Deborah Martin-Downs

Last updated
B.E.S., M.Sc.
Deborah Martin-Downs
Born
Deborah Martin

Canada
NationalityCanadian
Alma materUniversity of Toronto, University of Waterloo
OccupationEcologist
Years active1980-
SpouseJim Downs

Deborah Martin-Downs is a Canadian aquatic biologist who specializes in fish and their environments. She has worked in ecology and conservation for over 30 years in Toronto both as a consultant and as director of the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA). She is currently the Chief Administrative Officer Credit Valley Conservation Authority and oversees environmental conservation projects in and around Toronto.

Contents

Biography

Martin-Downs grew up in Canada and became interested in environmental issues while in high school. [1] She completed a Bachelor of Science degree in biology and environmental studies at the University of Waterloo in 1979. [2]

She worked as an environmental consultant, first as an assistant aquatic biologist with Ecoplans and then as a part of the Toronto Area Watershed Management Strategy (TAWMS) until 1982, [3] when she received a scholarship from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council. [2] She returned to school and in 1984 earned a master's degree in zoology at the University of Toronto. [2] Her thesis evaluated the biological species in the Credit River and made recommendations for a water management strategy. After completing her degree, Martin-Downs gained approval from the Ministry of Environment to do a study similar to the one covered in her thesis for the Don River. [2]

Between 1985 and 1989 she organized and managed a project in conjunction with the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) and the Ministry of Natural Resources, which developed recreational resources at urban water sites. The program created educational and leisure activities for fishing resources with the aim of gaining community support for environmental rehabilitation of urban ponds and waterways. Facing budget cuts, she became an environmental consultant with Gartner Lee Associates in 1989, working on projects throughout Ontario, and in some locations in British Columbia, Newfoundland, and the Yukon. She became a principal at Garnter Lee in 1994 and headed their Environmental Planning Team [3] for a decade before becoming the Director of the Ecology Division at the TRCA in 2005. [2] [4] [5] During her tenure at the TRCA, Martin-Downs continued conservation efforts of the Don River, [4] [6] and worked with other governmental agencies to improve performance in "water and air quality, carbon emissions, waste diversion, land use and biodiversity". [7]

In August 2013, Martin-Downs became the Chief Administrative Officer of the Credit Valley Conservation Authority, [5] [8] [9] where she is working on a conservation development project for the border between Etobicoke and Mississauga as part of the Lakeview Waterfront Connection Project. [10] She is also a member of Ontario's Greenbelt Council since April 2018. [5]

Martin-Downs is a volunteer at the Muskoka Lakes Association, serving as vice president. [11]

In January 2018, Martin-Downs became the Director of the Walkerton Clean Water Centre. [9]

Martin-Downs received an honorary degree from Lakehead University in 2018. [12] [13]

A biography of Martin-Downs was published in 2018 called "Deborah Martin-Downs, Chief Administrative Officer at Credit Valley Conservation Authority". [14]

Selected publications

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don River (Ontario)</span> River in Canada

The Don River is a watercourse in southern Ontario that empties into Lake Ontario, at Toronto Harbour. Its mouth was just east of the street grid of the town of York, Upper Canada, the municipality that evolved into Toronto, Ontario. The Don is one of the major watercourses draining Toronto that have headwaters in the Oak Ridges Moraine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Humber River (Ontario)</span> River in Canada

The Humber River is a river in Southern Ontario, Canada. It is in the Great Lakes Basin, is a tributary of Lake Ontario and is one of two major rivers on either side of the city of Toronto, the other being the Don River to the east. It was designated a Canadian Heritage River on September 24, 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lakehead University</span> University in Thunder Bay, and Orillia, Ontario, Canada

Lakehead University is a public research university with campuses in Thunder Bay and Orillia, Ontario, Canada. Lakehead University, shortened to 'Lakehead U', is non-denominational and provincially supported. It has undergraduate programs, graduate programs, the Bora Laskin Faculty of Law, the only internationally accredited (AACSB) business school in northern Ontario, and is home to the western campus of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Etobicoke Creek</span> River in Greater Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Etobicoke Creek is a river in the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario, Canada. It is a tributary of Lake Ontario and runs from Caledon to southern Etobicoke, part of the City of Toronto. The creek is within the jurisdiction of the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mimico Creek</span> River in Ontario, Canada

Mimico Creek is a stream that flows through Brampton, Mississauga and Toronto in the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario, Canada. It is 33 kilometres (21 mi) long, is in the Great Lakes Basin, and is a tributary of Lake Ontario.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leslie Street Spit</span> Human-made headland in Ontario, Canada

The Leslie Street Spit, or officially the Outer Harbour East Headland, is a human-made headland in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, extending from the city's east end in a roughly southwesterly direction into Lake Ontario. It is about 5 kilometres (3 mi) long. The Spit is the result of five decades of lakefilling by the Toronto Port Authority. It was conceived as an extension of Toronto Harbour, and has evolved into a largely passive recreation area. Naturalization had not been planned but the process is now actively managed by the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority. A large portion of it is classified as an Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA) and it is recognized as an Important Bird Area.

The Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) is a conservation authority in southern Ontario, Canada. It owns about 16,000 hectares of land in the Toronto region, and it employs more than 400 full-time employees and coordinates more than 3,000 volunteers each year. TRCA's area of jurisdiction is watershed-based and includes 3,467 square kilometres (1,339 sq mi) – 2,506 on land and 961 water-based in Lake Ontario. This area comprises nine watersheds from west to east – Etobicoke Creek, Mimico Creek, Humber River, Don River, Highland Creek, Petticoat Creek, Rouge River, Duffins Creek and Carruthers Creek.

A conservation authority is a local, community-based natural resource management agency based in Ontario, Canada. Conservation authorities represent groupings of municipalities on a watershed basis and work in partnership with other agencies to carry out natural resource management activities within their respective watersheds, on behalf of their member municipalities and the Province of Ontario.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rouge National Urban Park</span> National urban park in Ontario, Canada

Rouge National Urban Park is a national urban park in Ontario, Canada. The park is centred around the Rouge River and its tributaries in the Greater Toronto Area. The southern portion of the park is situated around the mouth of the river in Toronto, and extends northwards into Markham, Pickering, Uxbridge, and Whitchurch-Stouffville.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keating Channel</span> River in Ontario, Canada

The Keating Channel is a 1,000-metre (3,300 ft) long waterway in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It connects the Don River to inner Toronto Harbour on Lake Ontario. The channel is named after Edward Henry Keating (1844-1912), a city engineer (1892-1898) who proposed the creation of the channel in 1893. The channel was built to connect Ashbridge's Bay to the harbour; later, the Don was diverted into the channel, and its river mouth infilled in the early 1910s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claireville Conservation Area</span>

The Claireville Conservation Area is a suburban conservation area located on the border of Peel Region and Toronto in Ontario, Canada. The major part of the area is located in Brampton. The park is a 343 hectare parcel of conservation land located on the west branch of the Humber River. It is one of the largest tracts of land owned by the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA). Claireville contains significant natural and cultural heritage features, and has recreation, tourism, and educational facilities and programs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conservation Ontario</span> Conservation authority in Ontario

Conservation Ontario is the network of Ontario’s 36 conservation authorities in Ontario, Canada. Conservation Authorities are local, watershed management agencies that deliver services and programs that protect and manage water and other natural resources in partnership with government, landowners and other organizations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toronto ravine system</span> Geographical formations in Toronto, Canada

The Toronto ravine system is a distinctive feature of the city's geography, consisting of a network of deep ravines, which forms a large urban forest that runs through most of Toronto. The ravine system is the largest in any city in the world, with the Ravine and Natural Feature Protection Bylaw protecting approximately 110 square kilometres (42 sq mi) of public and privately-owned land. The ravine system has been presented as a central characteristic of the city, with the size of the ravine system leading Toronto to be described as "a city within a park".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Credit Valley Conservation</span> Ontario based conservation authority

Credit Valley Conservation (CVC) is one of 36 conservation authorities in Ontario, Canada, responsible for protecting, restoring, and managing natural resources at the watershed level. CVC operates within the Credit River watershed and smaller adjacent watersheds that drain directly into Lake Ontario, as well as along a section of the Lake Ontario shoreline. Together, these areas make up CVC's jurisdiction. CVC is a member of Conservation Ontario.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Petticoat Creek</span> River in Ontario, Canada

Petticoat Creek is a stream in the cities of Pickering, Toronto and Markham in the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario, Canada. The creek is in the Great Lakes Basin, is a tributary of Lake Ontario, and falls under the auspices of the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority. Its watershed covers 26.77 square kilometres (10.34 sq mi), and the cumulative length of all its branches is 49 kilometres (30 mi). Land use in the watershed consists of 52% agricultural, 27% protected greenspace and 21% urban.

The Saugeen Valley Conservation Authority (SVCA) is a conservation authority in Ontario, Canada. It operates under the Conservation Authorities Act of Ontario. It is a corporate body, through which municipalities, landowners and other organizations work cooperatively to manage the Saugeen River watershed and natural resources within it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marie Curtis Park</span> Public park in Toronto, Canada

Marie Curtis Park is a public park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located at the mouth of the Etobicoke Creek on Lake Ontario in the Long Branch neighbourhood. Marie Curtis Park was built after the devastating floods of Hurricane Hazel in 1954 destroyed 56 homes and cottages on the site, leaving 1,868 persons homeless and 81 dead. It is named after Marie Curtis, the reeve of Long Branch at the time of its construction. Long Branch at the time was a separate village; it's now amalgamated into the City of Toronto government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heart Lake Conservation Area</span>

Heart Lake Conservation Park (HLCA) occupies 169 hectares in the Etobicoke Creek watershed, within the City of Brampton, Ontario. It is owned and managed by the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toronto waterway system</span>

The Toronto waterway system comprises a series of natural and man-made watercourses in the Canadian city of Toronto. The city is dominated by a large river system spanning most of the city including the Don River, Etobicoke Creek, Highland Creek, Humber River, Mimico Creek and Rouge River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duffins Creek</span> River in Ontario, Canada

Duffins Creek is a waterway in the eastern end of the Greater Toronto Area in Ontario, Canada. The watershed of the Duffins Creek is part of the Durham Region and the York Region.

References

  1. ↑ "Tomorrow's environmental leaders". Ontario Nature. 2016-05-02. Retrieved 2019-02-07.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Boon, Sarah (18 December 2014). "Women in Science Series: Deborah Martin-Downs". Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Canadian Science Publishing. Archived from the original on 22 November 2015. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  3. 1 2 "Our Featured Biologist Deborah Martin-Downs, Gartner Lee Limited" (PDF). Newsletter of the American Fisheries Society Southern Ontario Chapter. 2 (1). Toronto, Ontario, Canada: American Fisheries Society Southern Ontario Chapter: 2. January 2002. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  4. 1 2 "Don Mouth Naturalization & Port Lands Flood Protection Project" (PDF). Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Toronto and Region Conservation Authority. 26 July 2005. p. 3. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 "Greenbelt Council Membership". news.ontario.ca. Retrieved 2018-11-16.
  6. ↑ "Salmon making their way up the dirty Don". Toronto, Ontario, Canada: National Post. Retrieved 8 November 2015.[ permanent dead link ]
  7. ↑ Lu, Vanessa (1 February 2011). "Air quality, carbon emissions improve in GTA: report card". The Star. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  8. ↑ "Deborah Martin-Downs". New York City, New York: Bloomburg Business Profiles. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  9. 1 2 "Deborah Martin-Downs". Walkerton Clean Water Centre. Archived from the original on 2019-02-09. Retrieved 2019-02-07.
  10. ↑ "Publicly accessible conservation area could be coming to the Etobicoke-Mississauga border". Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada: Etobicoke Guardian. 3 November 2015. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  11. ↑ "Our Team". www.mla.on.ca. Retrieved 2019-02-07.
  12. ↑ "400 degrees handed out during Lakehead University convocation ceremony (4 photos)". OrilliaMatters.com. Retrieved 2018-11-16.
  13. ↑ "'Exceptional members of our community' to be feted at Lakehead". OrilliaMatters.com. 30 May 2018. Retrieved 2019-02-07.
  14. ↑ www.amazon.com https://www.amazon.com/Deborah-Martin-Downs-Administrative-Conservation-Authority/dp/B07BTMNJ9H . Retrieved 2019-02-07.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
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