About the MTM Project
Monitoring the Moraine (MTM) is a collaborative
project between Citizens’ Environment Watch (CEW), STORM
Coalition (Save the Oak Ridges Moraine), and Centre for Community
Mapping (COMAP). It is designed to engage and sustain community
volunteers in science, stewardship, monitoring and decision-making
on the Oak Ridges Moraine. The project is supported by the Oak
Ridges Moraine Foundation, George Cedric Metcalf Charitable Foundation,
and Ecological Monitoring and Assessment Network (EMAN), Environment
Canada... [read more]
What's New
Check Your Watershed Day
 Celebrate your Watershed with CEW on Saturday July 19, 2008! Check Your Watershed Day is an annual, one day event where you can get your feet wet and learn first hand about your watershed. For more information on how you can get involved, click here.
It’s here, It’s here!
 The much anticipated 2007 Status Report on the Implementation of the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan (ORMCP): A Look at New Infrastructure Projects is now available in both hard copy and on line.
Prepared for MTM by Save the Oak Ridges Moraine Coalition, this year’s report focuses on new infrastructure projects on the moraine. The approach was to conduct an inventory of new infrastructure projects (roads, water, sewage and utilities) that have triggered environmental assessments (EAs) per section 41 of the ORMCP. Such projects were focused on due to their potential cumulative effect on the quality and quantity of the moraine’s ground and surface water, as well as the associated incremental loss of the moraine’s natural heritage system. This report will provide updates on information from the 2006 Status Report (such as municipal conformity, wellhead protection policies, watershed planning, etc.) as well as a ecological monitoring update from Citizens’ Environment Watch.
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The Moraine in Focus Photo Contest is Back!!!
 Dust off your camera and click your way across the Oak Ridges Moraine for the first annual Moraine in Focus Photo Contest. Organized by the Monitoring the Moraine (MTM) and Caring for the Moraine (CMP) projects, this year the theme of the contest is “The Moraine Through My Eyes.”
The contest is designed to encourage the exploration and appreciation of the Oak Ridges Moraine by its residents and visitors and to raise awareness of this important geographical feature.
Click here for details about the 2008 contest.
Click here to view the 2007 winning images, as well as the honourable mentions.
Click here for a complete list of the winners.
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Moraine Watch Manual
The long-awaited policy monitoring manual, Moraine Watch: A Guide to Monitoring Municipal Land Use Planning on the Oak Ridges Moraine, is now available.
- Click here to download the enitre Moraine Watch Manual [1.8 MB pdf]
- Click here to download the Moraine Watch Checklist [96 KB PDF]
The Moraine Watch Manual is a how-to guide for community members to monitor land use planning activity and the performance of their municipal government on moraine-related planning. The manual includes the Moraine Watch Checklist – a step-by-step worksheet for evaluating planning applications, as well as detailed background information on land-use planning and legislation relevant to the moraine.
For more information, click here. |
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Recent Additions To This Website
Tree Identification Presentation [2 mb pdf]
Tree Identification Book [4 mb pdf]
These documents will assist viewers identify trees found within the Long Sault Conservation Area. Both the presentation and booklet review tree identification basics using buds, twigs, leaves and bark.
Recent Events
Check Your Watershed Day
Summary Reports reports from past Check Your Watershed Days are now available:
2007 Report
[418 kb pdf]
2006 Report [1.16 mb pdf]
170 people + 3 watersheds + 1 day = tons of fun.
On Saturday, July 21, 2007, over 170 people were out checking the health of the Duffins Creek, Oshawa Creek, and the Ganaraska River watersheds. Volunteers documented the flow conditions of small streams at stream crossings across the watersheds.
Regional Councillor Colleen Jordan (Durham & Ajax) & Councillor Joanne Dies (Ajax) measure wetted depth of a small stream.
Photo courtesy of J.Nakanishi.
In total, 682 square kilometers were covered and over 400 sites were visited. All of this work was done within a span of four hours. This information will be used to inform how those watersheds will be managed in the future.
In addition to the vast amount of data collected, it was also a great social and learning opportunity. One volunteer said “[i]t was a great time outdoors, and a chance to learn more about the environment”.
A huge thank you to all of the event partners and participants for making this day an unqualified success! And special thanks to our funders (the Oak Ridges Moraine Foundation, the George Cedric Metcalf Foundation, the Ontario Trillium Foundation), and local sponsors (Town of Ajax, City of Oshawa, Municipality of Clarington and Port Hope, Township of Hamilton, and Veridian), who made the 2007 Check Your Watershed Day possible.
Check Your Watershed Day occurs annually on the third Saturday of July. For more information about the event, or to get involved next year, click here.
To view more photos from the 2007 Check Your Watershed Day, click here.
Moraine For Life Awards
The future ecological health of the Oak Ridges Moraine is in
good hands, if the 2007 “Moraine For Life” award recipients
are any indication. The awards, which honour outstanding efforts
in preserving the ecological integrity of the moraine, were presented
on Monday evening to winners ranging from a twelve-year-old girl
to a retiree.
[Photo by Peter Courchesne]
Left to right: Dorothy Izzard, retired schoolteacher, King Township;
Michaela Halsey, 12-year-old student, Township of Alnwick/Haldimand,
Northumberland; Bruno Nazzicone, Senator Homes; Elizabeth May,
Leader of the Green Party of Canada; Laura McDowell, Adrian Coombs,
Bala Araniyasundaran, Water and Wastewater Branch York Region;
Lynton Friedberg, Parks, Recreation & Culture Town of Richmond
Hill.
Click here for full story
Oak
Ridges Moraine Symposium
February 12-13, 2007
Are we making progress in protecting the Moraine? What are the
success stories and lessons learned over the past five years?
What are the challenges that lie ahead?
Check Your Watershed Day!
Check your Watershed Day occured on July 22, 2006. This collaborative
community-based project educated and trained community participants
to collect valuable missing data on their local streams using
standardized methods found within the Ontario Stream Assessment
Protocol.
Durham Region's Wilmot Creek was the inaugural watershed for Check
your Watershed Day. Wilmot Creek is one of the many watersheds
that originate from the Oak Ridges Moraine. In fact, the goal
of this project is to eventually expand Check your Watershed Day
across the Oak Ridges Moraine and beyond southern Ontario.
For more information, please visit the MTM
Media Centre.
Recent Publications
Status Report on the Implementation of the Oak Ridges Moraine
Conservation Plan: Implications for the Greenbelt Plan
[Released: June 15, 2006]
Printer-friendly
version (Landscaped) [3.6 MB]
Web-viewing version
(Lower resolution) [576 KB]
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