Conservation Foundation receives Decade Award
Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority honours Conservation Foundation with Decade Award for work from 1970s onward
Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA) honours Ausable Bayfield Conservation Foundation (ABCF) with Decade Award, for work in 1970s and beyond, during ABCA’s 80th anniversary year (1946-2026)
Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA) has presented Ausable Bayfield Conservation Foundation (ABCF) with a Decade Award. The award recognizes ABCF contributions, to the watershed community, since the Conservation Foundation began in 1974. ABCA is presenting the Decade Awards, during ABCA’s 80th anniversary year in 2026, to honour deserving recipients for each decade of the conservation authority’s history.
Ray Chartrand is ABCA Chair.
“This year, during ABCA’s 80th anniversary, it’s a wonderful time to honour Ausable Bayfield Conservation Foundation for more than 50 years of work in the watershed community,” he said. “Thanks to the current and former ABCF Board of Directors and thanks to dedicated volunteers and generous donors, the Conservation Foundation has fostered partnerships and supported positive community action for more than five decades.”
Charles Miner is ABCF Chair.
“On behalf of the current and past directors of the ABCF board, I am honoured to accept this special Decade Award in honour of the Conservation Foundation’s work since 1974,” he said. “What we have accomplished has been achieved thanks to the dedication of hard-working volunteers and the generosity of the people in this watershed community who donate and who support our work and our fundraising events.”
The Ausable Bayfield Conservation Foundation is a community organization and corporation with its own Board of Directors as set out in the Province of Ontario Letters Patent (June 1, 1974). The ABCF is distinct from ABCA but the Foundation shares, with ABCA, the values of protecting water quality, soil health, and enhancement of habitat for all living things. The Foundation works together with the conservation authority and the community to help foster partnerships and support action to improve watersheds for healthier communities and healthier people.
The Conservation Foundation is a registered charitable organization. It raises funds, fosters partnerships, provides funds, and acquires conservation lands. The ABCF has established commemorative woods and supports accessible trails; wetlands and natural areas; conservation area improvements; and conservation education.
The Foundation partners with Exeter Lions Club on projects including the Conservation Auction charitable fundraiser and the family-friendly Rainbow Trout fishing derby the first Saturday in May. The ABCF facilitated creation of the Huron Tract Land Trust Conservancy, which is governed by its own volunteer Board of Directors, in the historic area of the Huron Tract.
The award to ABCF is the fourth Decade Award presented.
ABCA previously honoured:
- 1940s – Member municipalities, for vision in forming Ontario’s first conservation authority and for continued partnership in the decades that have followed.
- 1950s – Ontario Parks – For establishing and stewarding Pinery Provincial Park.
- 1960s – Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (formerly Department of Lands and Forests) for a lasting legacy of reforestation.
AUSABLE BAYFIELD CONSERVATION FOUNDATION RECOGNIZED WITH DECADE AWARD FROM ABCA – The Chair of the Board of Directors of Ausable Bayfield Conservation Foundation (ABCF), Charles Miner, accepts the fourth Decade Award presented, by Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA), during ABCA’s 80th anniversary year in 2026, from Ray Chartrand, Chair of the ABCA Board of Directors. During this year of celebration of eighty years (1946-2026) of conservation, in partnership with the community, in Ausable Bayfield watersheds, the ABCA is presenting one award for each decade of the conservation authority’s history.