By Mike Renzella
The Haldimand Press
HALDIMAND—The Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (NPCA) has released its annual report featuring highlights of 2021, as well as a look at what’s ahead.
“In 2021, the NPCA’s Restoration Program supported the Haldimand Stewardship Council in the completion of six projects in Haldimand. The projects resulted in the planting of over 10,000 trees, totaling 6.2 hectares of afforestation,” said Erika Navarro, Communications Specialist for NPCA.
“We participated in the steering committee for and completed review of the Natural Heritage System Study that is informing the new Haldimand County Official Plan. We were happy to partner and be at the table for those discussions,” she added.
The NPCA has also updated their Digital Terrain Model (elevation basemapping) for the entire watershed.
“We also collected building footprints for the Haldimand area, which we have used in the past to estimate how many structures are in the floodplain, for example. Lastly, we updated the Ecological Land Classification Mapping in Haldimand County for our watershed portion, last done in 2010. Haldimand County is welcome and encouraged to use this data that is available for their planning purposes as well,” said Navarro.
One of the NPCA’s most celebrated achievements of 2021 was completing their 2021-2031 Strategic Plan. According to Navarro, “The plan envisions a healthy and vibrant environment with shared greenspace and clean water that sustains life for future generations and prioritizes result-oriented actions to make well-informed decisions.”
Although located outside the county, the NPCA saw record attendance at their four main conservation areas, recording 90,500 paid admissions over 2021.
“We anticipate the same number of visitors as the last couple years and we have not seen a decrease in visitation so far in 2022, even as travel restrictions ease. The great increase in visitation was certainly because of the pandemic and the limited places and activities that the community could partake in. However, since then, it is clear that the community truly values NPCA conservation areas and wants to visit regularly,” said Navarro.
There were no conservation area capital projects in Haldimand, with NPCA instead focusing on upgrades to the water treatment and wastewater system at Binbrook Conservation Area, a new Comfort Station at Long Beach Conservation Area, and the restoration of two historical buildings at St. Johns Centre Conservation Area.
“For 2022, our biggest capital project is an enhancement project at Cave Springs Conservation Area, which is ongoing and set to be completed by end of the year. It includes a new parking area, educational and information signage, as well as new wayfinding system and accessible trail.”
