Lakehead Conservation's 2000 budget expenditures totalled just under $900,000.00 in the following areas: administration of our flood and erosion control programs; flood forecasting and warning; plan input and review; watershed planning; operation and development of our Conservation Areas and associated lands; Hazelwood Lake Centre; and community relations.

Dredging of one Floodway sediment trap at Balmoral St. was a major project necessary to maintain the flood protection capability of the Floodway. Watershed planning exercises were carried out on four watercourses in the Municipality of Shuniah.

Our recreation and conservation land management program does not receive provincial transfer payment nor municipal levy. Many watershed residents will be familiar with our Conservation Areas and community relations’ activities, such as Arbour Week, special events and purple loosestrife control. Funding for these programs must be secured from other sources, primarily: self-generation (i.e., fee-for-service, etc.); user-fees (i.e., coin collection boxes at seven Conservation Areas); Adopt-an-Acre program; Lakehead Conservation Foundation fundraising; Hazelwood Lake Centre rental revenues; and “in-kind” contributions.

Our coin collection boxes and Adopt-an-Acre revenues increased modestly from 1999 levels. Even more Conservation Area users will have to contribute in order to keep our 2500 hectares of conservation lands in operation. Maintenance, insurance and property taxes add up to a very substantial amount. The Managed Forest Tax Incentive program reduced our tax burden for nine properties.

Lakehead Conservation Foundation gave a third instalment of $30,000 towards the capital improvements at Cascades Conservation Area. Interpretive displays were installed in the pavilion along with a trail map and markers on the trails. A new washroom facility and some benches were added. Preliminary work was done on a handicap-accessible trail which is being funded by the Lions Club of Thunder Bay.

Nine short-term positions were employed in our conservation land maintenance and resource management programs. We would like to thank the City of Thunder Bay for funding our River Cleanup crew and the federal and provincial governments for their youth employment program funding.

Lakehead Conservation gratefully acknowledges both the monetary and “in-kind” support for the recreation and conservation land management program from watershed residents, clubs, agencies, businesses, and Lakehead Conservation Foundation, together with the traditional source of funds for our water management programs. For example, we received donations to have trees planted at Mission Island Marsh Conservation Area. We also gave out 27,000 tree seedlings to schools and landowners through a donation from the Tree Canada Foundation. Lakehead Conservation has promoted tree planting for many years and been involved in adding more than 400,000 trees to our watershed.

Please visit our website for further details on Lakehead Conservation's projects.

Lakehead Region Conservation Authority
P.O. Box 10427; 130 Conservation Rd.
Thunder Bay, ON  P7B 6T8 (Canada)
Telephone:(807) 344-5857  Fax:(807) 345-9156