[ad_1]
Breadcrumb Trail Links
Local News
Article content
There have been five decades of successes, but they don’t mitigate the challenges ahead.
The Essex Region Conservation Authority (ERCA) will celebrate those years of achievements at its 50th annual general meeting on Thursday. But while commemorating the past, it’s also preparing for the future.
Article content
Chief among the upcoming issues, according to ERCA’s chief administrative officer, is the “fallout of Bill 23.”
Advertisement 2
Article content
Tim Byrne has strong words about Ontario’s recently enacted More Homes Built Faster Act (Bill 23). He argues it will have a drastic impact on the ability of conservation authorities to keep a check on developments that could threaten wetlands and waterways in the years to come.
“There’s nothing about the process that sped up anything,” said Byrne, who has been with ERCA for 39 years. “As a matter of fact, it’s corrupted the process.
“You can’t have the fox guarding the henhouse. You need to have oversight, and you need to have oversight on environmental features and environmental practice.
“And to think — wink, wink — the same ones who are trying to build in the area will be responsible for managing and preserving habitat, that’s idiotic.”
ERCA, which actually hit the half-century milestone in July, holds its annual general meeting Thursday night at the Essex Civic Centre. The night will include announcement of the 2023 Conservation Award Winners and a review of ERCA’s 50th year of conservation.
The organization oversees a local watershed covering 1,681 square kilometres in nine municipalities. It also manages 4,200 acres of conservation areas and natural lands, along with the John R. Park Homestead.
Advertisement 3
Article content
Byrne said ERCA’s successes over the years have been “immeasurable.”
Those efforts included mapping the region’s flood-prone areas, assembling thousands of acres of land to be “preserved and protected in perpetuity,” and creating conservation programming that is “renowned across the country.”
“We have facilitated tens of millions of dollars being brought back to this watershed,” said Byrne. “We’ve done it with our member municipalities working collegially with each other.
“Municipal boundaries are erased when you deal with things based on a watershed principle. When you do that, you get everybody from Windsor to Leamington working with each other, from Amherstburg to Lakeshore, and everything in between.”
The year ahead will include continuation of restoration activities at John R. Park Homestead, Byrne said. ERCA is also close to completing flood and erosion mapping for the entire Great Lakes shoreline in this region, an update to work first completed in the agency’s infancy.
“We’ve gone back in to reassess and account for the development that’s taken place to ensure that existing development is protected,” said Byrne.
Advertisement 4
Article content
“Basically, erosion is an ongoing insidious process. The mapping that was done in 1976 is so dated now. So the update to the mapping confirms rates of erosion, which vary around the shoreline.”
But Byrne said one of the biggest issues currently facing ERCA, and the natural resources it protects, is the More Homes Built Faster Act (Bill 23). The legislation, part of the government’s plan to add 1.5 million new homes in Ontario by 2031, includes changes that will affect the role of conservation authorities.
Critics say the legislation will pave the way for further destruction of wetlands, lead to increased development without public consultation, and weaken conservation authorities in part by reducing or eliminating their role in development planning.
“Unfortunately, the province sees fit to limit our engagement with our municipal partners through planning for natural heritage,” said Byrne.
“I think that is the wrong decision, but I’m an administrator. I am not elected. It would have to be the electorate that would change that if change is warranted.
“And I believe change is warranted.”
Advertisement 5
Article content
Recommended from Editorial
Conservation authority marks 50 years of local watershed protection
Funding crunch hits two longtime programs at ERCA
Local protest group expresses opposition to Bill 23
Don’t blame us, ERCA says over slow start to massive development near airport
Conservation authorities have historically made regulations regarding development and interference or alteration it brings to wetlands, shorelines, and watercourses. They also provided studies and other commentary to municipalities to be included in agreements with developers.
“Because we hold thousands of acres of environmentally significant property, we need to have arborists, biologists, terrestrial ecologists, foresters,” said Byrne.
“We have those people on staff to allow us to make the best decisions we can about how we manage those resources that we are holding.
“Municipalities are not equipped with that kind of personnel. So now to think that municipalities by themselves will make decisions and be able to have the information available to them about that type of resource management — it’s simply not there.”
twilhelm@postmedia.com
Article content
Share this article in your social network
[ad_2]
Source link
