Nature in Your Neighbourhood Project Launched

Post date: May 13, 2011 2:07:57 PM

The Ottawa River Institute and the Bonnechere River Watershed Project, held the launch of our new collaborative project ‘Nature in Your Neighbourhood’ on Friday May 20^th at the Rotary Park in Eganville ON.

Special guests at the launch were John Yakabuski, MPP, Bonnechere Valley Township Mayor Jennifer Murphy, Killaloe, Hagarty and Richards Township Mayor Janice Visneski, and Guy Jamieson, representative of the Ontario Trillium Foundation. The launch also featured brief talks by Shauna Babcock, E.D. of KidActive, and natural history expert and Chair of the Ottawa Valley Tourist Association, Chris Hinsperger.

Our Ontario Trillium Foundation funded ‘Nature in Your Neighbourhood’ project will promote outdoor recreation and physical activity while encouraging stewardship and conservation of the natural environment on which we all depend.

This eighteen month project will identifying outdoor sites, particularly those close to communities within the Bonnechere River watershed; Renfrew, Eganville, Golden Lake, Killaloe, and Round Lake among others. The location of the sites and information about them will be published in a ‘Nature in Your Neighbourhood’ guide that will be made available to residents and tourists to the area. Over the duration of the project we will also be offering guided field trips to some of the sites, and will be producing a ‘Nature in Your Neighbourhood’ cablevision series with TVCogeco to complement and promote the use of the sites by youth, adults, families, school and community groups for outdoor learning, physical activity and awareness about nature and ecosystem health.

This project invites community input, so please feel free to contact us if you have something you'd like to share. info@ottawariverinstitute.ca or chair@bonnechereriver.ca