Many of you have experienced or are aware of the tremendous recreational fishery on the Grand River and it’s tributaries between Cambridge and Brantford. The Grand and Nith Rivers in Brant and Oxford Counties support great populations of bass and steelhead, and some tributaries such as Whitemans Creek and even parts of the main river are also home to resident trout. Anglers come from great distances to enjoy this fishery, and many of these same anglers near and far have been asking us how they can give back.
The Grand is a great fishery, but it has the potential to be even better. In recent weeks I have been working with a few dedicated individuals who live in this area, and also with Trout Unlimited Canada to see if we can do more for the river. We will be hosting a “Town Hall” type meeting to determine if there is a critical mass of volunteers who are interested in working together to form a group that would help improve the river and its tributaries through things like hands-on stream rehabilitation work days, tree planting, garbage cleanup, data collection, etc.
The meeting will take place on Monday March 24 at 7 PM at the Hampton Inn & Suites in Brantford. Details are found on the attached flier. If you can’t make the meeting on the 24th but are still interested in getting involved, you can call or email me and I will make sure you are kept in the loop.
I want to stress that priorities for this new group will be determined by the founding members, not Trout Unlimited Canada or OMNR. To that end, we are in the process of developing a questionnaire that will be launched at the meeting. The response to this questionnaire will help guide the founding members in setting up a work plan for short and long term action. A link to the questionnaire will be sent to those who attend the meeting, and also to those who contact us to express an interest in getting involved.
Feel free to forward this email to those who you think would be interested in getting involved. My apologies for any duplicate or cross postings.
I hope to see you on March 24.
Larry
Larry Halyk, M.Sc.
Partnership Specialist
Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources
1 Stone Road W.
Guelph, Ontario
N1G 4Y2
Tel: 519-826-4936
Fax: 519-826-4929
Cell: 519-830-0822″
