Nov
02

Meet Rose Fleguel, Eastern Ontario's resident butternut expert

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It was a cold, crisp day in December 2019 when Rosemary (Rose) Fleguel, RVCA's resident butternut expert, pulled up in her truck to meet North Grenville woodlot owner Warren Dool at his 47-acre property. Her mission? To find any and all living and healthy butternut trees - a cause to which she has dedicated the bulk of her long career.  

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Mar
01

A Home on Foley Mountain

A home on Foley Mountain Peri McQuay was gifted an unexpected life on Foley Mountain, as wife of the property's caretaker Barry McQuay.

Living an unexpected life in a public park

Foley Mountain is home to so many creatures: the chipmunks and beavers, the dragonflies and salamanders, the famous grey rat snakes, the red-tailed hawks.

It's home for the Forest School students who, after just a few weeks, feel like part of the ecosystem. It's home for the locals who routinely traverse the same old trails, somehow always finding something new.

But for Peri McQuay, Foley Mountain has been more than a home, more than the place she lived for 30 years, writing and raising her children.

For Peri McQuay, Foley Mountain has been an unexpected and miraculous gift.

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Dec
05

Sheep farmers step up sustainability with help from ALUS, RVCA

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Cait and Kyle White may be sheep farmers, but they're taking a lion's approach when it comes to sustainability.

Earlier this year, the owners of Milkhouse Farm & Dairy in Smiths Falls not only kicked off construction on two acres' worth of new wetlands, but also installed new livestock exclusion fencing, completed a Nutrient Management Plan, began work on a manure storage facility, are replacing their aging well and plan to decommission their existing well.

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Dec
01

Family's wetland donation shores up west Ottawa ecosystem

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It's not very often a 50-acre swath of provincially-significant wetland becomes available in the City of Ottawa – but when it does, the Rideau Valley Conservation Foundation is keen to protect it. 

The Foundation accepted the substantial section of Manion Corners Wetland this fall from siblings Paul Lackner and Colleen Green, who decided their family's natural property – lovingly referred to as "the farm" – belonged in a land trust for perpetual protection. 

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Jul
20

Gator Aid: Deep South decoy deters beachgoing geese

If you spot an alligator lurking near Rideau Ferry beach this summer, don't be alarmed – he isn't here for you.

Unless, of course, you're a Canada Goose.

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May
17

Brewer Pond’s mysterious root wads a sign of maturity

Our little pond is growing up.

This spring, residents in Old Ottawa South have noticed mysterious logs and root wads rising out of Brewer Pond – something they've never witnessed since the RVCA and its partners restored the pond to a functioning wetland in 2014. 

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May
05

Photography exhibit speaks language of the landscape

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When photographer Jon Stuart first visited the Stillwater wetland off Moodie Drive in the early days of the pandemic, he could tell something was a little off.

Tree branches stuck out of the water, but there were no trees nearby. In the distanced towered a lone mature elm tree – an unusual wetland resident. 

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Mar
22

Groundwater: Making the invisible visible

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It's a bright sunny morning on March 22. You've woken up in Eastern Ontario to warming and lengthening days but also to soggy ground, rising creeks and rivers, swollen wetlands, and cold rain in the days before and ahead. 

What does all this water have in common? Groundwater, of course - but you knew that, at least you knew it intuitively in the depths of your watery core. 

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Apr
04

Buttressing the butternut: RVCA welcomes federal partnership

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When Rose Fleguel first surveyed the Canadian Wildlife Service's butternut population at a federally protected site last year, she was surprised to see so many healthy butternut trees.

As a butternut specialist for more than 16 years, rarely had she seen a population so diverse in age and so many individuals relatively free of the deadly fungal canker disease that has nearly wiped this native nut species off the map. 

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Feb
17

Welcome to the Matrix: How we designed to the gold standard of trail accessibility

20220207-200250mike.maryanne.blog2 Accessibility on Baxter's trails includes everyone.

Feb. 17, 2022 – You may already know that Baxter Conservation Area's new boardwalk and bridge will offer the gold standard of universal accessibility. But what is this standard exactly, and how was it created?

That's a question for Marnie Peters, renowned accessibility consultant in the Ottawa Valley. 

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Dec
01

Someone else’s shoes: Cubs take “accessibility hike” in support of Nature For All

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You've heard it before: to understand a person, you must walk a mile in their shoes.

A local Cub Scouts pack did just that recently when they walked – and rolled – in the shoes of people with disabilities at Baxter Conservation Area south of Manotick. 

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Sep
09

From truckload to tote bin: An invasive species success story

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If you've ever been to Voyageur Provincial Park near Hawkesbury, you've seen European Water Chestnut in action. The ornamental pond plant likely hopped a fence nearby, establishing itself in dense mats in the Ottawa River and nearby tributaries around the park more than a decade ago.

Robust removal programs are in place, but getting ahead of it is as hard as the thorny seeds it throws into the riverbed to reproduce. 

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Aug
02

History and ecology intersect at Motts Mills Conservation Area

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Award: Coolest history!

 If the land could talk, imagine its stories.

Thankfully, at Motts Mills Conservation Area we can at least tell you about the past 200 years, and how the historic dam has long shaped the Hutton Marsh wetland and the community it serves. 

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May
19

Buzz in the air as planting begins at Barrhaven pollinator meadow

A 15-acre swath of Hydro Ottawa land will soon be a buzzing metropolis of bees, birds and butterflies as the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority (RVCA) helps plant one of the largest pollinator meadows in Eastern Ontario.

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May
03

Rooted in Partnership: Spotlight on Forests Ontario

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The RVCA's tree planting program has many branches of support, but it's the sturdy trunk of Forests Ontario that holds it all together. 

The provincial not-for-profit manages the 50 Million Tree Program, which provides two-thirds of RVCA's tree planting funding each year to help private landowners undertake largescale afforestation (the creation of new forests) for just pennies per tree.

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Jan
26

Winter wetlands: what's happening under the ice?

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Compared to the thrum of a thriving summer wetland, winter wetlands may seem as silent as outer space.

But they're not empty, nor are they vacant – life's just a little slower, a little less showy, in an ice-covered marsh or swamp.

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Jun
06

Butternut recovery at risk under Endangered Species Act changes

A new batch of butternut seedlings have been sent into the world to help pull the endangered tree back from the brink – but this spring's lot may have been the last.

Landowners flocked to the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority's specialized cold storage facility on Dilworth Road this spring to pick up their baby butternut trees, carefully grown at the Ferguson Forestry Centre from resilient seeds harvested across Eastern Ontario.

Butternut trees in Canada and the US have been decimated by the butternut canker, an incurable fungal disease scientists believe originated in Asia. 

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Nov
01

Meet Hal Stimson, long-time inspector and enforcement officer

There's a misconception out there that your local conservation authority is out to stop all development. But in reality the RVCA approves more than 90% of the applications it receives; our regulations inspectors and planners work with applicants to come up with plans that can suit the property owner, the provincial regulations and the watershed all at once. 

Not convinced? Meet Hal Stimson, long-time inspector with the RVCA:

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Oct
18

Meet your friendly, neighbourhood septic inspector: Adam Dillon

The RVCA spearheads a huge range of watershed management activities, and one of them is keeping harmful contaminants out of our drinking water through septic inspections. Not sure what that means? Meet Adam Dillon, your friendly, neighbourhood regulations inspector, to find out:

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  1499 Hits
Sep
27

Clean water grants save money for residents, farmers

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Simon Lunn knew he needed to drill a new well and decommission his old one. What he didn't figure was that the conservation authority would hand him $1,000 towards his costs.

Mr. Lunn, a long-time Smiths Falls resident near the Smiths Falls Golf and Country Club, received the funds through the Rural Clean Water Grants program, which covers up to 90 per cent of costs for projects that protect water resources in the watershed.

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Contact Us

Address:
Rideau Valley Conservation Authority
3889 Rideau Valley Drive
Manotick, Ontario K4M 1A5

Phone:
613-692-3571, 1-800-267-3504

Email:

Hours:

Regular Hours: Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Member of: conservation ontario