Trees For Watershed Health – Conservation Halton

At our last council meeting on Monday there was a report from the Halton Regional Police Service and they updated town council on their endeavours to keep the residents in the town informed of programs and initiatives.  I was very happy to hear this and I have been impressed by their communication plans and urged the Town of Milton to do what we can to help “spread the word” 

This not only goes for the Halton Police Services but for all aspects in the town’s business and programs.

In that light the Town of Milton has announced on its website some information about a Conservation Halton event called the “Trees for Watershed Health” where residents can get involved in planting trees.  Councillor Cindy Lunau also brought this up during the last council meeting and urged Miltonians to get involved in this venture.  This year they will be planting 4,000 trees by Kelso Park.

Here is some information from the Conservation Halton website that has details on how you can get involved on Saturday April 30th, rain or shine to help plant trees and help improve the area.

You can register by clicking HERE.

Each year Conservation Halton hosts a public tree planting event on or around Earth Day as part of its Trees for Watershed Health Program. All watershed residents regardless of age or skill level can participate and help our local environment. So whether you are a veteran tree planter or just starting out, this program has something for everyone.

The 2011 tree planting event is in partnership with the Town of Milton and takes place Saturday, April 30, 2011, starting at 9 a.m. at the Kelso Quarry Park, which is located in Milton. Conservation Halton needs over 400 volunteers to come out and plant approximately 4,000 trees, rain or shine.

Volunteers need to bring their own shovel and ensure they are dressed appropriately for the weather – hat, shoes or boots (no sandals),  sunscreen (if necessary). Following the planting a delicious barbecue lunch will be provided.

This is an excellent opportunity for you, as a volunteer, to see a unique and picturesque section of the Halton watershed and lend a hand in its renaturalization for the enjoyment of our children and grandchildren. Volunteer and community service hours are available for high school students who register and participate in the event. Volunteers are asked to register by Tuesday, April 26. 

Registration for the 2011 Tree Planting Event is now OPEN. 

Conservation Halton is partnering with the Town of Milton on Trees for Watershed Health for the next two years. The Town received a two-year grant through Hydro One’s Biodiversity Initiative to enhance Milton’s natural habitat. The Town of Milton chose to partner with Conservation Halton to hold a volunteer tree planting event as part of its focus on environmental and sustainability initiatives. Trees for Watershed Health supports the Town’s goal to provide a thriving natural environment that is a valued community asset to be protected, maintained and enjoyed.

The forests of Conservation Halton’s watershed provide habitat for a myriad of wildlife species. They also provide ecosystem functions such as cleaning the air, purifying water and storing carbon along with providing places of unparalleled beauty for us all to enjoy. Protecting existing forests and increasing forest cover is an important aspect of sustaining the health of the watershed. 

The Trees for Watershed Health planting event provides an opportunity for watershed residents to take part in the transformation of marginal parklands into an area with healthy and abundant forest cover. This will help to offset the negative impacts of climate change in our watershed, while increasing biodiversity in the park. The site is ideally located adjacent to Kelso Conservation Area. The Quarry is a fantastic location to continue our public tree planting program and provides important green space for both Conservation Halton and the Town of Milton.

Milton Canadian Champion Covers Grow Milton Hospital

Citizens rally for Milton hospital expansion

(Photo Courtesy of Milton Canadian Champion, Graham Paine) – By Christina Commisso, Milton Canadian Champion

The signs are up, the signatures are in and the will is strong.

The time for Milton’s hospital expansion is now — that message was heard loud and clear Saturday morning.

About 30 people huddled under the gazebo at Victoria Park, sheltered against the rain and wind, to show their support for the expansion.

“We’re a small group, but we’re mighty,” said Halton MPP Ted Chudleigh.

He, along with citizen’s group Grow Milton Hospital, has collected more than 5,000 signatures of support for the expansion over a six-week campaign.

The petitions were delivered to Queen’s Park yesterday.

The urgency of the expansion was outlined by Milton District Hospital (MDH) surgeon Dr. Jeff Kolbasnik, who spoke during the morning event. 

“When I started (at MDH) we had lots of ward beds. Anytime I needed to admit a patient there was no issue. In the emergency department there would be a few people backed up, but routinely people would get seen within an hour. We never had surgery cancelled because no beds were available and getting a patient in urgently was no problem. Things have really changed.”

According to Kolbasnik, it’s not just the population spike that has placed mounting pressure on MDH; the infrastructure at the hospital is showing signs of deterioration.

He pointed to a leaky roof last summer that led to the evacuation of the medical surgical ward for almost a week. MDH recently received a “state of the art” surgical sterilization machine, which Kolbasnik said took a week to install because the hospital’s infrastructure was too old to support the new technology.

“During that week we had to ration surgical equipment…that’s not the sort of thing that should be happening in a growing community like ours.”

He continued, “As much as there’s a gradual deterioration, we’re worried we’re going to reach a breaking point when things just start to fall apart.”

Organizer and Ward 6 Councillor Mike Cluett took some time to dispel common rumors circulating about the MDH expansion.

Pointing to the new north Oakville hospital, Cluett said: “The Oakville hospital is designed for Oakville’s growth, not for other communities. We need a made-in-Milton hospital expansion for Milton’s needs now.”

Cluett added that he’s unfazed by naysayers.

“We’ve heard, ‘It’s great you’re doing this but it’s not going to make a difference.’ Well we’d rather go down swinging than not do anything at all. We want to let the provincial government know that it starts with them. Give us the go ahead, and we’ll figure the rest out.”

Playing MC for the event, Scott Fox of Z103.5 said when he moved to town seven years ago he would brag to his friends about the zero wait times at MDH.

“Now the tables have turned,” he said.

“All you have to do is look around at a town that’s bursting at the seams and a hospital that was built decades ago. The fact that people are waiting, they’re being sent to other communities for critical care, surgeries are being postponed because there’s not enough beds — this screams expansion.”

Chudleigh said he hopes the message comes through loud and clear at Queen’s Park. The petition was delivered mere weeks before the Province is expected to release its 10-year infrastructure list for high-priority projects.

Despite what transpires in the next few weeks, Cluett said the momentum for the expansion won’t slow down anytime soon.

“It doesn’t end today. It’s going to continue until the spade is in the ground and we have our hospital.”

Town Council Meeting April 18 2011

Tonight is a full meeting of council.  The agenda for the meeting can be found here.

There will be a presentation from the Halton Regional Police Services, a recommendation for the company eSolutions Group as the company in charge of the website for the Milton Centre for the Arts, and a 2010 financial update from KPMG .

I’ll also be providing council an update on the ward 6 Milton Makeover team from last Friday and the all important update of the Grow Milton Rally from Saturday, which despite the weather was a great success.

As always you can view the meeting online by going to the WATCH ONLINE link at the right.  Hope to “see” you there.  If you have any questions on the items included in the agenda, feel free to email me mike@mikecluett.ca

Ward 6 Milton Makeover Day April 15th

Many thanks goes to Kim (you’ll see her in the video) for taking the leadership role and organizing the Milton Makeover Day for Ward 6.  Friday morning was definately a chilly one, but it didnt cool off the desire to clean up our parks and other areas.  More thanks goes to Fred and Dimitri for braving the cold as well.  Kim mentioned there were some further recruits as they moved south to Louis St Laurent & Ferguson area.  We forgot their names, so if youre reading this THANK YOU!!!

This was Milton’s 7th annual Makeover day with this year over 60 people participating.

Milton Today TV was nice enough to come out as well and you can check out their coverage on the video below.