The Niagara Parks Commission (NPC) is pleased to have received the Ontario Parks Association’s (OPA) Protecting Tomorrow Today award. The presentation took place on Feb. 21 at the Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens and School of Horticulture. NPC chairman Jim Williams accepted the award from OPA executive director Eric Trogdon and life member and former OPA president Tom Clancy (1975-1976).

NPC was selected for the award in recognition of its foresight and excellent management of the Niagara Parks System, which encompasses original natural beauty, strategic development and high quality environmental maintenance and historic preservation initiatives.

Following the award presentation, Niagara Parks naturalist, Robert Ritchie, presented a lecture regarding environmental projects conducted by NPC over the past six years. NPC’s parks department preserves, protects, restores and rehabilitates the flora and fauna of its natural heritage areas for the benefit of citizens and wildlife. The projects focus on protecting and restoring biodiversity in the Niagara River corridor ecosystem, despite increasing pressures from threats such as invasive alien species, global warming, expanding human population and air and water quality issues, among many other challenges.

Caption: Left to right: Eric Trogdon, executive director, OPA; Debbie Whitehouse, executive director of Parks, NPC; Jim Williams, chairman, NPC