Distinguished Achievement Award

Landscape Ontario, a group representing many of Ontario’s winter maintenance professionals, shares the Conservation Authority’s concerns about the impacts of winter salt and maintenance on water quality, and the need to protect freshwater resources while ensuring public safety. Over the past few years, Landscape Ontario has played a key role in the Freshwater Roundtable, developing and delivering a curriculum for contractors to ensure safe winter site maintenance with minimal environmental impact.

A vital part of Landscape Ontario’s role is educating its members on best practices (including salt use), new types of equipment, and new materials that can be used for maintaining safe conditions during winter. They provide numerous resources on their website and host Snowposium, an annual conference for snow and ice professionals, suppliers and manufacturers to share vital information.

In October 2023, Landscape Ontario co-hosted a Salt Forum with the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority. This event gathered Landscape Ontario members, Conservation Authority staff, and municipal staff throughout southern Ontario to discuss the operational realities of winter maintenance from the perspective of clients, contractors and risk management professionals. The forum covered environmental and liability perspectives, the importance of accurate weather forecasting, and best practices. Additionally, a presentation highlighted New Hampshire’s regulatory approach to reduce winter salt use.

Landscape Ontario has been a leader and strong advocate for regulatory changes that would provide liability limitations for properly trained and certified winter maintenance contractors. Like the Conservation Authority, Landscape Ontario believes that such regulatory change, similar to the New Hampshire approach, would be a ‘game changer’ for winter maintenance operations, driving contractors and their clients to following best practices and thereby reducing chloride loading in lakes, rivers, and aquifers.