Exploring Conservation Authority operations in Sudbury, northern Ontario: constraints and opportunities.

The formation of the Timberwolf Golf Course on NDCA flood reservoir lands is one example of how corporate partnership can contribute to NDCA revenues and local economic development. Formal inquiry into the feasibility and benefits of active recreation facilities may uncover additional ways to generate revenue. Establishing new service alliances for the NDCA is another avenue yet to be fully explored. A conference of northern Ontario watershed representatives would provide a forum for resource managers, researchers, government, business, environmental groups, educators, First Nations and non-aboriginal community members to discuss conservation issues of regional importance. An opportunity for networking and knowledge sharing would benefit participants who may share common challenges but have little chance for interaction.

Healthy Environment for a Healthy Economy

The notion of conservation in a mining hinterland seems somewhat of a paradox. Industrial resource extraction has long been accepted as the local economic driver and core of Sudbury's identity. However, as Lautenbach et al. (1995: 109) point out, "the destructive influence of past mining activities not only left Sudbury with a severe environmental problem, but its 160,000 inhabitants also inherited conditions that greatly restricted their socio-economic prospects." The early establishment of CAs in Sudbury revealed the roots of community and growing local willingness to transform Sudbury into a more sustainable community.

NDCA flood management initiatives have been successful in reducing costly floods and enabling urban development. However, recent reductions in job-creation and the loss of non-core programs have not helped the NDCA to support the local environment and economy. Long-term consideration of renewable resources like timber would contribute to regreening and complement an economy that has long focused on non-renewable resource extraction.

Sudbury is an amalgamation of towns with longstanding ties to the mining sector and there are several mining companies in Sudbury that have benefited immensely from developing local resources. However, Inco and Falconbridge contributions to municipal reclamation since 1978 (2.5% and 1% of funding respectively) (VETAC 2005) indicate that industry could have an expanded role in restoration. The NDCA must continue to build bridges with community businesses and municipal partners in recognizing the importance of a healthy environment for a healthy economy.

Comprehensive Approach

The comprehensiveness of the NDCA has been challenged by the cutbacks outlined above, notably, the relative absence of conservation programming. Difficult adjustments were made to restructure NDCA operations, and expenses have been scaled back greatly in all areas to avoid deficit. The NDCA now focuses its resources on flood management and maintaining aging capital works projects for flood and erosion control. While all program spending has decreased, it is significant that only 5% of total program spending is allotted to conservation. This has undermined implementation of actual conservation projects for habitat restoration, wetland rehabilitation, and tree planting, which stand to contribute to Sudbury's environmental rehabilitation. These appear to be essential programs for a CA located within an environment recovering from severe industrial degradation.

Ultimately, this questions the parochial view of government in overlooking the importance of local and regional contexts with regard to resource and environmental policy making (e.g. Clark 2002, Mitchell 2002). Complete consideration of the problems experienced by all CAs in Ontario should be factored into provincial policies that will affect every CA. For instance, it can be argued that even the introduction of supplemental grants in 1968 to assist rural CAs was insufficient in the case of the NDCA because overall environmental degradation was not considered in the grant formula. Subsequently, when the 1987 Review of the Conservation Authorities Program reconsidered the suitability of population and land base factors used to calculate the grants, the needs of highly urbanized jurisdictions were used to rationalize change:

Arguments can be made that it is the highly developed urban areas

that require additional assistance since there are usually many more

people affected by a given flooding or erosion problem. In many

cases as well, the required solution is much more expensive to

implement (i.e. size and scope of remedial measure required, land

cost, reallocation costs for affected residents, roads and other

services, etc.) (OMNR 1987: 62).

Results show that supplemental grants to the NDCA were absorbed primarily by capital projects for flood and erosion control--problems related to the highly degraded state of Sudbury's environment. Ecosystem restoration has remained peripheral due to fiscal constraint; however, there is a strong case for habitat restoration, wetland rehabilitation, and tree planting to be core programs. Such programs would help to address the root of flooding and erosion problems in parallel with current reactive management measures (i.e. flood protection infrastructure) and contribute to the regreening of Sudbury. Above all, the true scale of "remedial measure[s] required" (OMNR 1987: 62) in Sudbury surpasses most other places in Ontario, yet has not been reflected in provincial policy concerning CAs. Policymakers need to consider resource-based, low density regions alongside rural agricultural and densely settled urban regions so that CAs can respond better to challenges. Comprehensive management cannot be claimed so long as these critical and interrelated aspects of watershed management are overlooked.

Conclusion

This research explored the NDCA's response to mid-1990s provincial restructuring in the context of northern Ontario. Provincial funding and program changes have placed restrictions on all Ontario CAs. For the NDCA this means that the municipality covered one half of total revenues (1996 to 2002), while the province accounted for one quarter. This imbalance has compromised NDCA program diversity, narrowed its focus and challenged the partnership principle. Only 5% of mean program spending goes to conservation initiatives, which undermines the role of the NDCA as an agent of environmental conservation in Sudbury. Also, self-generated revenues have become increasingly important to maintaining CAs; however, it appears that certain contextual influences currently limit the potential of these revenues for the NDCA.

Specific research needs remain to address the challenges and needs outlined herein:

1. Gauging resident awareness, perceptions, and support for the NDCA (and all CAs) and its role in local conservation;

2. Identifying potential cost-sharing and service alliances for the NDCA (and other CAs), including the nature and logistics of such alliances for CAs in northern Ontario and outlying areas of southern Ontario;

3. Feasibility assessments for user fee generating recreation facilities (e.g. campgrounds) for CAs in northern Ontario and outlying rural areas in southern Ontario to test long-standing assumptions about their potential;

4. Regional quantitative analysis of contextual land base and socio-economic influences known to influence CA performance in order to develop theoretical and practical understanding and inform CA funding and programming policy.

Satisfying these research needs, among others, will broaden our understanding of Ontario CAs and advance provincial conservation initiatives.

Acknowledgements

An anonymous reviewer, D. Scott Slocombe, Kevin Hanna, Sharmalene Mendis Millard and William Crumplin provided thoughtful and constructive comments on earlier drafts of this paper. The authors thank the NDCA, OMNR, and MOE for their assistance. We gratefully acknowledge support provided by the F. J. MacLeod Conservation Endowment and Laurentian University.

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