On Wednesday, October 17, a number of members from green organizations met at the Living with Lakes Centre to discuss common priorities and develop action plans to address them. What follows below are the summary notes compiled by Naomi Grant from the Coalition for a Liveable Sudbury. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, let us know!

Green Gathering 2012
Wednesday, October 17
5:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Living with Lakes Centre

Short notes

For full notes, contact clsudbury@live.com.

Participants

Eleven people attended, bringing their own experience, and the perspective of: Eat Local Sudbury, The Foodshed Project , future food local council, Sudbury Naturalists Club, VETAC, Green Space Advisory Panel, Wolf Lake Coalition, Friends of the Roxborough Greenbelt, Greater Sudbury Watershed Alliance, Ramsey Lake Stewardship Committee, Source Protection Committee, Lakes Advisory Panel, Vermillion River Stewardship, Rainbow Routes Association, Sudbury Cyclists Union, Friends of Sudbury Transit, Coalition for a Liveable Sudbury, reThink Green.  Written information was also submitted from the Sudbury District Health Unit and the Social Planning Council on their local food work.

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Priorities decided on during  Spring 2012 Green Gathering

Participants agreed on four top overall priorities.  These were:

Local Food and Agriculture	Education and Skill Development Buying, preserving, growing local food.
Natural Environment	Protection of natural areas + implementation of green space plan
Water	Reduce the impact of development in the watershed
Transportation	Better on-road cycling infrastructure and maintenance of existing infrastructure.

It was also agreed that engaging and empowering people to take ownership and make a difference must be a priority in acting on these priorities.

Two action items completed from spring gathering:  ‘green’ on-line event calendar being maintained;  public education leaflet on the top priorities developed and distributed.

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Work directly related to these priorities (fall 2012-summer 2013)

Local Food and Agriculture	– formation of a Sudbury Food Policy Council – ELS membership drive – workshops on food preservation (Foodshed Project)
Natural Environment	– action on WolfLake – progress on Connect the Creek – GSAP setting priorities for green space acquisitions, and moving towards implementation of green space plan – input on OP review (GSAP, CLS)
Water	– GSWA developing a brochure and planning education and outreach around lakes and shorelines  (individual stewardship committees also doing outreach) – Public submissions on planning applications impacting water quality (CLS, GSWA, RLSC) – enhanced wetland near Maley Drive, shoreline planting and addressing creek bank erosion on Junction Creek (JCSC) – input on OP review (GSAP, CLS)
Transportation	– input on OP review and transportation study (SCU, SMAP, CLS)

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Events

Larger events which should incorporate all four top priorities:

Potential bike summit this spring, Earth month, Earth Day Festival, EcoTour, spring Green Gathering, Greenvilleat Northern Lights Festival Boreal, potential Connect the Creek event

Other events with opportunities to share the leaflets, and information on other green groups:

Seedy Sunday;  JCSC species at risk education day & school presentations; GSWA & reThink Green fundraisers; Yellow Fish road program (RLSC), RRA + SCU  bike safety sessions in schools, bike rodeos, CAN-BIKE courses, hike club(?)

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Action Plans

Local Food and Agriculture	– staff position to coordinate local food issues (SDHU: staff position for Food Policy Council;  SPC: community garden network coordinator) – ALL:  support ELS membership drive to connect people to local food, and local food skills (through ELS newsletter including all relevant workshops/opportunities) – ALL: incorporate local food and/or awareness of local food in all green events
Natural Environment	– GSAP:  pair each CAN and school with a green space to foster awareness and stewardship – GSAP:  look into establishing a land trust to fund green space acquisitions – GSAP:  distribute comprehensive input prepared for the OP review on what needs to be done to protect our natural areas – Connect the Creek & JCSC:  host a Connect the Creek event connecting people to nature along the creek – WLC, Sudbury Naturalists, CLS:  continue work onWolf Lake
Water	– GSWA:  public education on healthy watersheds and shorelines to be distributed through water stewards.  VRS to share outreach model for water stewards to successfully reach people on their lake or waterway. – Shoreline Watch – enforcing the rules that protect our shorelines and watersheds.  GSWA potentially central contact and document recurring issues. – Projects to naturalize shorelines or otherwise reduce development impact in the watershed.  (JCSC:  constructed wetland.  JCSC & FRG:  planting along shorelines, addressing creek bank erosion.  RLSC & CLS:  rain garden inRamseyLakewatershed.)
Transportation	– SCU and others:  advocacy for better on-road cycling infrastructure – SCU & RRA, with other partners:  driver & cyclist education to share the road safely

Overall

– Awareness and advocacy for the Official Plan Review – Getting the message out:  CAN’s, green events, wider community events, videos, spreading each others’ messages

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Meeting shared needs

–  Meetings have begun on pursuing a shared space for green groups.  reThink Green will keep us posted of future meetings and progress.

–  reThink Green is lead on two action items from last spring:  a working group to define shared needs and potentially look at opportunities for a staff position to be a central contact and community outreach person for all green groups;  look into workshops/resources with the Science Communication Program for effective public education

– reThink Green will also take the lead on hosting workshops to meet common skill needs

–  We can all make better use if existing resources:  common calendar at GreenConnectSudbury; CLS newsletter; Grassroots: Sudbury’s Media Collective; CANmail (where possible).; Volunteer Sudbury

– Support each other – encourage membership in each others’ groups; share each others’ brochures…

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Spring Green Gathering 2013

Will be held during Earth month, and possibly on Earth Day.  Will be a meeting of green groups, but also a public event with booths and short presentations.