RESTORE COOTES

An image of Princess Point after a contolled burn by the Royal Botanical Gardens, part of their effort to maintain now rare Oak Savannah habitat. The area of Cootes Paradise is beautiful, and these ongoing restoration and conservation projects are necessary and good; but we must ignore the loud and poisonous highways adjacent to this natural area. The sound of traffic penetrates even the remotest parts of the Cootes sanctuary, detracting from the tranquility that would otherwise offer respite. Reducing speeds might be a way to reduce the noise pollution on highway 403 at the eastern end of the marsh. "The Noise Pollution Clearinghouse recently reported that when we raised the speed limit from fifty-five to sixty-five miles per hour, it was the noise equivalent of doubling the number of cars on the road." (Hundred Dollar Holiday, Bill McKibben). Closing Cootes Drive and restoring the wetland at the west end of the marsh would obviously do much for this area's natural pot...

Ministry and Royal Botanical Gardens differ on whether Cootes Park is dead Craig Campbell, Dundas Star News Staff Published on Apr 10, 2009 Ontario Parks and Ministry of Natural Resources officials say the vision of a Cootes Paradise Provincial Park is dead, while Royal Botanical Gardens executive director Mark Runciman maintains the door hasn’t been closed. “We’d like to have more discussions,” Mr. Runciman said last week, after Ontario Parls spokesperson Greg Maude suggested the RBG itself backed out of provincial park discussions in March 2008. “The RBG confirmed they had no interest in pursuing provincial park status,” Mr. Maude told the Dundas Star News. “We met, discussed the concept and a decision was made not to pursue it.” Last week, Mr. Runciman said talks with ministry staff last year were based on a general concept, following up on the once proposed idea of a National Park, but there was never anything firm. And while he hopes the idea isn’t dead, he suggested the province ...

MOE probes Biedermann plant permit Eric McGuinness, The Hamilton Spectator, DUNDAS (Apr 17, 2009) The Ontario Environment Ministry is reviewing an air emissions permit for the Biedermann pesticides packaging plant, where a huge fire in July 2007 flushed toxic chemicals into Spencer Creek, killing thousands of fish. The review results from a request filed under the Environmental Bill of Rights by Environment Hamilton, which continues to press for greater regulation and scrutiny of the Head Street plant that packages insecticides, rat poison and fertilizers. At issue is a certificate of approval for a dust collector on machinery that handles a variety of toxic chemicals. Environment Hamilton is asking specifically for stack tests to ensure nothing hazardous is being released into the air. Calling the review "nothing unusual," Biedermann technical director Brian Peirce said: "We keep our equipment very well maintained. There's nothing we're hiding." Biologist ...

Tour paradise for speaker series finale Published on Apr 03, 2009, Dundas Star News The Dundas Valley Historical Society concludes this season's Speaker Series with writer and historian Randy Kay presenting Drive-through Paradise, A History of Cootes Drive at the Dundas Museum & Archives, 139 Park St. W. on Wednesday, April 8. Cootes Drive was the first dual carriageway road built in Canada, having been completed in 1936 with cutting-edge construction methods. It runs 3.1 kilometres from Main Street in Hamilton through the western-most area of Cootes Paradise and concludes at York Road in Dundas. Originally known as the Dundas Diversion, Cootes Drive has not been without controversy during its existence. This presentation will cover the history and controversies of the former Highway 102. Mr. Kay lives in Dundas with his wife and their three daughters. As a freelance writer and reporter he has published in the Hamilton Spectator, Hamilton Magazine, H Magazine and several others...

This story isn't about Cootes - but a nearby natural area - the Ancaster Councillor exhibits a less than novel argument, that old "Drive-Thru Nature" one where car access trumps environmental integrity. If you don't know this area, it is certainly just barely a road, and a very muddy rutted almost-road at that. Conservation Authority puts Dundas Valley road closure bid on hold Richard Leitner, Dundas Star News Staff, Published on Mar 13, 2009 The Hamilton Conservation Authority is delaying a request to close and acquire a 1.4- kilometre stretch of a Dundas Valley road to allow for discussions with the city on how to limit access by four-wheel-drive trucks, dumpers and bush partiers. Directors agreed to hold off on a bid to close the “badly rutted” dirt track on Martin Road after Ancaster Councillor Lloyd Ferguson implored them to consider other solutions that will maintain it as a public right-of- way. He suggested the road might be upgraded to allow one-way traffic ...

Heritage committee wants Desjardins Canal designated historical Kevin Werner, Dundas Star News Staff Published on Mar 06, 2009 Hamilton’s heritage committee has asked staff to consider designating the Desjardins Canal under the Ontario Heritage Act. “This is a landscape of concern,” said Francis Thorp-Neufield, the committee’s Dundas representative. “It was important to the (community’s) history. I think it is worth it.” Ms. Thorp-Neufield introduced the motion to have the landscape designated at the committee’s meeting last week. She said later the Desjardins Canal needs to be protected because of its historical importance the surrounding community. “This is for history reasons and to preserve the integrity of the landscape,” she said. When asked if the designation was in response to a proposal to build a storage facility in the area, she dismissed the idea. “It has nothing to do with the storage proposal,” she said. “There are buildings and landscapes in Dundas that we, as a communit...

Jacob Binkley (1806-67), great grandson of Marx [Binkley], built the handsome stone house that still stands at 54 Sanders Blvd at the head of a ravine. The house was completed in 1847 and named Lakelet Vale, as it had a little spring-fed lake at the rear. Binkley's Pond, as it was known, was used for skating, fishing, and good times. It is now the Zone 6 parking lot at McMaster University on the west side of Cootes Drive. Loreen Jerome, The Way We Were "The House that Jacob Built" Ainslie Wood/Westdale Community Association of Resident Homeowners Inc. (AWWCA) http://www.awwca.ca/articles/ Skater's on Binkley's Pond circa 1917, now a McMaster parking lot