Lakehead Region Conservation Authority reflects on 70 years while eyeing up future initiatives
CBC
The Lakehead Region Conservation Authority (LRCA), based in Thunder Bay, Ont., is marking a milestone anniversary this year, while drawing attention to conservation efforts led by the organization from both the past and present.
The LRCA will be celebrating its 70th anniversary as an organization in the northwest region. It is one of 36 conservation authorities in Ontario, and just one of five in all of northern Ontario.
"Conservation authorities really have adapted quite a bit over time," said Tammy Cook, who's been with the authority for 19 years, working in a number of roles from a watershed resource technician to her current position as chief administrative officer.
"We've been really focusing on stewardship and environmental education … the studies that we've done to make sure we can do our job adequately and efficiently have evolved. But our core mandates have always been there. We've been there to protect people from flooding and erosion," Cook continued.
The Lakehead Region Conservation Authority started as the Neebing Valley Conservation Authority in 1954, just eight years after the enactment of Ontario's Conservation Authorities Act.
A fierce storm that passed through the Lakehead region back in 1941 is what led to the creation of the authority.
The 1941 storm caused extensive flooding on the Neebing River, and the floodwaters rose to the point where they overflowed into the McIntyre River.
The Neebing Valley Conservation Authority was created to begin mitigating the flood problems associated with the storm.
Cook said the early work of the organization, before being renamed to the LRCA in 1963, is some of its most significant. That also includes the creation of the Neebing-McIntyre Floodway in 1984, which further addressed flooding in the lower Neebing River and intercity area of Thunder Bay.
"The floodway is kind of like our claim to fame when it comes to bigger projects," Cook said, adding that commercial developments like the Thunder Centre shopping area, the Canadian Lakehead Exhibition (CLE) grounds, and Silver City movie theatre would not have been built in the intercity area of Thunder Bay without the floodway.
Apart from historic projects, the LRCA has also ramped up accessibility initiatives at many of its sites, and has plans for more of that work moving forward.
It has also increased educational and stewardship programming in the last several years, as it tries to reach people from across its eight member municipalities.
"We like to call our conservation areas living classrooms and get kids out on field trips into nature. And so that's really close to my heart," said Ryan Mackett, communications manager with the authority, while discussing programming he's proud of at the LRCA.
In addition to flood protection and forecasting messaging, the LRCA also manages 10 conservation areas, five of which are on Lake Superior.
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