Recipients To Receive STORM Coalition 25th Anniversary Award

AURORA, Ontario - Sept. 10, 2015 - PRLog -- Save The Oak Ridges Moraine Coalition (STORM) has hit a quarter-century milestone of protecting and preserving Ontario’s environmentally sensitive Oak Ridges Moraine (ORM) and the Oak Ridges Moraine Partnership for 2015 (Earthroots, EcoSpark, Ontario Nature and STORM) will be hosting a 25^th Anniversary Award Ceremony to celebrate.

The celebration takes place at Sheppard’s Bush in Aurora on Sunday, September 27^th, 2015 from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

STORM has selected 25 recipients to receive a 25^th Anniversary Oak Ridges Moraine Award for their contribution in creating the world-renowned legislation that protects the moraine.

There will also be family-focused interpretive hikes and demonstrations of what and why the moraine is such an ecological gem. The celebration is open to the public and includes a BBQ lunch and a live musical performance. This is a free event but donations are welcomed to support future initiatives.

“We are delighted to host a celebration on the moraine to recognize and award those who have made this world renowned conservation planning a reality,” said Debbe Crandall, STORM’s policy director. “There are so many moraine stories and history to be shared by such committed people from across the province- it will truly be a memorable day. We look forward to bringing everyone together to continue to celebrate this protected landscape.”

Since 1989, STORM has worked collaboratively with a host of different organizations to raise awareness of the sensitivity of the moraine’s ecology to impacts from urban development and other land uses such as forest destruction, aggregate extraction and infrastructure projects (roads and pipes) which has lead to better planning and management governance for the ORM.

Most recently STORM has partnered with Earthroots, EcoSpark and Ontario Nature in the Oak Ridges Moraine Partnership for 2015, a Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation-supported project, to participate in and positively influence the 2015 coordinated review of the three conservation plans and growth management plan.

“The Greenbelt Plan which includes the Oak Ridges Moraine and Niagara Escarpment plans is currently being reviewed by the Province. It is our hope that the spirit and intent of the Oak Ridges Moraine Plan will be upheld for future generations”, said Cindy Sutch, STORM Chair.

The Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan (ORMCP) is an ecologically based plan established in 2001 by the Ontario government to provide land use and resource management direction for the 190,000 hectares of land and water within the Oak Ridges Moraine Plan area. In 2005, the government created Greenbelt legislation that permanently protected close to 2 million acres within the Greater Golden Horseshoe.

To learn more about STORM Coalition and the Oak Ridges Moraine Partnership for 2015, please visit www.stormcoalition.org and www.marvellousmoraine.ca.

Quick Facts:

·       The Oak Ridges Moraine extends 160 kilometres from the Niagara Escarpment in the west to the Trent River system in the east and is on average 13 kilometres wide and 150 metres deep.

·       The ORM is a significant water recharge/discharge area, which directly provides drinking water to over 250,000 people and is the headwaters to over 65 watercourses flowing north into Georgian Bay, Lake Simcoe, Scugog, Rice Lake and south into Lake Ontario.

·       The Greenbelt’s Oak Ridges Moraine, Niagara Escarpment and natural heritage system of the Protected Countryside, form the ecological backbone of the region’s natural heritage system, which connect major corridors in southern Ontario and eastern North America.

RSVP is required: Please email info@stormcoalition.org or call 905.841.9200 by Sunday, September 13, 2015.