Welcome to the Hunter-Clyde Watershed Group website.
Our community group was formed to preserve and restore the health of the Hunter River Watershed in North Central Queens County, Prince Edward Island, Canada. We address ecological issues so that the watershed can continue to enhance and support the communities and the local farming, fishing and tourism industries.
Click here to see what was achieved this summer
Announcements
Watershed Alliance meeting
Two of us attended the PEI Watershed Alliance meeting on 16th January. There were representatives from watershed groups across the Island and in the morning we debated and adopted by-laws for the group. In the afternoon, HRA consultants led a session to develop a vision for watershed management across PEI. The vision statement said that watersheds, and the environment in general, should be considered first when making decisions at any level from community to provincial, and there was agreement that we had made a great start to the process. We will shortly be meeting with HRA again, along with other central watershed groups, to provide them with more input.
posted January 25, 2010
Strategic Watershed Plan for PEI
The Provincial Government has engaged HRA Consultants to facilitate the production of a Strategic Plan for PEI watershed management. We will be starting this process at the Watershed Alliance AGM later this month. Here is their description or the process: "At the end of the strategic planning process there will be a common vision for watershed management on PEI, one that has been created together by community watershed groups and government. Another outcome of the process will be a strategic plan that will define the roles of the watershed groups and government in the management of watersheds in the future. Key strategic goals will also be identified that will hopefully guide government and each watershed organization in their own planning".
posted January 8, 2010
You told us what is important in your watershed
See the results of our watershed survey - not surprisingly, drinking water quality is your biggest concern. Your support for what we are doing is also evident. See the survey results here.
posted December 3, 2009
Our community buys water tanks for villages in Kenya
In March, your watershed group, along with other organizations, hosted a 'Walk for Water' event at two of the schools in our watershed. The children raised enough funds to buy two water tanks for Kenyan villages, there is a picture of one tank here.
posted November 23, 2009
Our government funding is safe for now
After months of negotiations between the Provincial Government and the Watershed Alliance, watershed funding has been fixed at last year's level. Although the news is cautiously welcomed, we feel that much time has been spent and we are now back where we were a year ago. On a positive note, the province has engaged a consultant to work with watershed groups and government departments to come up with a Watershed Strategy for PEI. Your watershed group will play a role in building that strategy .
posted November 23, 2009
Hunter River Pond restoration announced!
Minister Brown announced at a meeting in Hunter River that there will be funding for dredging and restoring the village pond. This is great news. Full details here.
posted November 5, 2009
Beavers in our watershed
Beavers need to be managed in some areas of our watershed. We are putting together a Beaver Management Plan, and welcome your comments. The draft plan can be found here. We also have a draft Fish Habitiat Management Plan, which can be found here.
posted October 6, 2009
More funding allocated for 2009
We just received more funding from the Provincial Government, for which we are all grateful. This money was originally allocated to watershed groups in the budget, but has been some time arriving. We are looking forward to re-instating our original plan of work using this new money.
posted July 9, 2009
Bring your well water for Nitrate testing
On Saturday July 11th 2009, there was a well water testing clinic for residents the Wheatley River & Hunter Clyde Watersheds, held from 9 am to 2 pm at Wheatley River Hall, Rackham's Lane, Wheatley River.
Presented by the Wheatley River Improvement Group, Hunter Clyde Watershed Group in conjunction with the P.E.I. Department of Environment, Energy, and Forestry. We plan to do another clinic next year.
posted July 7, 2009
Spring work-day a great success
With the help of the Blue Heron Sea Cadets, we planted 250 trees in a wetland on the corner of the Line Road and Route 13 in Mayfield. The site was perfect and the weather couldn't have been better. Afterwards, we had a barbecue courtesty of the cadets. This wetland is an excellent location for further planting during this and subsequent years. See the 'Photos' page for some pictures.
posted June 6, 2009
Land Use Commission looking for your views
The Commission on the Land and Local Governance is looking for your views. Their website has more details. We have requested to give our input to the commission, so please let us know if you have any concerns you'd like us to raise on your behalf. I have made a personal submission, which can be found here.
posted March 22, 2009
Town Hall on Water, hosted by Shawn Murphy
On March 18th, a lively discussion and some eye-opening presentations took place in The Guild. The subject was water. Click here to find out what happened.
posted March 19, 2009
New Buffer Zone regulations
New buffer zone rules have been created. Farmers who are still following the old rules will not be penalized this year. Here is a sheet explaining the new rules.
To find out more about buffer zone regulation contact the Watercourse Alteration Supervisor at (902)368-5052.
posted March 30, 2009
Walk For Water
This year, students at L'école Saint-Augustine and Gulf Shore Consolidated schools marked World Water Day by walking in solidarity with children in Africa. With the support of the Wheatley River and Hunter-Clyde watershed groups, in partnership with Farmers Helping Farmers and the Sierra Club, they took part in a "Walk for Water" on Friday morning, March 27th on the wooded trails at Gulf Shore School in North Rustico. See more information.
posted March 15, 2009
Presentation to the government - looking for more funding
In January, your watershed group joined with a number of other watershed groups to make a presentation to the government. We stressed the importance of watershed planning and management, and made a case for using the beverage deposit money to fund watershed activities. The presentation was well received. This presentation is one of the initiatives that has come about because of the formation of the new watershed coalition. The full text can be found here.
ALUS Program launched - farmers are paid to take land out of production
The Alternative Land Use Services program has been launched by the provincial government. As of 16th January 2009, farmers and landowners can apply to be reimbursed for leaving ecologically valuable land uncultivated. Here is a guide and application form.
First Stewardship Plan published
During the winter months, Michael Willcock undertook community consultations and produced a first Stewardship Plan for the watershed. This is a document which we will be building on over the coming years. The document can be viewed here. It is a large document and will take a minute to open with a high-speed connection, don't try it with dial up!
Trees In Trust
This new PEI environmental organisation has been set up to raise funds for charitable land trusts, including the Island Nature Trust, so that they can save old growth forest. By making a donation, you can secure a mapped piece of forest forever. It makes a great gift. http://www.treesintrust.com/
Need any trees planting or your brook clearing?
We are looking for places to work next summer. Let us know if you would like some trees planting or if you have a length of brook on which we could work. We can get 3 foot tall trees from the nursery in various acadian species.
The Hunter-Clyde Watershed Group (HCWG) is a community run group that is focused on the well-being of the Hunter or Clyde River in the New Glasgow, Rustico and Hunter River area. Our goals are to improve the health of the watershed’s ecosystem, encourage community involvement and support the local economy. Our group started in 2000. Currently we are funded through local memberships and from private, provincial and federal funding programs.
Students and volunteers perform fieldwork during the summer months. Much of the work consists of tree planting, building brush mats, clearing debris, surface-water testing and remedial work on beaver dams and other obstructions. Other projects are based on a site assessment, such as rock pools for fishways and enhancing spawning sites. We also attend public events to educate the public, build bat and swallow boxes and undertake other tasks as the needs arise.
Our educational work includes maintaining a comprehensive website, presentations to schools and other community groups, sitting on various committees and holding meetings in the community. Our close liaison with farmers, fishers, tourist operators and landowners enables us to respond to and address their concerns. Our employment of around four local students each year helps to produce engaged young environmentalists who become the stewards of the future.
The continual development and refinement of a Stewardship Plan is crucial to the success of our group. This year a Fish Habitat Management Plan was started, and a Beaver Management Plan is underway. These will soon become part of our Stewardship Plan.
In 2009 we started a program of large sediment trap construction and we have begun to investigate the possible solutions to the issues facing the two big ponds in our watershed. Our plans and our community involvement are key to the success of these larger projects.
If you would like to get involved, contact someone on our who's who page. We'd love to have you as a member, membership information is below the map.
Click here to see what was achieved in 2008 and previous years.
Minutes
The minutes of previous meetings are available here.
Membership of the group is $10 per year for an individual and $25 for a family. Corporate and municipal membership is $100 per year. The names of corporate members are displayed on this website.
We have put together a page of links to relevant PEI and Canadian government sites, other watershed groups and other relevant information.
The Hunter-Clyde Watershed Group and all people who live in, work in, or visit the area would like to thank our corporate sponsors for their generous support:
Maritime Construction
Outside Expeditions
Highfield Construction
Toombs Plumbing & Heating
Blue Bay Farms Ltd
R W Woodworking
Hunter River Pharmacy
RBC Royal Bank
Chez Yvonne's Restaurant
St. Lawrence Motel
Cavendish Tourist Mart
Anne's Windy Poplars Cottages
North Rustico Home Hardware
Rustico Auto Service
PEI Preserve Co Ltd
New Glasgow Lobster Suppers
Gerard Blanchard General Trucking
Rosewood Residence
Community of Hunter River
Atlantic Agritech Inc
New Glasgow WI
Stella Maris Credit Union
The Country House Inn
New Glasgow Inn
E W Scott Dickieson Law Office
Bright River Mill
Without the support of the PEI Wildlife Conservation Fund, the Provincial Government and the Federal Government, we would be unable to undertake our summer work program and we thank these organizations on behalf of all directors, employees, members and residents.
We also thank the many individual and family members for their continued support.
The bylaws of the Hunter-Clyde Watershed group can be found here.
Meetings of the group follow the Democratic Rules of Order, which can be found here.
This website is managed using http://www.editme.com/. It's the perfect way to host a community website.