IT’S UP TO YOU TO SAVE SOUTH CAMERON LAND
Spring Garden or Ojibway? Every Saturday, my husband and I escape for a walk in the woods.
Every time, we ask each other the same question: Spring Garden Natural Area or Ojibway Park? It’s a sad joke. So little nature is left here.
To set the record straight, Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry first mapped the South Cameron woodlot, 150 acres of wetland and forest in South Windsor, through aerial photographs, a standard practice and surprisingly accurate.
Based on that, the ministry determined that the woodlot was a candidate for a provincially significant wetland designation, which would protect it from development.
Then a ministry biologist walked the woodlot in 2017 and determined that 100 acres of it merited the designation but 50 acres did not.
It wasn’t arbitrary or political. It was based on evidence gathered by a scientist at the site. And it doesn’t necessarily mean a rush to develop the 50 acres north of Ojibway Street and west of St. Patrick’s Avenue. Council still has a voice, and there are environmental checks and balances.
The impact on the environment would be assessed. Endangered species, like the Butler’s garter snake, would be protected. A buffer would be required to protect the adjacent designated land. The Essex Region Conservation Authority would also have a voice.
Thirty of those 50 acres are designated woodland residential in Windsor’s Official Plan. If you want to build there, you need site plan approval, including an inventory of every tree — how many there are, what kind they are, how big they are, what condition they’re in. You probably won’t be allowed to clear cut them.
That leaves 20 acres designated residential, where potential development is most likely. Yes, building housing here would provide an alternative to sprawl. Extending roads through here would alleviate traffic at Dominion Boulevard and Northwood Street.
But one thing trumps all else: Regardless of whether it’s provincially significant, it’s crucial locally. It’s one of the largest remaining woodlots in a city with little nature left.
“Any remnant left in this region is important because there’s precious little left,” said Tim Byrne, watershed management director for the conservation authority. “We should be looking very, very seriously at this natural heritage feature and every natural heritage feature in this region to assess their health. And in all cases we should be attempting proper preservation.” Ontario’s environmental commissioner singled out Essex County in her report last November.
“Essex County had the highest concentration of pre-settlement wetland area (83%), and as of 2002, only 1.6% of this original area remained,” wrote Dianne Saxe, rated one of the top 25 environmental lawyers in the world.
And that’s only a conservative estimate.
Small wetlands and vernal pools (temporary pools of water) like those in the South Cameron woodlot provide essential breeding ground and habitat for many species and are better at filtering pollutants than large wetlands, she wrote. Yet they’re often the first to be paved. Without wetlands, which store water like a sponge, gradually releasing it into the groundwater later, the watershed is more vulnerable to flooding, drought, soil erosion and loss of habitat. It leaves us less able to adapt to climate change. Windsor has suffered two major floods in the last several years, including the area around the South Cameron woodlot. The government claims to protect wetlands and forests, Saxe wrote. It does not. And this isn’t about just protecting wetlands, she wrote. It’s about restoring them. And it’s urgent.
Now, Doug Ford’s government is also abolishing the environmental commissioner’s position and reviewing the Endangered Species Act to find “efficiencies for business.”
Windsor should lead the drive to protect this land. It’s not. Mayor Drew Dilkens lobbied Premier Doug Ford to lift the designation on the 50 acres. He celebrated the potential for development. The city has always planned development there, he says. This land, which has harboured deer, coyote, rabbits, snakes, hawks and owls, is already surrounded by development and has been repeatedly under attack by people clearing parcels.
Who does that leave to protect it? That leaves people like Coun. Irek Kusmierczyk, ERCA chairman who proposed increasing Windsor’s tree canopy as a top priority for this council term. It leaves the ward councillor, Jim Morrison, who said, “I’d forego a little revenue (from development). We’ve done enough (damage). We need to give this area a chance.”
It leaves Nancy Pancheshan, who led the fight to stop a big box store adjacent to the Ojibway Prairie Complex, and John Spellman, who saved Marshfield Woods. Both have spoken out against development in the South Cameron woodlot. And it leaves the more than 2,500 who have signed a petition to protect the land.