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- Huron County Newsletter #14
Huron County Newsletter
Week of March 24th to March 30th, 2024
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Maitland Valley Conservation Authority Watershed Ecologist Says Forests in Huron County Have Changed Significantly Over the Years
by Bob Montgomery
Erin Gouthro was one of the guest speakers at a recent Water Protection Steering Committee meeting and her topic was Changing Ecology in Huron County Forests.
Gouthro says when the first surveys were being conducted, around the 1830's, land was being cleared all over because there were so many trees that conserving them was never an issues. But she says by the 1900s they had hit commercial extinction for most large tree species and the landscape was shifted to Green Ash…
Huron County Economic Development Officer Says More Visitors From The GTA Are Discovering Huron County
by Bob Montgomery
Huron County Economic Development Officer Rick Sickinger, who is also responsible for tourism, says the number of tourists coming to Huron County is increasing and more of them are coming from the GTA.
Sickinger says one of the challenges they've had to deal with is that up until 2017 the province provided them with data that told them how many visitors were coming to Huron County each year and…
First Ship of the Season Comes into Goderich Harbour
by Bob Montgomery
The Captain of the first ship of the season to come into Goderich was presented with the prestigious Top Hat at a ceremony in the Goderich town hall yesterday morning.
Captain Mark William Rice explained his ship is in fact a barge and unlike the ships that come into the harbour to pick up load of salt, he was delivering a load of calcium chloride two, which is a liquid salt and is used in mining. He says the…
Captain Mark William Rice surrounded by Goderich council
United Way Celebrates Spirit of Community, Sets New Fundraising Record
by Bob Montgomery
United Way Perth Huron celebrated the spirit of the Perth Huron community over the weekend at the Arden Park Hotel in Stratford.
United Way Executive Director Ryan Erb announced they had set a record with this year's campaign by raising $2,345,792, which Erb noted was remarkable given the current state of the economy…
2024 SLED Fund Open for Applications
by Bob Montgomery
The County of Huron’s Economic Development Department has opened its 2024 Supporting Local Economic Development (SLED) funding program.
Economic Development Officer Rick Sickinger says the program is supported by Community Futures Huron and is open to municipalities and not-for-profit organizations. They can apply for up to $10,000 for projects that address the strategic priorities from Huron County Economic Development’s 2022/25 plan. Sickinger says they have $100,000 to distribute. Eligible projects…
Catholic School Board Launches International Education Program
by Bob Montgomery
The Huron-Perth Catholic District School Board is proud to announce the launch of an International Student Program.
Director of Education, Chris Roehrig says the program will welcome students for the 2024-2025 academic year and as part of the Board's commitment to fostering a globally-minded community, the initiative aims to provide students from around the world with an enriching Canadian educational experience…
Some Huron County Libraries Adjusting Hours to Meet Community Needs
by Bob Montgomery
Huron County Librarian and Cultural Services Director Beth Rumble says they last updated the library hours in 2022 with a commitment to re-visit them in the future to see if they were meeting community needs.
Rumble says the Strategic Plan that was circulated in the summer of 2023 contained a specific question about library hours, and they also consulted with staff to find out what they were hearing about the current hours. Then they analyzed circulation reports to see when volume was high, and based on that, they've made a few tweaks…
AMDSB and OSSTF Reach Tentative Collective Agreements
by Bob Montgomery
The Avon Maitland District School Board and Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation affiliates are pleased to announce the successful conclusion of negotiations with their dedicated staff.
Dates for reaching the tentative agreements and planned ratification are in brackets:…
Vance Fund Grants $85,260 to Hospital CT Campaign
by Bob Montgomery
The Leland and Thora Vance Fund is carrying on the Vances’ legacy of generous community support with a donation of $85,260 to the Wingham & District Hospital Foundation.
The funds will go towards the Caring Together campaign for a CT Scanner. The Vance Fund is held by Waterloo Region Community Foundation and overseen by a committee of prominent local community members who determine the disbursement of the funds which were specifically left by the Vances to benefit the town of Wingham…
L to R: WDH Foundation Executive Director Nicole Duquette with Vance Fund committee members Andy McBride, Carol Phillips, Paul Heffer, Dave Tiffin and Lisa Hearnden. Photo courtesy of WDH Foundation Executive Director Nicole Duquette
Masking to Remain Mandatory in Emergency Departments at HPHA
by Bob Montgomery
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance has worked closely with their partners in Infection Prevention and Control to ensure patients, staff, physicians and families/caregivers are safe and protected while in their hospitals. Along with their partner hospitals throughout the Southwest Region, and based upon the most recent Public Health Ontario guidance, updates will be made to their Universal Masking Policy to reflect current health and safety risks.
Effective Wednesday, March 27, 2024 masking will be welcomed, but no longer required, in many clinical areas of HPHA's hospital sites…
Huron East Applying for a My Main Street Grant to Improve the Main Street in Brussels
by Bob Montgomery
Huron East has applied for funding through the My Main Street program to help them make improvements to the main street in Brussels.
Huron East Economic Development Officer Taralyn Cronin says the My Main Street program invites communities to apply for a grant until the end of this month that will allow them to make improvements to…
Central Huron Mayor Appointed as an Advisor to the Fisheries Commission of the Great Lakes
by Bob Montgomery
Central Huron Mayor Jim Ginn has been appointed as an advisor to the Fisheries Commission of the Great Lakes.
Ginn explains the Canadian advisers will advise the Canadian Commissioners and the American advisers will advise the American Commissions but they meet as a group to primarily discuss things like fish stocks. “What's increasing in numbers, what's decreasing in numbers, what's stable and what's threatened and invasive species. Gin says they also look at catch limits, depending on what the stocks are doing determines how much quota is given out to commercial fishermen.”
Ginn says invasive species…
Huron County Economic Development Team Working on New Event Calendar
by Bob Montgomery
Huron County's Economic Development Officer says they've been working on a new Event Calendar so that visitors and even residents can find out what's going on in the county.
Rick Sickenger says they had been hearing from both residents and visitors that it was very difficult to find out what was going on in Huron County on any particular weekend. To address that problem they've been working for almost two years now on improving the Huron County online Calendar as well as…
Public Invited to the Launch of the Student Sculpture Garden at Millennium Park in Clinton
by Bob Montgomery
Members of the public are invited to the launch of the Student Sculpture Garden at Millennium Park in Clinton on April 4th.
Central Huron Community Improvement Coordinator Angela Smith says the Student Sculpture Garden is a partnership between the Avon Maitland and Huron Perth Catholic District School Boards as well as the Technical Training Group, the Municipality of Central Huron and Huron County and the Huron Manufacturing Association. Smith says they got the project started by going to the schools and asking the students to create metal sculptures for a public art display…
Ontario Has Approved Updated Source Protection Plans and Assessment Reports for Source Protection Region
by Bob Montgomery
The Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks has approved updated source protection plans and assessment reports for the Ausable Bayfield and Maitland Valley source protection areas.
The updated plans took effect on Tuesday, March 26th when they were posted on the Environmental Registry of Ontario. The locally developed, provincially approved source protection plans were first approved in…
Ausable Bayfield Conservation Dinner Less Then Two Weeks Away
by Bob Montgomery
This year's Ausable Bayfield Conservation Dinner is less than two weeks away.
Publicity Committee member Tim Cumming says the Conservation Dinner is a partnership of Exeter Lions Club, Ausable Bayfield Conservation Foundation and the entire community. This year guests at the dinner can Capture the Moment with a photo under a decorated arbour, thanks to:
Kimberly Roy Photography, who is donating her time and skills.
Feature Artist (2024) Stephanie Denomme, of Blush & Blossom Floral.
Dave and Brenda Erb, who are generously donating the use of their arbour.
Thanks to generous donors and sponsors, the auctions this year promise to have many coveted items for bidding including…
Huron Clean Water Project is Now Accepting Applications
by Bob Montgomery
The Huron Clean Water Project has five hundred thousand dollars in funding to support water quality projects in Huron County.
The funds will go towards water quality projects by Huron County residents, landowners, and community groups. The Ausable Bayfield and Maitland Valley Conservation Authorities deliver the program on behalf of the County. Huron County Warden Glen McNeil points out the total value of past Huron Clean Water projects is almost fifteen million dollars. “These investments made by the County, community partners and community members demonstrate Huron’s commitment to being good stewards of our land and waterways now and in the future.”…
Weekly Trivia Questions
The Village of Vanastra, which began as the married living quarters for RCAF Station Clinton, was known by what name?
a) Huron Park
b) Home of Radar
c) Adastral Park
d) Lancaster Park
In what Huron County town would you find the magnificent opera house known as Cardno Hall?
a) Seaforth
b) Goderich
c) Exeter
d) Wingham
Answers to last week’s questions:
How many British Commonwealth Air Training Plan bases were established in Huron County during the Second World War?
a) 1
b) 2
c) 3
d) 4*
Which important Huron County industry started out as the Western Foundry Co?
a) Westcast*
b) General Coach
c) Royal Homes
d) Dominion Roads Company
Trivia questions courtesy of Huron County Historian David Yates