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Strategy History

In 1993, the CRCA approved its Conservation Strategy. Since that time, Conservation Authorities experienced drastic reductions in provincial funding. As a result, all of our programs and services and how they are funded were re-examined.

The Conservation Strategy was reviewed in 2000 resulting in a revised strategy. Cataraqui to 2020 was adopted by the CRCA Board in March 2001 as our revised future direction.

Plan Outline

Strategic Plan: Cataraqui To 2020

Introduction

Our lives depend on a clean, healthy environment. We face numerous environmental issues, including environmental degradation, competing development pressures, cottage development, loss of open space, and questionable water quality. The mandate of Conservation Authorities is given by the Ontario Legislature. The Conservation Authorities Act states in
Section 20(1):

The objects of an authority are to establish and undertake, in the area over which it has jurisdiction, a program designed to further the conservation, restoration, development and management of natural resources other than gas, oil, coal and minerals.

For the Authority to act wisely, and in a coordinated fashion, we must set goals, and outline how to achieve them to ensure adherence to them within the watershed and to inform other bodies, interested parties and the public of the Authority's policies and the basis of them.

Why a Conservation Authority?

The Conservation Authorities Act, enacted in 1946, established Conservation Authorities as local agencies, for the management of natural resources. Their geographic jurisdictions are watershed-based ecological systems. The legislation gives the Authority a broad mandate. (Appendix A) Combining local and provincial concerns for the wise use of natural resources in Ontario, Conservation Authorities make a positive contribution to resource management in Ontario--one that is sensitive to local needs, and undertaken in a manner that satisfies needs that cannot be met as effectively otherwise. As an agency with a local identity extending beyond political boundaries, and which serves its client municipalities, the Conservation Authority has important roles as a trustee for the environment, as an advocate for the public open spaces, and as a manager of its natural resources.

The Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority (CRCA)

Each Conservation Authority is different, reflecting local circumstances and priorities. For the CRCA, the organizing committee's leaflet published in 1963 outlined the following "If it is possible to reduce an Authority's aims to one phrase, it would be to encourage, by aid and example, the efficient utilization of the area's resources for the profit, education and recreation of its people. So complex is the interdependence of water, soil, forest and wildlife that the carrying out of this mandate brings it into many fields: 1) land use, land improvement and forestry, 2) control of water levels and flows and 3) education and recreation."

The jurisdiction of the Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority (CRCA) is large, encompassing 3506 square kilometres, ten major drainage basins, all or part of 11 municipalities, and over 250 km of Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River shoreline. Reaching from Hay Bay in the west to Brockville in the east, and from Newboro in the north to the Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River shoreline, the watershed has a very diverse collection of land forms and land uses. It is also a major land trustee, holding more than 4000 hectares or just over 1 per cent of the area within the watershed.

NEXT: Why A Strategic Plan?

Contact Us:
P.O. Box 160, Glenburnie, Ontario, Canada K0H 1S0
Telephone: (613) 546-4228
E-mail: crca@cataraquiregion.on.ca