Nature making a comeback in cities: biologist

Nature needs protecting — and nowhere more than in cities, which is where most Canadians get their contact with wild things, says the Nature Conservancy of Canada.

And it has good news. The nature on your urban doorstep is in better health than you may think.

The conservancy, which buys and protects natural areas, will hold a public event in Ottawa on Tuesday evening to talk about urban nature.

“We want people to come and learn and participate in the discussion about why nature is important in cities,” says Dan Kraus, the organization’s senior conservation biologist. “For a long time, and probably still for most people, we see nature and cities as separate.

“If you want to see nature, you go to a nature reserve.

“But there’s a big transition happening. It’s partly because the air and water in our cities is much better than it was a couple of generations ago. So across Canada, we’re really seeing some of the biggest and most ambitious ecological restoration projects happening within our urban areas. And then wildlife is returning.”

It may not seem this way as cities undertake big developments, he said. We cut down forests, pave over wetlands, as Ottawa is doing today for Phase 2 of the LRT.

But he argues that even development can have a beneficial effect — if cities are smart enough to demand it.

“There are examples of where those infrastructure projects have resulted in compensation and actually made things better,” he said.

For example, Windsor, where a new parkway and new bridge to

Detroit were packaged with restoration work on other lands. “Holy, did they ever restore and connect and create these new (natural) areas.

“I’m hoping that project raises the bar for infrastructure projects. It should not just be ‘minimize your harm,’ it should be ‘make it better than it was.’”

Another example, Vancouver, which covered over an old landfill, planted trees, and made an area rich in bird species.

“More and more people are demanding that if places are lost because of urban development, that they should be replaced.”

The result is that Canada is not making improvements in the quality of forests or prairies, but it is improving natural areas of cities, he said.

That doesn’t just mean having more raccoons.

“There are also species like peregrine falcons … or Cooper’s hawks and pileated woodpeckers” in cities. Toronto has rare piping plovers breeding on its busy beach, jealously protected by neighbours.

Tuesday’s event on urban nature will have a panel moderated by former Riverkeeper Meredith Brown at the Ottawa Art Gallery, 50 Mackenzie King Bridge (at Waller Street). Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the presentation begins at 7 p.m.

Tickets ($20 for general admission, $15 seniors and students) are available at the door.

More than 200 tickets are already sold.

The nature conservancy will also announce its 10 top “nature hot spots” in Ottawa.

“In Ottawa, it was actually quite easy to find those places,” largely because we have a Greenbelt, he noted. tspears@postmedia.com twitter.com/TomSpears1