NPCA cuts worry groups
Despite Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority assurances that it remains committed to the health of the region’s waterways, several local environmental groups remain concerned after eight frontline workers were cut last week.
Dennis Edell, who heads the local chapter of Trout Unlimited Canada, said his organization was “blindsided” by the job cuts.
Edell said he reached out to NPCA board chair Sandy Annunziata two weeks ago, when he heard rumblings that the organization’s ecorestoration program was being re-evaluated.
He remembered telling Annunziata at the time: “‘We hope you guys keep it,’” referring to the eco-restoration program. “And he said, ‘Don’t worry.’” Despite the assurance, Edell said he became very worried a few days later when the axe fell on the jobs of two planners from NPCA’s watershed management program, three watershed restoration workers, two ecological technicians and one event co-ordinator.
The conservation authority workers were terminated Sept. 26.
“They cut it without giving us any prior warning,” Edell said.
Annunziata forwarded questions about Trout Unlimited’s concerns to NPCA staff.
Annunziata forwarded questions about Trout Unlimited’s concerns to NPCA staff.
In an email, NPCA executive director Mark Brickell called it “unfortunate that Trout Unlimited would go running to the media without speaking to us directly.”
“That is not how effective partnerships work,” he said.
Brickell said Trout Unlimited has received thousands of dollars of NPCA funding “and has been the beneficiary of large amounts of staff time and resources over the last several years.”
“Their comments are misleading and extremely disappointing.” Brickell said the NPCA conducted a value-for-money audit of its program — the “first of many” planned as part of NPCA’s strategic plan review — and “uncovered serious deficiencies in accountability and oversight in the restoration program.”
Brickell said “NPCA is committed to the health of our shared watershed and values the contributions of our partners.” “We look forward to releasing details of a redefined restoration program that restores fairness and rigour in the approval process and is grounded in sound water quality evidence. We look forward to working with community partners that value a process that is transparent, open and accountable, and respects taxpayer dollars,” he said.
The cuts, however, have left Trout Unlimited members wondering about the future of the organization’s partnership with NPCA.
Edell said Trout Unlimited volunteers were working on a fiveyear plan to protect and restore Twelve Mile Creek — NPCA job cuts included staff who were involved in the project.
“They were on the ground with us during tree planting and working with landowners, and helping with plans to do restoration work in the streams themselves,” Edell said. “All those people are gone.”
Considering the successes the two organizations have had while working together in the past, Edell wondered “what could be the rationale for letting these people go?”
By working together, he said, the organizations were able to complete “fairly important projects” to protect the biodiversity of the stream.
“We were successful in doing projects that couldn’t have gotten done without us,” he said.
Trout Unlimited isn’t alone in its concerns about NPCA staff cuts.
Although Bert Miller Nature Club has also teamed up with NPCA for past events that might not occur in the future, club president Lynda Goodridge is primarily concerned about the impact on future conservation efforts throughout the region.
“They are a conservation authority, but we feel that the word conservation is useless now. That’s not really their orientation,” she said. “If they’re not there to conserve our natural areas, who do we look to? There has been a lot of concern among environmental groups about the way things are going.”
Goodridge said members of her group were at a recent NPCA meeting to express concerns about a perceived imbalance between NPCA’s administrative and frontline staff.
“We came home to find out they axed another eight people,” she said. “That was very upsetting for us.”
Welland River Keepers chairman Barry Fitzgerald said his organization was impacted by the last round of NPCA staff cuts a few years ago. Since then, he said, the organization has been operating independently.
“We were very concerned about the first round of cuts. This is just that much worse,” Fitzgerald said. “They got rid of all the people that really had an interest in conservation the first time (who) would not bow to internal pressure.”