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Conservation Group
A 'special interest' group of South Peel N.C. members interested in conservation and environmental
issues both locally and further afield in Ontario. Reports on these meeting
are provided to members
attending meetings, in articles in the Club Newsletter and to the board at their regular meetings.
Meetings are held on a regular basis.
Please contact us via e-mail for more information. (mail@spnc.ca)
The following text provides information on the 'hot topics' currently being
monitored by this group on behalf of the Club ...
Coalition on the Niagara Escarpment (CONE)
SPNC is a member of CONE (Coalition on the Niagara Escarpment). CONE is a coalition of conservation
organizations, community groups and concerned citizens dedicated to the protection of the Niagara
Escarpment, a World Biosphere Reserve. CONE acts as a watchdog agency for harmful land use on the
Escarpment, works to ensure its protection, and undertakes educational activities to heighten public
understanding and appreciation of the Escarpment.
In its 30-year history CONE has successfully blocked attempts to open up the Escarpment lands for urban
development, and lobbied for stronger protections in the Niagara Escarpment Plan. Today there are urgent
issues such as expressways, quarries, commercial water-taking and urban sprawl. For instance:
Nelson Aggregate is moving forward with plans for a new quarry on Mount Nemo, on the north bluffs near Burlington.
This new licence application is opposed by CONE and PERL (Protecting Escarpment Rural Land), a member of CONE,
with the help of singer Sarah Harmer. They advocate adopting a Natural Heritage System, and upgrading the
Escarpment Rural areas to Escarpment Protected designation over the whole of Mount Nemo, which possesses abundant
species at risk and provincially significant head-water ecosystems.
To read CONE's submission, please visit the
CONE website.
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Source Water Protection
Our drinking water comes from lakes, rivers or underground sources (aquifers). All of these sources of
water are linked through the water cycle. Drinking water source protection is about protecting both the
quality and the quantity of these drinking water sources, now and into the future. Under the Clean Water
Act, Source Water Protection Committees have been established across Ontario and are working toward
developing Source Protection Plans. This process will include consultation with municipalities,
conservation authorities, property owners, farmers, industry, businesses, community groups, public
health officials and the public to come up with workable, effective solutions. Each source protection
plan will set out policies on how significant drinking water threats will be reduced or eliminated, who
is responsible for taking action, timelines and how progress will be measured.
There are 2 Source Protection Committees in our area; their websites provide background information and
current activities:
Halton-Hamilton
Credit Valley - Toronto - Central Lake Ontario
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Boreal Forest Conservation
Ontario's Northern Boreal Forest is still a largely intact ecosystem that is home to a variety of species
including woodland caribou and wolverine that require large undisturbed areas to survive. It provides the
breeding grounds for 250 million birds including most of Ontario's migratory songbirds. This forested area
provides an immense carbon storage area through soil, peatland and vegetation. Innumerable lakes and
wetlands contain vast quantities of freshwater and the water table is retained due to intact forested areas.
Many conservationists oppose development of this area without prior establishment of broad scale land use
planning which includes setting aside large interconnected tracts of protected areas free of lumbering and
mining to sustain natural habitat. Consultations with First Nations people whose traditional lands are
affected need to occur.
For further information the following websites can be visited:
Ontario Nature
Canadian Boreal Initiative
Boreal Songbird Initiative
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