Perth County and its member municipalities of North Perth, Perth South, Perth East and West Perth are looking for input into the development of a Stewardship Program for the region.
County Communications Officer Sarah Franklin says they’ve hired a consultant.
“We’ve hired a consultant who is helping us with this project to reach out to the community and determine what sorts of environmental issues community members and stakeholders are seeing in this region and what sorts of programs would help to address these issues,” said Franklin.
Franklin notes they are a highly agricultural area and they know similar programs for stewardship exist in neighbouring regions, and they’d like to see how they could establish something like those. She says they’re not looking at any specific issues at this point.
“We’re sort of sitting back and letting the community speak to us and understanding maybe the program will form around the issues that are most top of mind for most landowners and residents. So we’ll see what comes back in the survey and community engagement sessions,” Franklin added.
Franklin says they have an idea of some of the components that are part of other programs, so they can use that as a starting point, but if issues arise that are unique to their region, then they’ll look for ways to address those issues, as well. She also believes that individuals can make a difference and have some influence on environmental issues, and she hopes the Stewardship Program will encourage that belief.
Franklin says they’ve launched a survey and they’re hosting five public input sessions. Four of those will be in-person events, and the schedule and locations for those as well as more information about the Program can be found at http://www.perthcounty.ca/stewardship.
Franklin adds the ideas gathered from the survey, the input sessions and one-on-one consultations will be compiled and presented to the community and to Perth County’s Agricultural Advisory Committee in March for additional feedback. The project plan will then be presented to County Council with hopes of launching the Stewardship Program before the end of the year.
