Summary

The Watershed Stewardship Project will inform private landowners about the ecological significance of their properties and expose them to options about land stewardship, ecological restoration and long-term protection.

Introducing landowners to the LGRLT will begin a relationship that will strengthen the conservation movement.

Our Objectives:

1. Establishing contact with landowners in environmentally significant areas throughout the watershed, and protecting properties through handshake stewardship agreements, while restoring habitat on their lands where opportunities arise.
   
   
2. Restoration of forest, meadow and riparian
   habitat at Ruthven Park Estate.
   

Our Time Frame:

July 2001 to July 2003

Details of Objectives:

1. To carry out a contact program within the area of interest to provide landowners with information on the importance of their properties, and literature on how the LGRLT can work with them to protect the land and restore fish and wildlife habitats, where necessary.
   
   In doing this, we plan on following the model of the Hamilton Harbour Watershed Stewardship Program, where handshake landowner stewardship agreements were combined with active habitat restoration works.
   
   
2. In order to elevate the credibility and profile of the LGRLT with other landowners in the watershed, we wish to undertake a habitat restoration project on the Ruthven lands, which would improve those lands and serve as a demonstration site to encourage other landowners to follow suit.
   
   The Ruthven Habitat Restoration Project will involve reforesting former agricultural fields, and creating buffers along watercourses running through the property. The ecological demonstration project will employ the best management practices and will exhibit leading edge conservation stewardship.