In the ongoing developments at Randwood, there are references to both One Mile Creek and to the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority. As background for those interested, here’s more information about a group dedicated to protecting the creek.
Friends of One Mile Creek
One Mile Creek flows through Old Town, including on the Randwood Estate property, to its outlet about 1.6 kilometres (1 mile) to the west of where the Niagara River flows into Lake Ontario.
The One Mile Creek watershed is relatively small, with a drainage area to the creek outlet being approximately 5.2 square kilometres. The creek drains a highly urbanized watershed area and flows through mostly private property. The headwaters of the creek is in the area now occupied by Peller Estates Winery.
More information about protecting our natural heritage is available at the new website of Friends of One Mile Creek, a group formed in 2003 by landowners abutting One Mile Creek and other interested individuals because of concerns regarding the condition of the creek. Those interested are encouraged to sign up for free as a Friend of One Mile Creek at friendsofonemilecreek.org.
Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority
The Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (NPCA) is one of 36 conservation authorities in Ontario. Each is a local public-sector agency that delivers programs and services to manage natural resources and protect people and their properties from water-related natural hazards such as floods and erosion.
Each conservation authority’s boundaries are determined by its watershed, instead of by the boundaries of its municipalities. A watershed is an area of land that drains or “sheds” the rain or snow it collects into a common body of water such as a marsh, stream, river or lake. Therefore, the water bodies into which water from an area drains determine the boundary of each watershed.
The province began creating conservation authorities after World War II in response to flooding, erosion and deforestation occurring in Ontario because of poor land, water and forestry practices in the 1930s and 1940s. The Conservation Authorities Act (Act), passed in 1946, states the objective of conservation authorities is “to provide, in the area over which [they have] jurisdiction, programs and services designed to further the conservation, restoration, development and management of natural resources.” More information is available at npca.ca.