Skip to main content

Creek Buffering Success!


November 26, 2012
MEDIA RELEASE
RESTORE COOTES

SCALED BACK PARKING MAKES ROOM FOR
EXPANDED CREEK BUFFER AT McMASTER

A grassroots campaign to enhance the natural habitat and protect the health of Ancaster Creek at McMaster University's west campus parking lot “M” has resulted in the University agreeing to remove parking to allow for the minimum standard of a 30 metre naturalized buffer zone between parking lots and this coldwater creek.

While scaling back parking means 318 less parking spaces according to measurements taken by the Hamilton Conservation Authority, a surplus of available parking at peak demand of over 1,000 spaces means no drivers will lose the ability to park on campus.

The news comes from a presentation given by university administration to the President's Advisory Committee on Cootes Paradise on Friday, November 9/12, at McMaster University.

The 30m campaign began with a letter from Restore Cootes to the University Planning Committee in March 2011 requesting the fulfillment of the minimum 30m naturalized buffer mentioned in the 2002 Campus Master Plan. A ongoing series of “Ponds to Parking” history-hikes led by Restore Cootes began in December 2011, introducing dozens of students, faculty, staff and community members to the significant but degraded natural area in west campus dominated by pavement, where previously there were ponds, streams and wetland habitat.

Restore Cootes followed up with the UPC a year later (March 2012) with a repeat of the request for the 30m buffer, as well as an argument against re-paving a section of Lot M closed for three years. This second aspect of the campaign remains alive, as a group of professors have since formed a committee to seek access to this environmentally important section to create an outdoor research facility to restore the paved-over wetland.

The 30m buffer is a small but significant step toward our goal of full rehabilitation of the floodplain that was previously known as the Royal Botanical Gardens' Coldspring Valley Nature Sanctuary, paved over in the late 1960s when McMaster took over the RBG property.

Over the period of the campaign to date, Restore Cootes has been joined by and drawn invaluable assistance from student volunteers at McMaster, the Hamilton Conservation Authority, the President's Advisory Committee on Cootes Paradise (PACCP), MacGreen, OPIRG McMaster, and the professors in the "McMaster Marsh" group, among others.

Restore Cootes seeks opportunities to enhance and restore natural areas on the periphery of Cootes Paradise that have been degraded or lost to development.


Comments

AuroraBorealis said…
Wonderful to hear of a responsible decision based on reason and sound logic. Congratulations to the team of folks who did the research and put together the proposal and to the team of people who listened and made the decision!
Congratulations to Randy and all~

Popular posts from this blog

Slow Sign and Turtle Time

THEY SAY: Information Report: April 3, 2017 SUBJECT/REPORT NO: Rare Turtle Recovery, Wildlife Corridor Issues and Roads of Issue at Cootes Paradise (PW16024a) - (City Wide) Traffic Issues on Cootes Drive Traffic Operations & Engineering has been working with the Ward 13 Councillor on traffic signage along Cootes Drive. Four (4) traffic signs (with flashing lights) operating during turtle migration season will be installed in the spring of 2017. The migration period for turtles is generally around the months of June, early July and September but can vary due to weather conditions. The traffic signs are useful in alerting motorists of potential turtle crossings on that roadway. RESTORE COOTES SAYS: Is it working? Is there any evidence that it is helping turtles or even slowing vehicles? We're betting it has little to no impact - the light is always flashing, if turtles are present or not, the road is built for speed and it makes it dangerous to slow down. We hope

a vision for nature in Cootes

View the Eco-Park Document here Make Cootes national park, group urges TheSpec.com - Local - Make Cootes national park, group urges Create eco-park in urbanized area Eric McGuinness , The Hamilton Spectator (Jan 28, 2009) The idea of a Cootes Paradise National Park is being revived by local conservationists. But they say it is jeopardized by plans for a self-storage warehouse beside the Desjardins Canal at the east entrance to Dundas. They point to a new vision of an urban eco-park -- maybe a national park -- incorporating the Cootes marsh, drafted by Urban Strategies Inc., the firm responsible for McMaster University's campus master plan among other Hamilton projects. Joe Berridge, a partner who has helped reshape waterfronts in Toronto, New York and London, produced the concept document at the invitation of Ben Vanderbrug, retired general manager of the Hamilton Conservati

Urquhart Butterfly Garden speaker series

A lovely butterfly garden is the perfect setting for this annual speaker series. August 4, 2018, Guest speaker: Doreen Nicoll You cannot have Monarch Butterflies without milkweed.  Doreen Nicoll has recently become a heroine for monarch butterflies, by insisting on her rights to grow milkweed in her naturalized garden in Burlington. Doreen  Nicoll has long understood that garden with nature and not against her is the best thing for our planet. She also knows that native plants are great at attracting butterflies and bees of all species. Doreen will be the first presenter in the Summer Series at the Urquhart Butterfly Garden and her topic will be Monarchs and Their Milkweed and naturalized gardening. She has wealth of information and is fun as well! The session will begin at 11 am Saturday on August 4 and last approximately one hour.  Please bring a chair. If it rains the session will be cancelled. For more information about the Urquhart Butterfly Garden please visit ur