President Paul opened the meeting with the traditional land acknowledgement. Vanessa recited Rotary's 4-Way Test and birthday boy, Murray gave the invocation. 22 members were present. 4 guests included Amanda, Shane, Bill and our speaker, James..

Paul Cody did not get a chance to pull the ace of spades. Instead, Guest Amanda drew Brian's number and then Brian yanked himself but failed to select the correct ace.

The pot is at $575.

James Clark from the Grand River Conservation Authority http://grandriver.ca and the Grand River Conservation Foundation https://www.grandriver.ca/en/grand-river-conservation-foundation.aspx#gsc.tab=0 was our speaker today.  James resides in Brantford with his 2 kids and has shown his appreciation for our river and trails by running a total of 3,000 kms along the river. Our own Nancy Yule is attempting to surpass this by biking along the river and rowing on it. 

The Foundation is one year older than the Authority having raised $16 million since its inception in 1965. The GRCA supports over 1 million folks with their mission of working with local communities to reduce flood damage, provide access to outdoor spaces, share information about the natural environment, and make the watershed more resilient to climate change.

The challenges they face are population growth, extensive agriculture and climate change (as realized following recent destructive ice storms and rainstorms). With 35% -40% of their funding from the municipalities and only 10-15% from government, 50% is self generated (fee-for-service/donations/etc.) and goes towards projects like the following:

Opportunities to help: donate, spread the word, get out and enjoy the watershed, become a volunteer, get involved with GRCA projects.  Rena will be investigating how our club can help by contacting Sam Lawson.

 

Through member's questions we learned to be thankful of flowrate alerts, be aware of the irritating Hogweed species which GRCA staff attempt to control, Jim would like to buy a BIG ISLAND in Puslinch and erect a hotel, Tom wonders why he never sees more than one deer or any coyotes while hiking (rumour has it they can't afford the park admission fee and Vanessa mused that they are turned away due to park capacity), John suggests flying pests should be poisoned, Shane discovered The GRCA and Transportation Canada controls some warning signs along the river but signs at Hidden Valley are the responsibility of The Region and finally, that dams are constantly assessed and repaired. 

A tip is to check the GRCA website before heading to a park to verify they are not at capacity and that 4:30 is the best time to gain entry.

Ryan thanked our speaker, Todd shared his awe when a magician he was following turned into a store and Paul adjourned the meeting at 1:20pm