Environment and safety

Coastal stewardship program expands to more shoreline communities in 2020

Beach front

In 2019 the Green Ribbon Champion program activities included shoreline restoration work in Point Clark that replaced non-native plants with native vegetation, reclaimed disturbed areas and began restoring dunes.

August 6, 2020

Goderich, Ont.

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Beach front

In 2019 the Green Ribbon Champion program activities included shoreline restoration work in Point Clark that replaced non-native plants with native vegetation, reclaimed disturbed areas and began restoring dunes.

Building on the success from the Green Ribbon Champion (GRC) in Huron-Kinloss in 2019, the Lake Huron Centre for Coastal Conservation will expand their coastal stewardship and education program to Kincardine and Saugeen Shores in 2020.

The GRC is a coastal stewardship and education program that aims to preserve, protect, and enhance coastal ecosystems though education and restoration. The program educates local shoreline residents to care for the shoreline by improving ecological literacy on beach-dune dynamics, ecosystem management and promoting community building.

“Great Lakes dunes are considered one of the rarest and most fragile ecosystems in Canada and are an important coastal ecosystem on Lake Huron,” noted Erinn Lawrie, Executive Director for the Lake Huron Centre for Coastal Conservation. “We are thankful for the support from our sponsors, including the Nuclear Waste Management Organization, as we expand this program to more communities along the shores of Lake Huron.”

In 2020, through a series of workshops, site visits, and restoration events, residents of Huron-Kinloss, Kincardine, and Saugeen Shores will learn to prepare stewardship plans for their property and will be trained to implement dune restoration on their own waterfront.

This project expands on a successful effort that began in Huron-Kinloss in 2019. Residents in the shoreline communities of Point Clark, Lurgan Beach/Blair’s Grove, and Bruce Beach were given the opportunity to participate in the GRC. Their work resulted in 23 shoreline properties being involved in restoration activities which involved planting Marram grass, removal of invasive species, installation of sand fencing, as well as education and restoration programming focused on shoreline management.

“The Green Ribbon Champion program in Huron-Kinloss has been successful at bringing together residents and beach associations to participate, and promote quality dune stewardship within our lakeshore community,” said Mike Fair, Director of Community Services, Township of Huron-Kinloss. “The high lake levels in recent years has solidified the importance of the Green Ribbon Champion program’s long term benefits of shoreline erosion. The program will hopefully provide residents with the tools and knowledge to improve the health of our lake and the resiliency of our coastal ecosystems for our children, and generations to come!”

For more information on the GRC and helpful resources on shoreline management, please visit: https://www.lakehuron.ca/grc.


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