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.
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.
Ian Cochrane has a family history of forestry and conservation. As the RVCA's new forestry manager, he has fully embraced his calling – bugs and all – to plant more than 200,000 trees a year for a more resilient community, planet and future.
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.
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.
Meet Roy and Carole Robinson: they raise sustainable, grass-fed Scottish highlander beef and grow seasonal vegetables on their farm near Smiths Falls, near the banks of the Rideau River.
The Robinsons founded Seanic Farms in 2003. As they've transitioned the old, dormant farmland into to a more environmentally-friendly operation, they've made great use of the RVCA's landowner stewardship programs, including our Rural Clean Water Grant program.
Like any good legacy, there comes a time when you must take a deep breath and leave it in the hands of the next generation.
That's precisely what Ashton farmers Arn and Jan Snyder will do this summer after 32 years of painstakingly sculpting their land into an environmental haven for people, animals and trees.
