The Don River Watershed Community Participation
The Don Watershed Council
The Don Watershed Regeneration Council is a watershed-wide advisory committee comprised of elected officials, as well as representatives from the general public, municipalities, stakeholder agencies and environmental groups. The Council is responsible for facilitating the implementation of the actions advocated in the Don Watershed Planning document, Forty Steps to a New Don, 1994.
Community empowerment is a fundamental principle behind each and every TRCA Watershed Management Strategy. Under the TRCA approach, communities become the driving force for protecting and regenerating the watershed. The diverse and inclusive nature of the Don Council and its membership ensure that the Don Watershed Management Strategy is implemented according to this first principle.
Major Accomplishments of the Don Council
Established in 1995, the Don Council has already contributed to an impressive list of accomplishments including:
- The development of the new Don River Watershed Plan, approved in September 2009.
- Creation of watercourse crossing signs installed along major roads crossing the Don and its tributaries in Toronto.
- The modification or removal of five weirs to allow for fish passage - leading to the first large scale migration of salmon in over 100 years.
- Holding dozens of community events to celebrate stewardship and educate people on Don issues.
- Completion of the Don Valley Brick Works project in the Lower Don, and many other regeneration projects watershed-wide including: Little German Mills Creek in Markham, The Bartley Smith Greenway in Vaughan, and Milne Hollow in Toronto.
- Provision of community leadership on environmental issues such as the Oak Ridges Moraine, the City of Toronto Official Plan and the York region Greening Strategy.
Tell us what your community or environmental organization has been working on!!
Your help is needed to create an accurate and up-to-date inventory of past and ongoing stewardship and restoration efforts undertaken within the Don River watershed. If your group has lead a planting, garbage clean-up, environmental education/awareness program, stream rehabilitation project etc, then we want to hear from you!! The information you share will allow us to quantify and report on progress made in the regeneration of the Don watershed and will provide valuable information that will help priority setting for future monitoring and planning efforts in the Don. We are particularly interested in projects undertaken since January 2004.
Please click to download the Don Watershed Registry of Accomplishments questionnaire, to help you provide us with the necessary information. Please use one form for each project completed and provide as many details as you can. Completed questionnaires can be returned to the attention of Amy Thurston, athurston@trca.on.ca or by fax at 416-667-6278.
If you would like to know how you can get involved or volunteer, please click here or for more information please contact Dash Paja at the Environmental Volunteer Network at dpaja@trca.on.ca.
