Environment

The 2023 Environmental Heroes were announced at the Regular Council Meeting on June 25, 2024.

The full presentation is available to watch on the City of Kawartha Lakes YouTube:

 

Project Charter

The City of Kawartha Lakes is taking action to transform our Kawartha Lakes into a more successful, desirable, and sustainable place to live. The transformation includes the development of an Integrated Community Sustainability Plan (called Our Kawartha Lakes). Our Kawartha Lakes is a long-term plan, developed in consultation with community members, to provide direction for the community to realize sustainability objectives for the environmental, cultural, social and economic dimensions that make up "Our Kawartha Lakes".

Sustainability

Means: meeting the needs of the present without limiting the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Integrates: economic, environmental, and social considerations into planning and action.
We need your help: to define the best values, issues and vision needed to develop the plan's long term sustainability goals and objectives, and to define the tools needed to measure the success of the Plan.

It takes a community to achieve community sustainability. It is up to all of us to do our part, and we need your help because, together, it's Our Kawartha Lakes.

Steering Committee Responsibilities

The role of the Steering Committee will be to:

• Oversee the general preparation of the ICSP;
• Review and comment on materials prepared for the Plan;
• Participate in focus groups as Champions, and
• Elicit broader community interest and involvement in the ICSP process.

To this end, Steering Committee members will be expected to:

• Attend and actively participate in an estimated 8 to 10 meetings, generally on a monthly basis, devoted to the ICSP during 2011 and 2012;
• Review and comment on any draft materials provided in advance of each Steering Committee meeting;
• Participate, as available, in one or more ICSP focus groups; acting as that groups "Champion" before the Steering Committee;
• While the Steering Committee members may have particular expertise and experience in their individual field or sector, they will be expected to bring a broad, balanced, sustainable view to their work on the ICSP Steering Committee.

Focus Group Responsibilities 

Proposed Focus Group Areas

• water
• agriculture
• natural systems
• resource consumption
• human health and education
• economy
• culture and heritage
• finance and affordability

Water

The City of Kawartha Lakes is defined by water. This invaluable resource is shared between the people and the land of Kawartha Lakes. To be a vibrant, strong, and resilient community we need to establish targets and develop strategies to address:

• healthy watersheds -healthy lakes, rivers, and shorelines
• water system management - municipal systems, stormwater control
• water quality and use -safe drinking water
• Floodplain management

Agriculture

Historically, agriculture has formed the backbone of communities within Kawartha Lakes. Looking to the future, it will continue to play an important role, as it continues to grow in importance and application. The agricultural focus group will examine the following by establishing targets and developing strategies for:

• local food production and consumption
• food security and community health
• town and village agriculture
• farming economy
• agri-tourism

Natural Systems

Kawartha Lakes has many natural cores and connections of forest, wetlands, riparian areas and grasslands. The biodiversity of these ecological systems forms Kawartha Lakes natural system, which requires understanding, assessment, and strategies for preservation. These ecological systems are currently under threat by manmade forces (development pressure, introduction of invasive species, global warming, etc.). The natural systems focus group will examine the following by establishing targets and developing strategies for:

• wetlands
• forests
• river margins and banks
• alvars (limestone plain)
• grasslands
• biodiversity of species

Resource Consumption

When we consume products or services we use resources - energy, infrastructure, and materials - and we create waste. Resource consumption also depletes natural systems, often at a rate that cannot be naturally renewed. A key component of resource consumption is conservation, this will be considered throughout each topic area. The resource consumption focus group will examine the following by establishing targets and developing strategies for:

• Energy
• Materials - recycled and recyclable
• Infrastructure - transportation (aging, expansion), public services and facilities (aging pipes, roads, plants and expansion)
• Waste - diversion (composting, reuse and recycle), landfill

Human Health and Education

A sustainable community is a healthy community. Human health is integral to the current and long term success of Kawartha Lakes.

• active transportation/active community - systems of parks, trails, recreational, and open spaces
• population health
• accessibility and quality
• lifelong learning
• safety
• seniors
• youth - active youth, walking school bus initiative

Economy

An economically sustainable community requires consideration of targets and strategies of the following:

• growth
• agriculture, Tourism, and Industry
• technology
• employment
• education
• health
• affordability - household, municipal

Culture and Heritage

For a community to be sustainable and desirable, it needs to recognize its distinctiveness, celebrate its achievements, and build on them in every possible way. It also needs to appreciate those characteristics which might need to be better aligned with a sustainable future.

• history and achievements,
• identity, distinctiveness, character and heritage (both built and non-built) preservation
• naming, festivals, enduring cultural and recreational celebrations
• systems of parks, trails, recreational, and open spaces

Finance and Affordability

There are four pillars of sustainability - cultural, social, environmental, and financial. We propose to use financial viability and affordability as a filter to assess the strategies that address social, cultural, and environmental sustainability. Financial viability relates to both municipal and individual household capacity. The purpose of this filter is to determine whether the strategies are within the purview of the City's and resident's capacity to implement now or in the future.

Each work group is asked to ensure that its obligations are fully met for the following 9 areas of activity. Focus Group Responsibilities for each of the eight Focus Groups:

1. Know: current performance, baselines, precedents.

• A clear, specific description of the current performance of the CKL community; and
• Advanced levels of performance reached by precedent communities similar to CKL

2. Imagine: a desired future for CKL in general, and in the realm of your focus group

3. Assess: the gap between current performance and desired state

4. Strategise: the ways to get to the desired state

5. Act: implement the strategies

6. Coordinate: ensure regular information exchange, and collaborate to ensure all aspects of the CKL ICSP make a coherent whole.

• Unnecessary overlaps and/or conflicts are avoided;
• Each group takes full advantage of the aligned efforts of other groups; and
• Overall understanding of the whole ICSP effort is heightened