(Bruce Dudley, Brad Dudley of Your Forest Canada and Marissa Okum of the Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority, spent October 7, 2024 cleaning up an area of Poole Creek off of Sweetnam Drive. Photos: Phil Sweetnam)
Bruce Dudley, his son Brad and his team at Your Forest Canada in collaboration with the Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority (MVCA) have completed a clean-up of approximately 4.2 kilometers of Poole Creek over the last three seasons with the first two seasons contributing to approximately 100 pounds (50 pounds per year) of waste which was mostly litter. The group did not count the biomass debris weight which was left in the forest to provide habitat and nutrients.
The latest clean-up on October 7th yielded approximately 500 pounds due to the presence of larger items and construction waste (for a total of 600 pounds over the three seasons). This does not include any additional waste collected through the separate efforts of the MVCA each year.
Bruce Dudley is recently retired, but “wants to remain active in the field he enjoyed during his career, while continuing with his commitment to make the environment better”. Over the past few years, Bruce has been working closely with the MVCA with clean-up efforts for Poole Creek.
It was Bruce who brought the need for a clean-up of this particular portion of Poole Creek to the attention of Phil Sweetnam, owner of PBS Sweetnam in Stittsville. The clean-up area was along Sweetnam Drive and close to Hazeldean Road. The area held several large pieces of debris, including a large steel vessel that was quite heavy and was potentially stuck in the sand in the middle of the creek. Bruce required access to the creek off of Sweetnam Drive and was granted the OK to access the creek through Phil’s property. CDS Sweetnam provided the trailer to remove the debris. The debris could very well have belonged to a former restaurant that had been located near the site.
Marissa Okum, Stewardship Coordinator of the Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority, shared with Phil Sweetnam, owner of PBS Sweetnam, “Thanks again for having us out earlier this week! It was a pleasure to work with you, Bruce, and Brad on this project at Poole Creek.”
Okum also shared, “this project has been a part of ongoing efforts from MVCA and community volunteers to clean-up Poole Creek and was completed thanks to a generous grant from Unsmoke Canada. To date, the group has removed 600+ pounds of garbage and litter from Poole Creek over a stretch of 4.2kms”.
Unsmoke Canada supports groups and volunteers who collect litter, with a focus on removing and properly disposing of cigarette butts, to maintain the beauty of Canada’s communities. 2024 marks the program’s fifth year and to celebrate, Unsmoke Canada gifted $125,000 in grants to community organizations across Canada. Unsmoke Canada is an initiative of Rothmans, Benson, and Hedges. To learn more, visit the Unsmoke Canada website at: //unsmoke.ca/en/community-initiatives”.
Although a good portion of Poole Creek has been cleaned up, there is still more kilometers to cover. Bruce says, “we still need to clean the remaining 2.3 kms from Hazeldean Road to the termination point at the Carp River. We are hoping to complete this before mid-November this year.” If you would like to help this year or on future clean-up projects you can get in touch with Marissa at the MVCA by email: https://mvc.on.ca/contact-us/.
As well as his volunteer activities and after retirement, Bruce Dudley created his environmental business – Your Forest Canada – and shares the work they perform and their mission. “Your Forest Canada’s primary mission is to plant 24 Miyawaki Mini-Forests in the Ottawa Valley by 2030. Mini-Forests are dense plantings of indigenous species that lead to rapid growth and dense foliage that resemble natural forests. Your Forest Canada is a partner of the Network of Nature which is supporting the planting of Mini-Forests across Canada. In order to help maintain and care for our Mini-Forests into the future we also offers tree services such as pruning and thinning. The equipment that Your Forest Canada utilizes is all electric to reduce the noise and carbon footprint of our operations, we like to say that your neighbours won’t even know that we are working. For the same reason we do not chip tree waste on site, all of our waste is taken to a remote site for chipping where we store the chips for use as Mini-Forest mulch, nothing is wasted. Our collective efforts are focused on building back nature while keeping our environmental footprint as small as possible.”