rural Landscapes Survey” on-line to be followed up by interviews with some area residents and organizations to get our views on the watershed and how the natural benefits it provides might be sustained for future generations. Allyson’s talk will present the current versions of the future scenarios and early findings from the survey.  Your views will be included in her talk (anonymously of course) if you complete the 20-30 minute survey before the AGM, so please click here,  or for a paper copy, contact Allyson at 613-552-5221 or at aquinlan as soon as possible.

The AGM promises to be an interesting and informative evening to commemorate our 10^th anniversary.  I hope you will choose to attend and bring others interested in learning about the Bonnechere River Watershed Project, and our renewed focus on stream quality and alternative futures for our watershed.  Please also consider becoming a supporting member of the organization.

Over the past ten years, our success has been due in large part to the excellence and dedication of our Board.  If you care about conserving and improving the environmental quality of our watershed, and wish to be further involved in our decision making process please consider a Board member position with the BRWP and forward your name to us in advance or at the AGM.

Sincerely,

Kathryn Lindsay, Chair, Bonnechere River Watershed Project

You are invited to participate in this study which aims to evaluate the long-term supply of environmental benefits in the Bonnechere River Watershed (BRW).  These environmental benefits include such things as fresh water supply, food production, and habitat for biodiversity, as well as opportunities for recreation and the use of natural resources.  The “Valuing Rural Landscapes Survey” will take approximately 20 – 30 minutes to complete and participation in the survey is anonymous.

This research is being conducted by Allyson Quinlan, a graduate student at Carleton University and supervised by Professor Mike Brklacich from the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies.  The Bonnechere River Watershed Project (www.bonnechereriver.ca), a community-based, volunteer organization, is collaborating and providing support for this research project.

The survey is intended for all watershed residents who own or manage a property in the Bonnechere River watershed and who are responsible for environmental and land-use decision-making on the property.  This includes residents of the following municipal townships: Madawaska Valley, Killaloe-Haggarty-Richards, North Algona-Wilberforce, Bonnechere Valley, Admaston-Bromley, and Horton, and also the Town of Renfrew and the Pikwakanagan First Nations Reserve.

There is no risk to participating in the surveys as all participants will remain anonymous.  All participants must provide their consent to participate in the survey have the right to decline to answer any of the questions on the survey. A summary report of the research findings will be made available on the BRWP website (www.bonnechereriver.ca).

The survey can be completed directly online at the following address: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/bonnechere.

Alternatively, if you would prefer a paper copy of the survey please contact Allyson Quinlan at aquinlan or at 613-552-5221 to have a copy of the survey sent to you by mail.

A legend for stream order as defined on the Riverwatch Map

Stream order hierarchy was proposed by a geosciences professor named Arthur Newell Strahler in 1952.  First through third order streams are considered to be “headwater streams”, and make up approximately 80% of the worlds waterways. Fourth through sixth order streams are considered to be medium tributaries, and anything with an order of seven through twelve is considered to be a river. You will notice that the only waterway in our watershed that falls in the “river” category is the Bonnechere River, which is a seventh order stream.

So how do we define stream order? The principle is actually quite simple, and is best described with the help of the following diagram.

Example of how the Strahler method is applied to a simple catchment

As you can see, a stream that has no other streams flowing into it is considered a first order stream. Stream order numbers increase only when two streams of the same order meet, for example when two first order streams meet, the output is a second order stream.  If a stream with a lower number meets one with a higher number, the following segment retains the higher number (eg. A second order stream meets a third order stream, the output is a third order stream).  The process of determining stream order is simple enough that it can often be executed by hand, however with larger more complicated catchments or watersheds, mapping software applications can be rather helpful.

Data comparisons made between waterways of the same order has proven to be the most accurate and scientifically correct method when examining overall stream or watershed health.  This is because creeks with the same Strahler number often hold similar characteristics such as stream width, flow, amount of sediment, and plant and animal life present.  Making accurate comparisons is crucial in understanding the health of our watershed.

Participants place themselves along a sketch of our watershed, in a place of personal significance

On Saturday November 21^st 2009 at the Legion in Eganville, the BRWP Riverwatch Program hosted its second Future Scenarios Workshop.  Participants of this event were those who make a living directly from the land and its natural resources.  Interests represented here included those of forestry, agriculture, first nations, trapping and power generation throughout the Bonneche Valley. The event proved to be quite thought provoking for both BRWP facilitators and attendees.

Lunch at this event featured food that was grown and produced locally.  Hot beverages were available all day which consisted of coffee from the Neat Coffee shop located in Burnstown (who also provided fresh bread), as well as Sacred Blend Tea from The Algonquin Tea Co. A stew was put together by the Legion ladies.  Ingredients included beef from Stone Farms, and potatoes, carrots, and turnip from the gardens of the legion ladies themselves.  An apple crisp was made from apples donated by Dobson Farm outside Cobden, and served with real whipped cream from Brums Dairy.  The Dairy also provided milk, coffee cream, and butter as well. Needless to say, everything was delicious!

Participants were asked to rank major issues and concerns regarding the Bonnechere River Watershed.

At the end of the event, participants left with a renewed sense of connectedness to other individuals whose livelihood depends on the sustainability of the Bonnechere Watershed. As a bonus, locally crafted duck nest boxes were made available to any interested persons.  Installing a duck nest box on your property can help to increase the population of desirable waterfowl species such as Wood Ducks. For more information or to take part in our duck or bluebird nesting box program, please contact the Riverwatch coordinator at riverwatch .

The outcome of this endeavour was four interesting and plausible future scenarios with both positive and negative aspects. These scenarios will be added in with those collected at the Shoreline Resident Future Scenarios Workshop to be further developed upon completion of the final scenarios workshop which will take place in early in the new year. Stay tuned for more information on the Scenario process!

An up-close look at the invasive Chinese Mystery Snail

Finding new and interesting creatures in the watershed is most often a positive and exciting experience.  Sometimes however, the creatures we find turn out to be unwelcome visitors.  Invasive species are any organism that is found in an area where it has not occupied historically.  Most often these organisms are from far away, and arrive here as a result of human activity.  The introduction of an invasive species can prove to be devastating to local food webs and ecosystems.  One example of an invasive species that can be found in the Bonnechere River Watershed is the Chinese Mystery Snail (CMS).

The Chinese Mystery Snail, Cipangopaludina chinensis, is also known as the Chinese vivipara, tanisha, rice snail, Chinese apple snail, or the Asian apple snail.  These gastropods are easily identified as an invader to our watershed by their size.  An adult can reach the length of 65mm (about the size of a walnut or larger), with a shell with 6 or 7 whorls, much larger than any snails native to our area. Their solid colour ranges from light to dark olive green.  Their main source of food is algae, but they have also been known to eat plankton and zooplankton in the Great Lakes.

As their name suggests, these giant snails are native to Southeast Asia.  Presence of this species has been documented as early as 1965 in the Great Lakes, and the early 1900s on the Atlantic coast.  The question then arises, if these snails are naturally found over 9000km away, how is it that they are living on the shores of our lakes and water bodies in parts of North America?  There are several ways this species may have been introduced into our waters.  It is possible that they hitched a ride on boats, in ballast water or in bait buckets.  It is also suspected that some intentional release has occurred in some regions in the past to establish a local supply of snails for the Asian food market.  This species of snail is also quite popular in aquariums as they help to keep them clean.  The live release of aquarium pets (via live dumping or flushing) is another likely way that this invasive makes its way into our watershed.

A Mystery Snail that was found in a local stream earlier this year.

If you’re thinking “so what’s the big deal?  How much harm could a snail really do?”, I’m going to give you a few good reasons why the Chinese Mystery Snail is an unwelcome visitor.  Firstly, these large snails compete with our much smaller native aquatic snails for food and habitat.  Since these snails can multiply quite aggressively, our native species can be quickly outnumbered.  Secondly, the CMS has been known to be a host to various parasites.  One in particular, Echinostoma cinetorchis, has been known to infect humans who have handled these snails.  Lastly, in areas where the Chinese Mystery Snail has overpopulated, they can clog water intake pipes, inhibiting the flow of water.

Dumping your aquarium can have devistating consequences to the environment

There is no specified method of control for the Chinese Mystery Snail.  The measures that have been used to control snail populations in the past are biological control (using species of fish or turtles that feed on snails to control their population) and chemical control (snail-i-cides).  Biological control is risky because the predator species may feed on native species, or begin to overpopulate themselves.  Chemical control is almost impossible to monitor in natural aquatic environments, and are often toxic enough to harm non-target native species.  By far the best method of control for this invasive is prevention.  Please DO NOT release aquarium pets into the natural environment.  What may seem like a humane or kind act can actually cause a multitude of environmental issues.  If you have decided that you no longer wish to keep aquarium pets, be sure to euthanize the animals prior to dumping or flushing them.  It’s the ecologically responsible thing to do.

For more information on the Chinese Mystery Snail, see the following websites:

http://www.iisgcp.org/EXOTICSP/Oriental_Mystery_Snail.htm

http://nis.gsmfc.org/nis_factsheet.php?toc_id=125

For information on other invasive species, check out the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters (O.F.A.H) Invading Species Awareness Program website:  http://www.invadingspecies.com/indexen.cfm

Workshop participants learn about the scenario process from presenter Allyson Quinlan.

On August 15^th 2009, the BRWP’s Riverwatch program held the first of what is to be a series of community engagement workshops focused on drafting up scenarios that represent possible futures of the Bonnechere River Watershed may face.  The event took place at the Sands on Golden Lake and featured guests who reside on or near water throughout the Bonnechere River watershed.

At the beginning of the workshop, attendees were asked to identify a place in the watershed that matters to them most, and then to list their main values related to this place.  Afterwards they were also asked to identify ecosystem services in this region, as well as issues and change drivers.  The most popular responses were then used to create a scenario matrix, which was then used to help draft up possible future scenarios within three different participant groups.  The event was very informative and it was inspiring to share thoughts and ideas with concerned residents of our watershed.  Great thanks are extended to all who participated!

Scenarios were created in small groups and then shared with all in attendance.

Two more scenarios workshops are still to come.  The target group for these will be working landscapes in November, and Youth in February.  Scenarios from this workshop and the two to follow will be used to create scenarios in the spring, which will then be conceptualized by local artists.  In April 2010, a grand affair will be held to showcase these scenarios to the community and invited officials from groups such as local government, municipalities, and hydroelectric power generation, just to name a few.

For more information on these scenario workshops, or to express interest in attending any of our planned events, emails can be directed to riverwatch .

Algonquin Paddle Guide