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It was a whirlwind, 15-stop tour, Friday morning (June 18), as about 50 people boarded a school bus to view, first-hand, the work of the Pine River Watershed Initiative Network (PRWIN).

The event was an appreciation day for the landowners, sponsors, Conservation Authorities, provincial and federal ministries, beach associations, the township, and numerous organizations that have helped out with projects to provide clean water and a healthy eco-system within the Pine River Watershed.

The PRWIN began doing projects in the spring of 2006 and now has completed 35 projects with the co-operation of 31 landowners. More than 120,000 trees have been planted, five cattle-crossings have been installed, and exclusion-fencing and alternative water sources have been provided when necessary.

The tour began at the farm of Don and Cathy Farrell where Doug Brown of the PRWIN welcomed everyone, thanking  those who have given their money, time and support for the many projects in the Pine River Watershed.

He said in the 1990s, residents began to notice the poorer water quality at the mouth of the Pine River. "We thought it would be worthwhile to get together and do something about it," he said.

They enlisted the help of Geoff Peach of the Lake Huron Centre for Coastal Conservation, and the Saugeen Valley Conservation Authority (SVCA), and then in 2000, created PRWIN, with assistance from many government agencies, sponsors and landowners.

The projects began in 2006, with numerous groups and organizations helping to plant trees. With government funding, the PRWIN was able to hire co-ordinator Adrienne Mason who has now taken on the project workload.

The PRWIN meets once per month and has completed about a dozen projects per year since 2006.

From the Farrells, the bus, with its tour guide Anne Eadie of the PRWIN, headed for the farm of Brian and Debbie MacKay to see a cattle-crossing, exclusion-fencing and tree-planting, all done in 2008-09.

MacKay gave up about eight acres of land to allow planting of 6,000 trees, plus the cattle-crossing which is a cement pad running along a slope down to the bottom of the river and up the other side. The river is fenced on each side of the cattle-crossing.

Once free of the cattle disturbances, the river can rejuvenate itself within a year or two, said Eadie.

The next stop was a tree-planting project on the property of Dave and Valerie Gibson, done in 2009. This tree corridor provides a natural stretch of green that catches the run-off and filters it. Besides improving water quality, it also provides a wildlife habitat.

The farm of Bob and Lisa Blackwell has two cattle-crossings, exclusion-fencing, and tree-planting, done in 2008-09. The gully was badly eroded so it will be interesting to see how quickly it is restored, said Eadie.

From there, it was on to the farm of Sam and Wanda Snobelen which has exclusion-fencing and was the site of the 2010 volunteer planting of 2,000 trees. A wetland restoration project will also be done here, to hold water inland.

The next stop was quite interesting as it was the site of a nitrate filter in the Clark Creek municipal drain. Four nitrate filters were installed in the fall of 2007, and a professor from the University of Waterloo is monitoring the results, said Eadie. So far, those results show some reduction in the nitrates. The filters work best in the summer.

"We need to collect data for a few more years to see if the filters work," Eadie said. "Our dream is to get a sequence of filters in the drains so the water is cleaned up before it reaches the river."

Each unit is installed by hollowing out a spot in the drain, laying down a filter cloth and covering it with wood chips. The water runs through the wood chips and they filter out the nitrates. Check out the PRWIN website at www.pineriverwatershed.ca to see a photo progression of how the nitrate filters were installed.

Cost to install the filters was $4,000 each.

The farm of Glenn and Anne Boyd showed a project that was completed more than 20 years ago as part of a government initiative, the Woodland Improvement Act Agreement.

Eight thousand trees were planted on the side hills and in the low-lying areas along the river at a total cost of $2,400. The Boyds' cost was $224.

"The whole area could have looked like this if those government programs had continued," said Eadie.

The next stop was the Pine River Cheese Factory for a tour through the viewing gallery.

Wayne Lawrence, plant supervisor, told the group that the whey, from processing the milk into cheese, is put into a tank and the fat is removed to make whey butter. The whey, itself, is then put into a tank and sent to a pig farm for feed.

Pine River Cheese is well-known for its specialty cheese, including caramelized onion, salt and vinegar curd, chocolate cheese, and cheese spreads.

The tour continued along the farm of Peter Walden where six acres are planted in trees, then Jim and Elaine Walden's farm where 3,500 trees have been planted near the forks of the Pine River and Royal Oak Creek.

The SVCA water testing site is on the Pine River near the bridge on Lake Range Drive.

The group then stopped at the mouth of the Pine River at Lurgan Beach, on the shores of Lake Huron.

Gord Cale said that the river is kept open and clean by the Pine River Boat Club.

During the drive back up to Lake Range Drive, Jo-Anne Harbinson of the SVCA said that agency received $19,900 through the Ontario Community Environmental Fund for a one-year study to collect data from the Pine River and Clark Creek that will help with research on the relationship between land-use and land-cover in the watershed areas.

The study will provide important biological information and water chemistry data for these two watercourses to help understand the concerns of the local community regarding poor water quality and algae growth in this agricultural-rural area.

Exclusion-fencing along the Pine River on Brian MacKay's farm

Anne Eadie (R) of the PRWIN and members of the group stand on the cattle-crossing at Brian MacKay's farm

The nitrate filter on the Clark Creek municipal drain is difficult to see under the water

At the mouth of the Pine River, the water flows into Lake Huron

Members of the tour group check out the beautiful beach along the Lake Huron coastline, just north of the mouth of the Pine River

Depending on the results, the study could lead to targeted restoration work to improve water quality, said Harbinson.

The group saw the tree-planting project on Don Cass' property, done in 2009, with 3,800 pine and spruce trees on three acres. The Bruce Beach Golf Course is behind it, maintained by the Bruce Beach Association.

The remaining projects included the first one done in 2006 - a cattle-crossing, exclusion-fencing, and alternative water sources - on the farm of John and Jane Elliott, plus tree-planting in 2007; as well as similar work on the farm of Dan Boyd; and the farm of Dan and Jen Middelkamp - also a pilot project in 2006.

The tour ended at the home of Don and Cathy Farrell where there have been trees planted and exclusion-fencing in 2007 and 2008.

Following lunch, the group was invited to tour the dairy farm of Jan Prehn.

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Tuesday, June 22, 2010