Posted by Scott Paterson on 2009/09/17

Category: News

WETLAND UNVEILING

Thursday September 17, 2009

On Thursday, September, 17, 2009, the official unveiling of The Royal Ashburn Golf Club's recently built wetland took place.  The weather was perfect and the event was a great success.  Attendees from all levels of Government including Federal Ministers Honourable Jim Flaherty, MP (Whitby - Oshawa),  Minister of Finance - Canada, The Honourable Donna H. Cansfield, MPP (Etobicoke Centre), Ontario Minister of Natural Resources- Canada, Her Worship, Mayor Pat Perkins of Whitby and many other prominent local Dignitaries were on hand to take a first look at the recently created site.

The mesage from all who attended was very clear;

"wetlands are invaluable to the ecological health of our environment and the efforts and leadership from individuals and businesses like The Royal Ashburn Golf Club are extremely important and much needed."

The wetland, which is located just south of the second tee, began construction in November 2008, and initially was built to help maintain wetlands and promote conservation.  Wilson Paterson, Owner of The Royal Ashburn, had always looked at the area and envisioned a beautiful area to create a small lake.  In the fall of 2008, with a partnership with Ducks Unlimited Canada, The Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters (OFAH) and Central Lake Ontario Conservation Authority (CLOCA) this dream finally came to fruition.  As the project started to take shape Wilson and his two sons, Scott and David, started to give further thought to the area and the wetlands project has since morphed into much more than a simple conservation project.  While conservation is still the focus, the plan now for the Wetlands is to use it to educate youth and give them an experience that kids today do not get enough of.  Today's youth, many of whom live in city areas, would rather play vidoe games and play indoors and are missing the opportunity to relate to nature on a first hand basis.  The Paterson family at The Royal Ashburn are aiming to make a difference and they should be commended for their insight and hardwork.

In the spring of 2009, in Partnerhsip with Ducks Unlimited, The Paterson family started a Ducks Unlimited Ashburn chapter and are running the first annual Wetland Conservation Golf Event on September 29, with the proceeds being donated to Youth Education.  A unique $1000.00 sponsorship package was created (a sponsorship Ducks Unlimited has already taken nationally) with Project Webfoot, a Ducks Unlimited youth initiative and allows the sponsor to pick a classroom of their choice and send them to a wetland for a day of education, including bus fare and a representative from Ducks Unlimted to educate the class.  To make an already feel good sponsorship even better, the sponsor also receives a donation receipt from Ducks Unlimited Canada for 100% of their donation.  As of September 17th, $46,000.00 has already been raised allowing 46 classrooms to visit a wetland.

The wetland initiative is the first of its kind undertaken by a golf course and demonstrates the golf industry's interest in and ability to protect our natural environment.  Through it's partnerships with prominent conservation organizations hundreds of species of flora and fauna have a suitable and sustainable habitat.  "Stewardship projects like this offer visibility to the general public creating awareness on the importance of wetlands in measuring watershed health," says Jamie Davidson, biologist for CLOCA.  "The Royal Ashburn Wetland Project is maintaining and enhancing our current 10% cover in the Lynde Creek watershed and that makes for better water quality for the communities downstream."

The Paterson family is extremely proud of the wetland project.  "It's important to our family to give back to nature and to the community," comments David Paterson, "Our family has always placed great importance on environmental conservation and felt very strongly that the Wetlands area was a wonderful way to promote conservation amongst young people." 

Like everything else in life, you never know what will happen next or where the next path may lead.  The Paterson family has a vision for the Wetland area.  Although they too cannot say with certainty what will happen next, they have set out to make a difference for your children and their communities. 

We can only look forward with anticipation to see what happens next.