Get Involved

Why Volunteer

• Learn a new skill and meet new people;
• Support local conservation projects;
• Get outdoors and enjoy some physical activity;
• Share your knowledge and skills with others;
• Earn community service hours for your high school diploma;
• Gain job experience and training.

Who Can Volunteer

• Individuals;
• Co-op students;
• Community groups;
• School groups;
• Corporate groups.

If you are interested in volunteering with the NPCA, please send an email to volunteering@npca.ca .

Yellow Fish Road

The Yellow Fish Road program is a nation-wide environmental education initiative launched by Trout Unlimited Canada in 1991.

Thousands of Canadian youth have participated in the Yellow Fish Road program to learn about their water supply and the impact their community has on clean water. Participants remind their community of the importance of clean water and properly disposing of hazardous wastes by painting yellow fish near storm drains and distributing fish-shaped brochures.

Since the program’s inception in 1991 Youth Groups all over Canada have:

• distributed 1 million fish hangers
• marked 100,000 storm drains across the country with 60,000 volunteers participating

Yellow Fish Road™ is effective because children reinforce the knowledge they have gained by taking action to help ensure clean water in their community. Yellow Fish Road has been initiated internationally – including countries like the US, Australia and Scotland.

What is a Storm Drain?

Stormwater is the water from rainstorms or melting snow that drains into catch basins or storm drains. Storm drains or catch basins are located along the edges of roadways. Rainwater is collected by the storm drains and flows in an underground pipe system exiting via an outfall into local creeks, streams, rivers or lakes. Water flowing over lawns, driveways, gardens, roadways and sidewalks picks up debris and flows untreated into the storm drains.

Why is Yellow Fish Road important?

In most municipalities, water and materials entering storm drains do not get filtered at a water treatment plant before entering our streams and rivers. Unlike the drains in our sinks and toilets, stormwater drains directly into the local waterbody.

Here’s How it Flows:

• Non-point source pollution is pollution spread over a large area, like storm water runoff. This type of pollution is hard to trace and is the largest contributor to urban water pollution.
• Hazardous materials, such as pesticides, soap, motor oil and fertilizers that enter storm drains will end up in our streams and rivers. This can create an unhealthy environment for aquatic animals, such as fish.
• Hazardous household wastes can also affect water quality and result in unsafe drinking water in our homes.

Why Yellow Fish Road?

Fish, and in particular trout, are a remarkable indicator species. Trout can act as the “canaries in the coal mine”. Once trout are unable to frequent an area, it is an indicator that the water in that area is unsafe for human use.

How does the program work?

The Yellow Fish Road program is a fun, participatory way to teach the importance of clean water and to demonstrate how decisions made by one person can make a difference to a whole community. The program has two components:

• Learning: participants find their local water supply then explore how hazardous wastes can find their way into this water source.
• Action: participants “make a difference” by painting yellow fish near storm drains to serve as a reminder that any materials entering the storm drain affect our water sources. Participants also distribute “fish hangers” on doors in the neighbourhood to educate the community about their actions and the rationale behind Yellow Fish Road™.

The impact of this program can be enormous. If the Yellow Fish Road™ prevents one person from pouring a litre of paint down a storm drain this directly benefits the community’s water source for drinking water, commerce, and recreation. It also provides tremendous benefits to animal and aquatic species who use the river for food, shelter and reproductive purposes.

What’s next?

Choose a neighbourhood along with possible dates for painting and contact the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority.

The NPCA coordinates the Yellow Fish Road™ program on behalf of its partners, the Cities of Welland, St. Catharines, Thorold, Niagara Falls, Port Colborne, the Towns of Pelham, Lincoln, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Grimsby and Fort Erie, the Townships of West Lincoln and Wainfleet and the Regional Municipality of Niagara.

The NPCA will provide further information, equipment and advice on how to organize your Yellow Fish Road day. For more information, email volunteering@npca.ca

Native Plants & Trees

The Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority is committed to using native trees and shrubs at community engagement and outreach projects such as community plantings, green corporate initiatives, and internal and external events.

Every year, more than 150 species of plants and animals become extinct globally. By incorporating natural areas on your property, pollutants are filtered from the surface, erosion is reduced, flooding is slowed and water can keep flowing in our creeks and streams throughout the year. Your efforts to improve and protect local water quality, will help protect wildlife populations and species diversity for future generations.

If you are interested in hosting or participating at a community planting, partnering with the NPCA on a new project, or are a corporation looking for green ways to give back to your community, get in touch with our Community Engagement team at volunteering@npca.ca

How To Help Local Pollinators

What is a pollinator?

A pollinator is an insect, mammal, or bird that helps carry pollen from the male part of the flower (stamen) to the female part of another flower (stigma). Pollination is the fertilization process of many plants that allows them to produce fruits, seeds and young plants. Local pollinators include bees, butterflies, moths, bats, and birds. There are as many as 150 different species of bees found in the Niagara Peninsula, and approximately 400 species in Ontario, including mining, leaf-cutter, bumblebees, tiny sweat bees and carpenter bees. Approximately 75 per cent of flowering plants depend on pollinators, including many of the fruits and vegetables we eat. 

Gardening for Pollinators

Pollinators, like most living things, need shelter, food and water. Some are specialists and only feed on specific species of plant, while others are generalists. The best way to attract pollinators to your garden is to plant a diversity of native plants – various colours, flower shapes, blooming times and species.

Native plants are indigenous to a specific area, have evolved there through thousands of years of changing geological conditions which have shaped their physical features and biology. This natural evolution makes the use of native plants ideal for local climate and environmental conditions. Because of this, they do not require additional watering and thrive without the application of pesticides and fertilizers. They are the best and most desirable food source for local species of pollinators and other wildlife.

You can attract pollinators by establishing a pollinator garden, or simply by adding native plants to your existing garden, water garden, potted display and even your vegetable garden. Leave flower stems and leaf litter in the garden over the winter to provide shelter for insects. Wait until there is no danger of frost to clean out the garden in the spring. If you are applying mulch to your garden, leave some areas of bare soil for solitary ground nesting bees.

To find a local native trees, plants, and shrubs supplier, visit the Watershed Health page.