Rideau Roundtable

Photo and story credits: Anil Jhalli of Kanata's Community Voice Great news! Our old friend Cam McNeil recently received a very high honour from his alma mate...r - the Concordia University of Edmonton. The story tells it all, but neglects to mention that Cam was one of our founding members at the Rideau Roundtable. Congrat's Cam McNeil for this well deserved honour!

Tree Canada - yes - together let's tree all of Canada. Why not join Tree Canada in this wonderful environmental endeavour. https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/tree-canadas-10th-anniversary-n

https://wordpress.com/po/rideauroundtable.wordpress.com/215 LANARK COUNTY, Sept. 15, 2021 After a long wait, Lanark County is once again hosting a free tree ...giveaway this fall with nearly three times as many trees available. The county will offer 3,000 free trees on Sat. Sept. 25 at the Lanark County Perth Garage on Christie Lake Road. The drive-through event will allow residents to take home up to 10 native trees including red pine, white pine, tamarack, white birch, yellow birch and white cedar. Trees will be available from 9 am to 12 p.m. while supplies last. Event organizer Michelle Vala from the County’s Public Works department said the giveaway is an important part of Lanark County’s goal to plant one million trees over 10 years as part of its climate action plan. We’re using these trees to store more carbon, to help the county become more resilient to climate change, Vala said. The effort dovetails perfectly with the RVCA’s commitment to watershed resiliency through tree planting and other stewardship efforts. Along with carbon sequestration, trees can help reduce floods and droughts, manage erosion, create wildlife habitat and contribute to more vibrant communities. The County first partnered with RVCA for the giveaway in June 2020, but due to pandemic restrictions had not been able to host other events until now. A spring giveaway in May 2021 was cancelled due to the provincial stay-at-home order. I think this will be a very popular event, Vala said. The last event in 2020 was well-attended and people have been waiting a long time to come back. While ten trees is more than enough for most residents, those with bigger dreams (and bigger properties) may be eligible for the RVCA’s landowner tree planting program, which offers large-scale planting at a fraction of the cost. The RVCA plants about 90,000 trees in Lanark County each year, helping to transform idle or marginal land into thriving forests. To participate, landowners need a minimum of 1.25 acres and must be willing to plant at least 1,000 trees. This type of work would usually cost an average of $3/tree, but the RVCA’s program only costs $0.15/tree thanks to its generous funding partners. These include Forests Ontario, One Tree Planted, the Rideau Valley Conservation Foundation and more. The Spring 2022 planting season is booking up fast, so contact our forestry team today to schedule your free site visit. Learn more at rvca.ca/stewardship-grants/tree-planting. -end-

Regenerative Farming Workshop with presenter from Harvest Acres; A LOCAL APPROACH Please join REAL in this free and informative session on a local approach ...being taken to farm sustainably in a way that nourishes the soil. When : Sept. 8, 2021 at 7:00 p.m . How: Register at the noted link below https://us06web.zoom.us//tZMtceGrpj8tHdyX2xoI_P5_DhMiOuLVs

Join us on Tuesday September 7th at 7:00 p.m. eastern time for this excellent free seminar on plastics in our waterways. WatershedsCanada.ca/freshwater-stewardship

The collaborative efforts of the Rideau Roundtable and Rideau Environmental Action League for waste reduction week have finished. The result was 3 full truck beds, or 392 pounds of garbage removed from the Rideau River in the Smiths Falls area. See the last picture for the totals of different materials by weight. 30% of the volume (not weight) was recyclable material. A significant portion of it was found by where the roads meet the water. A special thanks goes to the Sinclai...r Family, Hailey, and Lisa on our Voyageur Canoe cleanup day for helping us remove all of this garbage from the Rideau River. And thanks to Vanessa Bernicky for sorting the garbage we found!

Why not visit our Voyageur tours website too.

This past weekend saw the roundtable get together to give a socially distanced send-off to four of our friends and colleagues that are retiring / and moving onto other endeavours.

As if the Urban Wilderness Tour wasn't enough, we also have our wonderful swale tour. The swale is a wetland right in the heart of Smiths Falls. It is home to all sorts of wildlife and it is a great paddling area to boot.