On behalf of ALUS Ontario…

On behalf of ALUS Ontario East’s Partnership Advisory Committee (PAC), which is comprised of nine local farmers as well as partner organization representatives, I am writing to express our concern with and opposition to the Government of Ontario’s proposed conservation authority consolidation as outlined in the 025-1257 posting on the Environmental Registry of Ontario website.

ALUS Ontario East, one of 41 ALUS communities across Canada, provides funding and technical support to local farmers to help them implement a wide range of science-based stewardship projects on their lands. These projects deliver measurable ecological benefits while supporting the rural economy. The integrated delivery of the ALUS program is designed to reduce red tape for participating farmers by complementing existing conservation programs. As community-led, watershed-based natural resource management organizations, Ontario’s conservation authorities have served as ideal partners.

Six ALUS communities in Ontario, including our own, currently rely on one or more conservation authorities as their program delivery agents. Conservation authorities also host eight local program coordinators, who, through local rapport, technical and administrative expertise, and trust built on repeated project delivery success, have become essential resources for the local implementation of agricultural stewardship best management practices.

The farmer-delivered achievements of the ALUS program in eastern Ontario (i.e., partnering with over 85 landowners and local organizations to establish 224 projects on 1,253 acres) and other ALUS communities are largely due to the program being community-developed: flexible and customizable by local communities to respect local agricultural and environmental priorities. Local knowledge, trust, and relationships are vital to advancing the voluntary implementation of agricultural stewardship practices in eastern Ontario.

We believe the current conservation authority boundaries are conducive to providing Ontario’s farmers – one of our province’s largest interest-holders – with easy access to trusted local expertise through their conservation authority for stewardship projects that generate positive environmental, economic, and social outcomes in the communities where they operate.