H2O Chelsea
H2O Chelsea is a community-based water research and monitoring program developed collaboratively by the Municipality of Chelsea, the University of Ottawa's Institute of the Environment and Action Chelsea for the Respect of the Environment (ACRE).
Our goal is to develop a better understanding of ground and surface water resources in Chelsea that will inform municipal planning and management decisions.
The project is volunteer-driven, relying on the commitment of over one hundred local residents, municipal employees and University of Ottawa professors and students. In 2007, the project will be working with other communities to assist them in implementing water research and education programs in their region.
Please visit the project website: www.h2ochelsea.ca for more information and learn how you can get involved.
ARORA Project
This habitat restoration project involves the re-naturalization of a riparian area damaged by commercial activities on the west bank of the Gatineau River, just north of the Alonzo-Wright Bridge in Chelsea.
The project's name "ARORA" - was constructed from the Latin, "ara" (refuge) and "ora" shoreline describes the riparian buffer zone (ie. the zone adjacent to the shore).
The project site, owned by Hydro-Québec, is part of a 300-acre forest with magnificent conifers, some of them centuries old. As the only intact fragment of an ancient ecosystem that once existed on the shores of the Gatineau River, the forest serves to prevent erosion along the river's steep banks. It is also a vital buffer zone that borders the largest spawning grounds in the world of a threatened freshwater fish, the river redhorse (Moxostoma carinatum).
Extensive research of the site's aquatic fauna by Dr. François Chapleau of the University of Ottawa has confirmed the presence of at least 39 other fish species, including the channel darter (Percina copeland) and the margined madtom (Noturus insignis), which are also listed as species at risk.
In its barren, deforested state, the project site is highly vulnerable to soil erosion, threatening the habitat of the river redhorse, channel darter, and margined madtom, which require clean spawning grounds to survive.
Our project involves the planting of native trees, and shrubs in order to stabilize the soils, as well as to improve the visual quality of the site.
Planting at the site started in May 2006, and since then we have planted over 1000 trees and shrubs, as well as re-contoured the site to prevent erosion from storm run-off. We will complete the planting at the site in the spring of 2008.
To ensure the long term success of the project, we have begun a maintenance plan that includes regularly patrolling the site, weeding, irrigating plantings in times of drought, replacing dead and diseased plants, and removing alien plants species.
The Chelsea Arora Project enjoys widespread support in our community. Many volunteers have offered their expertise in such areas as terrestrial and aquatic ecology, conservation biology, hydrology, landscape design, fundraising, and communications. All the planting to date has been done by community volunteers.
Financial support; TD-Canada Trust, Mountain Equipment Co-op, the Canadian Wildlife Federation, Environment Canada, and the Municipality of Chelsea have all provided support for this project.
Project partners include ACRE, Friends of the Gatineau River, Chelsea Elementary School, École Grand-Boisé and Chelsea United Church.
Joujoutheque Chelsea Toy Library
A project originally conceived by a committee of ACRE since 2004, the Chelsea Toy Library has been promoting the principle of reducing our environmental footprint by sharing rather than owning toys.
The benefits of this are several: parents can borrow, instead of buy; toys are given "nine lives", and contributions to landfill are reduced. The library's purchasing policy also emphasizes wooden materials and non-electronic toys.
An expanding collection of quality, new and gently used toys currently caters to almost 100 member families, many of whom socialize informally through their interest in the library and its associated Friday morning drop-in playgroup.
The Toy Library is run entirely by volunteers and relies on community members to maintain its numerous functions. These include toy acquisition and maintenance, fundraising, finances, and community liaison.
Membership is renewable annually and costs $35 ($30 for ACRE members). It entitles each child in a family to borrow two toys and a puzzle for three weeks.
Open:
Fridays and Saturdays, 10-11.30 a.m. in the Chelsea Community Centre.
To volunteer, make a donation, or for more information contact:
Nathan Kline at
819-827-5839.
Nature Conservation in Chelsea
Many residents choose Chelsea and the surrounding areas because of the natural setting that is provided. There are many factors that define natural setting. For some of us, it is the birds that visit our feeders. For others, it is the ability to walk on hiking trails close to our homes. Clean water for swimming and drinking, deer, wildflowers, interior birds, bear tracks, all these and others combine to create the country setting that is special to this area.
However, maintaining our natural setting extends beyond just managing our private land parcels. What we enjoy is dependant on healthy natural systems and we need to protect the land that supports these systems. As Chelsea further intensifies the density of development on the landscape, it is necessary to develop a better plan for conservation priorities within our municipal boundaries.
Working for a Pesticide-free Chelsea
ACRE was created following Dr. Nicole Bruinsma's screening of the film Exposure in the Spring of 1998, which lead to the successful campaign for the introduction of a pesticide by-law in Chelsea. Several of ACRE's founding members were members of the Chelsea Municipal Sub -Committee whose task it was to draft a Municipal By-law (Chelsea municipal By-law), to regulate and largely restrict the cosmetic use of pesticides. Since the by-law was passed, ACRE's focus has been on continuing education and outreach. Working both with and independently of, the municipality of Chelsea, ACRE has sought to inform the local population, other communities and governments at all levels of the dangers of pesticide use and alternatives through education and advocacy. The following is a Speech by Dr. Scott Findlay for the presentation of the CFCF/CAPE Nicole Bruinsma Award in Montreal November 2002.
Golf courses
Members of ACRE are working with the Municipality and representatives of Chelsea's two golf courses, on a municipal sub-committee to devise means to continue reductions in pesticide use on the courses. To date significant reductions have been made: no pesticides are applied to fairways and pesticide applications on the greens have been significantly reduced. ACRE is still committed to a total phase out of pesticides.
The following are links to documents relevant to a Pesticide-free Chelsea
Grassroots Detox in Chelsea: A story of Environmental Activism
Grass height By-law - rescinded by Chelsea municipal council 2001
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