The Guide is currently under review through a project with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs. This project being funded through the Knowledge Translation & Transfer (KTT) program is entitled – The Ontario Rural Landowners Stewardship Guide: Extending Its Application across Rural Ontario – Review, Refinement, and Promotion.
The Project timeline is from January 2011 to April 2013. There is several objectives for the project:
1) Review the progress of the Ontario Rural Landowners Stewardship Guide in informing and educating rural non-farm property owners in being good environmental stewards;
2) Examine why or why not the Stewardship Councils and Conservation Authorities across Ontario have adopted the guide for specific use in their locales;
3) Through contact with Stewardship Councils, Conservation Authorities, and user groups, define what has worked and what requires additional assistance to make the guide useful to all;
4) Based on input and feedback, make revisions to the Guide, and promote its use to Stewardship Councils, Conservation Authorities, and appropriate NGOs in Ontario; and
5) To link together those who are using the Guide in a Community of Practice.
The project ties into OMAFRA’s priorities to promote strong economic, social, and environmentally healthy rural communities.
During 2011, a survey was completed of users/non-users of the Guide across Ontario. From this review a comprehensive inventory of various versions of the Guide has been completed. Because the guide was developed with a flexible design, it has been adapted to fit a variety of locales, including versions ranging from Lake Simcoe to Lake Superior, to a specialized version for horse owners. Please see link below for a summary of the survey information compiled to date.
Early in 2012, several workshops were held with interested users of the Guide to explore what works and what needs to be improved to keep the Guide relevant and useful. Representatives from several stewardship organizations across Ontario participated in these discussions.
A number of Guide promotional outreach events were held during the course of the year, i.e. presentation on the Guide’s use to an international audience at the American Planning Association conference in Los Angeles, CA.; poster presentation on ‘Community Engaged Scholarship’ to the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada meeting in Guelph, ON.
Work has begun on exploring the use of differing organizations that could take on the continuing promotion function of an updated Guide in 2013 and beyond. Discussions have taken place with the Stewardship Network of Ontario and the Centre for Land and Water Stewardship at the University of Guelph.
Guide updating work has been commenced with information supplied by various stewardship organizations in Ontario, e.g. information from the Lake Simcoe Guide, and Equine Guelph’s Horse Owners Guide, Carolinian Canada ‘Species at Risk’ information.
Several meeting have been held to examine enhanced uptake mechanisms for the Guide. These have included discussions with the Stewardship Network of Ontario and a best practice review of how a parallel Guide, the Environmental Farm Plan is being used and marketed across Canada, i.e. work completed by PRA Inc. for the Ontario Farm Environmental Coalition concerning mechanisms to measure performance, improving effectiveness and increasing the participation of the EFP
A new updated edition of the Guide is being prepared. New information on recent government initiatives is being included (e.g. clean water, species at risk, climate change adaptation).
A mass-marketing effort will be completed once an updated Stewardship Guide is compiled. A web host for contact and follow-up information will be developed (most likely at this website address). The Guide will then be promoted to all known stewardship/environmental groups currently active in rural Ontario.