News from your Environment Committee

by Benoit Bleau (June 2016)

The Annual General Meeting of the Hemmingford Environment Committee was held on Saturday, June 4. More than 15 people were present to discuss activities of the past year and those of the present one. For 2015 and into 2016, we have been active in many types of activities, beginning with the protection of our woodlots by the application of the bylaws adopted by the township council in the fall of 2014. Recall that clearcuts exceeding many times the allowed limit had been done on private lands, including wet lands. In this case, in a forested peatland of more than 3 ha. In this particular file, our will is always to collaborate with the municipality to educate and sensitize the public to prevent these types of situations from recurring. It is important to mention the essential role that citizens play as guardians of our environment.

We organized a seed exchange in February which provided the occasion to launch a collective project, the Grainothèque, driven by Mary Strate. It is a seed library situated in Hemmingford Community library.

Also in February we held an awareness-raising activity for the population to help find solutions for a more effective recycling programme for glass containers, Operation Verre-Vert.

Finally, a few weeks ago we held the tree giveaway and plant exchange. All these events have been very successful! The committee is also very present in Info Hemmingford.

For 2016-2017, we will support the same activities in addition to undertaking new ones, including organic matters management : in 2020 it will no longer be permitted to mix organic material with domestic garbage. We will have to find alternatives to landfilling this type of waste. We will also be celebrating the 25th anniversary of the committee. Many activities will highlight the event for this important occasion.

A new director has been elected by acclamation to the board, Andrew Stairs, one of the original founders of the committee. He is replacing Frances Ravensbergen who leaves us after many years of dedicated service. Thank you very much Frances for all these years and welcome to Andrew who is joining Catherine Stratford and Bart Charlesworth. We remind you that environment is everyone’s concern and that you are all invited to participate in order to help us create in Hemmingford an environment in which we can all live in harmony with nature.