Watershed District adds valuable areas for healthy watershed in South-Central Manitoba

Baldur, Manitoba (February 3, 2022) -- The Central Assiniboine Watershed District (CAWD) has expanded to include three new Manitoba municipalities: Elton, North Cypress - Langford, and Whitehead, bringing the CAWD’s total municipal membership number to 20.

Jeff Elder, CAWD Chair, says the move will be a great benefit toward effective soil and water conservation on productive agricultural lands.

“With the inclusion of those new municipalities into the district, that almost brings the entire watershed into the program,” said Elder, who farms 2600 acres north of Wawanesa, Manitoba. “This will allow for better watershed management and stronger communication for neighbouring municipalities through watershed district meetings on water related issues.”

The addition of the three Rural Municipalities became reality early in 2020 after CAWD was one of a group of 14 Watershed Districts created with the proclamation of the Watershed Districts Act. This resulted in an organizational name and boundary change for the CAWD, a grassroots organization led by a board of directors and a staff of watershed-focused land management professionals. CAWD works with local farmers, governments and conservation and agricultural groups to improve soil and water management in the CAWD by designing and offering programs delivered by farmers on their farm lands.

According to Neil Zalluski, CAWD manager, weather events such as the heavy rains last summer northwest of Brandon and the force of that intense downpour coming off the fields created issues as it drained towards the Assiniboine River. Zalluski believes the addition of the three new RMs will be valuable assets to have onside from water and land management perspective in times of flood, drought and other pressures that might cause impact across the CAWD.

“One of the program categories we are really excited to get working on with our new partners is wetland conservation, since our western area is peppered with potholes,“ said Zalluski. “We can provide landowner incentives to not drain those class 1 & 2 wetlands while still being able to continue to crop through them. Such projects will reduce the peak flows in the future during major water events. By working together with landowners to limit possible wetland drainage, we can also reward the land owner for their management practices that keep water on the land in wetlands and thereby reducing downstream damage and impacts.”

Zalluski says funding and programming is through the province’s Growing Outcomes in Watersheds program and the Conservation Trust and GROW Trust which is administered by the Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation as part of the Province’s Climate and Green Plan. With the establishment of the Conservation Trust, the GROW Trust and the Wetlands GROW Trust, Manitoba created new and permanent revenue sources for conservation activities in Manitoba. CAWD, says Zalluski, is well-positioned to deliver these projects and programs.

“The Trusts’ focus is on conservation and restoration of natural areas in the rural landscape for a number of conservation purposes: addressing floods and droughts, water quality, wildlife habitat and biological diversity, carbon sequestration and improving Manitoba citizens’ connection to nature,” says Zalluski. “With access to funds for farmers in our watershed, CAWD can add to existing programs in the following categories: buffer strips, cover crops, riparian, uplands, water retention, and wetland conservation which will help us all build resilience to floods, droughts, climate change, nutrient loading, and more.”

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Working out of the CAWD office in Baldur, Manitoba, CAWD works within parts and across the rural municipalities of: Argyle, Cornwallis, Glenboro-South Cypress, Grassland, Grey, Lorne, Minto-Odanah, Norfolk-Treherne, Oakland-Wawanesa, Oakview, Pembina, Prairie Lakes, Riverdale, Sifton, Souris-Glenwood, Victoria, City of Brandon, Elton, North Cypress - Langford, and Whitehead .

For More Information:

Central Assiniboine Watershed District

205 Elizabeth Ave. East

Box 160

Baldur, MB

R0K 0B0

1-877-535-2139

centralassiniboinewd@gmail.com