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Showing posts from March, 2011

endangered requires more

An endangered species. We know where they are (crossing King Road), we know when they are most at risk (at night), and yet a "voluntary closure"of the threat is the best we can do? The distance between people wrapped in their cars and these tiny creatures is too great for true empathy. How many will be run over by people who ignore the signs for the sake of convenience? Will road-kill statistics be kept? Will we be able to pinpoint a date when the last jefferson salamander was crushed beneath a car tire? Burlington closing King Road at night for salamanders BURLINGTON King Road will be closed Friday for three weeks to protect the endangered Jefferson Salamander. The city has put in a voluntary closure, with signage, to try to prevent road kills as the salamanders begin their annual migration to breeding ponds to lay eggs. Salamanders migrate at night in spring when the temperature rises above 4 C. The closure begins Friday and continues until April 22. The city will pos

one more step toward Eco Gateway in Dundas

Veldhuis project moving forward Endangered birds protected as work on property resumes in May CRAIG CAMPBELL, Dundas Star NEWS STAFF Published on Mar 23, 2011 Hamilton Conservation Authority is working with the Ministry of Natural Resources to preserve habitat of endangered birds during demolition of buildings at the former Veldhuis Greenhouse site on King Street East. Steve Miazga, HCA chief administrator, said last week an environmental assessment of the property will resume, probably in May, after remaining buildings on the property are removed over the next month. Three years after the HCA purchased the property, the organization finally took possession of the remaining buildings. Those addresses are now vacant, and the HCA will start the process for obtaining demolition permits and a landscaping contractor. “The landscaping plan will determine actual costs of developing the park area, excluding remediation costs,” Miazga said. But he pointed out if the environment

Memories of Binkley's Pond?

I am looking for people who remember Binkley's Pond, and the RBG Coldspring Trails that have now been replaced by McMaster Parking - if you have experiences to share to help with historical research, please contact Randy at dundastard@gmail.com. Thanks for your help!

mapping the former marsh

McMaster Parking comes at a high cost to the natural world. The largest parking area ("M") is located where there were nature trails and habitat for turtles and other creatures. Close-up of parking lot M below: Zone M parking at McMaster - the section currently closed as a result of construction of the combined sewer overflow (CSO) tank corresponds roughly to the selection below: It is clearly visible that the parking is very close to Cold Spring (AKA Ancaster) Creek - a 30m naturalized buffer seems like the least we can do to ameliorate the destruction of habitat for parking.

before parking there was hiking

Photos and a map from the Royal Botanical Gardens archive show the Coldstream Valley Trail system which existed prior to McMaster University expansion to the west in the late 1960s - a floodplain paved over for car parking, destroying prime turtle and other wetland species' habitat. Can we restore what we've lost? The time may be right to start!

naturalize it

Section of Parking Lot closed for installation of CSO tank: Why bother to re-open it at all (it hasn't been needed) "Expansion [of parking] in the West Campus would also have to take into consideration the Hamilton Conservation Authority's goal of a minimum 30 metre wide naturalized buffer zone along Ancaster Creek." McMaster University Campus Master Plan March 2002 A Strategy for Circulation and Parking 5-3 McMaster University is still talking to the city about "the restoration" of the parking lot - we need to get back to talking about restoring the natural buffer zone between the creek and the cars. While this major project to install a combined sewer overflow was being undertaken, McMaster was forced to close the corner of the sprawling parking lot, and in the process found that there was enough capacity for parking without it. Nobody seems aware of the line in the Campus Master Plan about the conservation goal of a 30 m buffer. (The beaver don&#