Stream Habitat Creation, BBQ, plus trip to old-fashioned bakery! (6/23/2007)

I am SO excited to organize this event for TOC members because I KNOW everyone is going to have a pile of fun while feeling a huge sense of accomplishment because they’ve made a difference. Plus, there are the amazing apple fritters! :-D

How can I know that this is going to be a great event? Because I have worked with Heather and Amy of the Credit Valley Conservation Authority and the WeCARE Project to plant trees last year, and these two fun, amazing, and organized people made that experience one of the best TOC events in which I’ve ever participated (and that’s no small feat!).

This time, we’ll be giving nature a helping hand by rehabilitating a stream bed and its banks in Erin (a little town in the Caledon area). Sometimes streams and their banks get flattened out and widened by human and animal activity, so the water flowing through it is warmer and has less oxygen. This in turn can kill off fish and other aquatic organisms, promotes the growth of algae, and pollutes the water for birds, animals, and human beings

On this day, we will be working both in the stream and on its banks to return this area back to a more natural state. Hip-waders will be provided to those who are willing and able to get into the water to help out. Others (like me) are welcome to assist on the banks. Shovels, work gloves, and other implements will be provided, but if you have your own, please bring them as well.

Amy and Heather are really great at sharing their knowledge about the environment in an interesting, engaging way. They will explain how our work will improve the local habitat and what wildlife will benefit from it. You may be surprised at how much you will have learned.

Once our work is complete for the day, there will be a complimentary barbeque, and we will no doubt relax as we eat and enjoy looking at the results of our handiwork. (Please include a note in your registration if you have any dietary restrictions.)

Sometime during the course of our time in Erin, we will also stop by the amazing Holtom’s Bakery (established 1946) so you can smell the incredible aromas of baked goods prepared in an old-fashioned way. I highly recommend the apple fritters, which were like a little taste of heaven when we stopped in there last fall at the time of the tree-planting event.

What Lorie and I found at the tree-planting event last year was that it’s one thing to hike or to go camping (which are both great), but neither makes you feel nearly as connected to nature as digging in (literally and metaphorically) and being a part of the solution. I hope you will come be part of our crew!