Climate change action steady in Huron County says Wallis

BY SHAWN LOUGHLIN

Huron County Climate Change and Energy Specialist Derry Wallis has had a busy year implementing the county’s Corporate Climate Change Adaptation Plan with an eye towards updating the plan for the coming years and a number of goals slated for completion in 2025. 

 

Next year, Wallis told Huron County Council at its Dec. 4 meeting, she hopes to explore the development of a sustainable tourism plan, conduct an analysis on the feasibility of electric and hybrid vehicles for the Huron County fleet, and diversify staff engagement methods. Furthermore, she also hopes to continue a number of initiatives that are already in place and bearing fruit, such as the Climate Lens Tool, the Rural Roadside Strategy, the Single-Use Item Reduction Strategy, the High-Performance Building Standard and the Green Fleet Strategy.

 

The plan itself outlines 63 actions for the county, which includes 14 goals in five priority areas. The five-year plan’s priority areas are infrastructure and assets, health and safety, engagement and partnerships, resiliency and continuity, and innovation and growth.

 

This year, Wallis and her team completed a climate risk assessment for all of the county’s bridges and culverts, included the county forests in the county’s asset management plan (including their levels of service and replacement costs) and brought in new high-performance building items for the Sanders Street and Gibbons Street projects, such as additional insulation, heat pumps, triple-pane windows and more.

 

Also in 2024, two rural roadside pilot project sites were enhanced with 350 wildflower plus and the planting of 81 trees to increase pollinator habitat and reduce invasive species. The team also continued its work with the Regional Electric Vehicle Charging Network and Rural ReCharge with Bruce, Dufferin, Grey, Wellington and Perth Counties.

 

Wallis also created the draft Huron County Cycling Master Plan, updated the Conservation and Demand Management Plan to reflect reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and future energy conservation measures and created an internal invasive species management plan for county-owned properties.

 

Wallis told council that she has also developed a home energy savings guide and shared nearly 25 corporate sustainability blog posts on CountyNet for county staff members. She also noted that the county avoided 5,253 kilograms of community greenhouse gas emissions thanks to 12 Level 2 electric vehicle chargers.

 

All in all, Wallis says that the county has successfully achieved and initiated 53 climate actions (84 per cent of the total goal) over the past four years thanks to the hard work of staff, Huron County Council and the senior management team.
Several councillors commended Wallis on her hard work and all that had been achieved over the course of the year, thanking her for all she had accomplished.