New services offered to moraine landowners

Metroland- Durham Region
Apr. 5, 2006

[Return to News Room]

UXBRIDGE -- New services will soon be available to select landowners within the Oak Ridges Moraine, thanks to recent funding.

The Oak Ridges Moraine Foundation, along with project partners, recently injected $460,000 into ‘Caring for the Moraine Project’, which will see major conservation and environmental protection groups come together to develop a strategic plan and conservation services for landowners at specific places in the moraine.

The new project will offer advice to landowners on land management and stewardship, protecting drinking water sources, and how to continually improve property value while protecting natural features. The program is initially focused on three particularly sensitive areas of the moraine, such as forest tracts and wetlands. The Durham Headwater area, located near the centre of the moraine and mostly in Durham Region, is included.

“More than 90 per cent of the moraine is privately owned. If we are going to protect this vital area, we need to make it easier for landowners to find the right information and the best people to talk to about their properties,” said Michael Scott, executive director of the Oak Ridges foundation. “This project is a portal, through which moraine landowners can access the resources, experience and expertise of almost two dozen organizations, ranging from conservation authorities, Trout Unlimited, stewardship councils, the Wetland Habitat Fund, the Nature Conservancy of Canada, or the Oak Ridges Moraine Land Trust.”

Project representatives will be contacting property owners in the priority areas to make them aware of new services. Landowners can also contact Kate Potter at 905-579-0411 ext. 106 or e-mail kpotter (at) cloca.com. More information can be found on the foundation’s website at www.ormf.com.

[Return to News Room]