"With Great Sadness": Bishop Mills Natural History Centre Letter
Submitted by Ben Liadsky on Mon, 2010-03-15 09:15
It's with great sadness that I write this letter regarding the population of Blanding's Turtles that lives in the area where the Terry Fox Drive extension (TFDE) is planned.
Twenty years ago, Blanding's Turtles were just “one of those things Fred Schueler worries about,” but now, thanks to the efforts of others who worry about them, including Ron Brooks and the COSEWIC Reptile Subcommittee, they have Species at Risk (SAR) status, and they've become a leading icon of conservation in Ontario. It's heart-breakingly sad that a change in official status should so change the regard with which the welfare of these magnificent Turtles is held, but that's the way it is – this is a society ruled by competition and regulation, rather than by scholarship and compassion.
However, scholarship and compassion having been embodied – by popular demand – in the regulations, it's now a crime against the law, as well as a crime against nature, to disturb them. While there may be ways to evade the letter of the law, any infringement of the habitat of Blanding's Turtles is clearly a violation
of the spirit of the recent SAR legislation in Ontario and Canada, and should be acknowledged as a violation by those who propose to commit the evasion.
When we were trying to bring the occurrence of Blanding's Turtles in the wetlands near Lester Road to the attention of planners, the Blanding's Turtles in Kanata were held up as a well-documented population that was assured of
protection. If levels of government are resolved to collude in seeing the TFDE forced through, it's imperative that the resulting roadway be walled off and mitigated so that Blanding's Turtles both have no access to the roadway, and
have plenty of wide, bridge-like wildlife underpasses by which they can cross under it. The Ontario Road Ecology Group will doubtless be able to provide design specifications if this unfortunate road must be built. If the road is built, the Bishops Mills Natural History Centre will monitor roadkill along it on every trip we take into the western portion of Ottawa, and will deposit the data with the Natural Heritage Information Centre.
On the broader issue of the habitat fragmentation that would be caused by putting a new road through the middle of such an area, it is important to see this from the prospective of both the local SAR and as part of our responsibility to reduce rather than expand the human “ecological footprint” on the Earth. The recent efforts to circumscribe urban expansion in Ottawa is a step towards recognition of this responsibility, but this circumscription must be firmly supported and seriously
augmented if eastern Ontario is be able to claim to understand what's going on in the world.
A Letter from the Bishop Mills Natural History Centre
It's with great sadness that I write this letter regarding the population of Blanding's Turtles that lives in the area where the Terry Fox Drive extension (TFDE) is planned.
Twenty years ago, Blanding's Turtles were just “one of those things Fred Schueler worries about,” but now, thanks to the efforts of others who worry about them, including Ron Brooks and the COSEWIC Reptile Subcommittee, they have Species at Risk (SAR) status, and they've become a leading icon of conservation in Ontario. It's heart-breakingly sad that a change in official status should so change the regard with which the welfare of these magnificent Turtles is held, but that's the way it is – this is a society ruled by competition and regulation, rather than by scholarship and compassion.
However, scholarship and compassion having been embodied – by popular demand – in the regulations, it's now a crime against the law, as well as a crime against nature, to disturb them. While there may be ways to evade the letter of the law, any infringement of the habitat of Blanding's Turtles is clearly a violation
of the spirit of the recent SAR legislation in Ontario and Canada, and should be acknowledged as a violation by those who propose to commit the evasion.
When we were trying to bring the occurrence of Blanding's Turtles in the wetlands near Lester Road to the attention of planners, the Blanding's Turtles in Kanata were held up as a well-documented population that was assured of
protection. If levels of government are resolved to collude in seeing the TFDE forced through, it's imperative that the resulting roadway be walled off and mitigated so that Blanding's Turtles both have no access to the roadway, and
have plenty of wide, bridge-like wildlife underpasses by which they can cross under it. The Ontario Road Ecology Group will doubtless be able to provide design specifications if this unfortunate road must be built. If the road is built, the Bishops Mills Natural History Centre will monitor roadkill along it on every trip we take into the western portion of Ottawa, and will deposit the data with the Natural Heritage Information Centre.
On the broader issue of the habitat fragmentation that would be caused by putting a new road through the middle of such an area, it is important to see this from the prospective of both the local SAR and as part of our responsibility to reduce rather than expand the human “ecological footprint” on the Earth. The recent efforts to circumscribe urban expansion in Ottawa is a step towards recognition of this responsibility, but this circumscription must be firmly supported and seriously
augmented if eastern Ontario is be able to claim to understand what's going on in the world.
Sincerely,
Frederick W. Schueler, Ph.D.
Research Curator
