The Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority honours its ‘watershed warriors’ and ‘hometown heroes’ every year: the municipalities, organizations and individuals who, through their actions, contribute to the health of the Lake Simcoe watershed and its communities.
This year, two programs connected to Bradford West Gwillimbury were honoured at the awards night, held Oct. 16 at Madsen’s Greenhouse in Newmarket.
Therapy in the Woods, winner of a Healthy Community Award, is a program of Children’s Development Services at Barrie’s Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH), created in partnership with the LSRCA education program, that takes place at Scanlon Creek Conservation Area in BWG.
In 2017, the five-week program for special needs children and their families was introduced to provide outdoor sensory opportunities and activities that boosted motor skills, communications skills and socialization, through play at Scanlon’s adventure play area.
The kids, referred to Therapy in the Woods through RVH’s pre-school therapy services, enjoyed obstacle courses, scavenger hunts, music, arts and crafts, story time and circle time in an inclusive atmosphere – eliminating barriers to participation and the enjoyment of nature.
The program grew out of a similar approach in York Region, where the Occupational Therapy/Physical Therapy Paediatric Network used outdoor programming, with great success. The RVH program added a speech therapy aspect as well, for an even more holistic approach.
“We’ve always had a goal, to get kids out of the clinic,” said Rhea Taplin, manager of child and youth outpatient services at RVH. RVH contacted Nicole Hamley at the LSRCA, and discovered synergies in the LSRCA approach to public education.
“It came together pretty quickly,” combining the therapies offered by the RVH pre-school program and the nature education team at Scanlon Creek, said Taplin.
The result, she said, is a program that addresses communications, speech, mobility and other developmental concerns through outdoor play.
Follow-up surveys have shown a positive impact.
“We’ve been able to show that families are getting outdoors more often, and visiting Scanlon,” Taplin said, noting that some families of children with special needs initially have concerns about taking their children outdoors, worried about safety. In fact, she said, “most kids do better outside.”
The program was launched in 2017, and continued this year, with about 18 kids taking part – some of them from Bradford. “There’s one running right now,” said Taplin, adding, “I would think we would continue… as long as families want it.”
The second award was a Healthy Water Award, presented to the Holland Marsh Drainage System Joint Municipal Services Board, a partnership between Bradford West Gwillimbury and King Township.
The board was recognized for its work designing the stormwater management ponds on both sides of the new Marshview Boulevard in Bradford – creating naturalized areas that reduce the flood potential in the low-lying area, and reduce the impact of runoff from the roadway – and improvements to the Morris Road drain.
The project included the reconstruction and clean-out of about 1,862 metres of existing channel of the Morris Drain, a new 875-m diversion channel, and 380 m of stormwater management ponds, according to Frank Jonkman, drainage superintendent.
The ponds provide sediment removal for runoff and alleviate flooding for a number of Bradford residences.
“This area also provides quantity control for approximately 30 per cent of Bradford’s uncontrolled stormwater,” with an innovative island feature that slows the water entering the pond, “allowing sediments to settle out, reducing the impact to the downstream waters," Jonkman said.
New fish habitat was also created by the project.
