RESTORE COOTES

Decline in turtle population topic of Duncan lecture series Published on Feb 25, 2010, Dundas Star News The Giant’s Rib Discovery Centre presents The Vanishing Turtles of Southern Ontario with Erin Nadeau, co-ordinator of the Adopt-A-Pond Program at the Toronto Zoo. The presentation is part of the ongoing Bruce Duncan Memorial Lecture Series, named in honour of the late general manager of the Hamilton Conservation Authority, and is dedicated to promoting the Niagara Escarpment as an internationally recognized World Biosphere Reserve and a truly unique topographic feature of our natural and cultural heritage. Nadeau has completed a bachelor of science with a focus on ecology and evolution at the University of Western Ontario, as well as masters of environmental studies with a focus on conservation biology and protected areas management from York University. Her work with the Toronto Zoo’s Adopt-A-Pond Wetland Conservation Programme, as both a wetland conservation biologist and more rece...

The marshes of Cootes Paradise west of Cootes Drive have been eaten away by the development of first railways, then roads, then parking lots, and very recently, a landowner's attempt to build a commercial property at the east end of Dundas. Threatened with further marginalization is the Volunteer Marsh, adjacent to the property that became a subject of an Ontario Municipal Board hearing. A google map shows the area in question, and will be updated as required to stay current with any changes. View Volunteer Marsh in a larger map

King East closure could improve turtle nesting Craig Campbell, Dundas Star News Staff Published on Jan 21, 2010 Closing King Street East near Olympic Drive to car traffic was suggested as an option for making 201 King St. E. a more viable turtle nesting area during Day 6 of the Ontario Municipal Board hearing appealing Hamilton city council's decision to reject a self-serve storage development on the site. Julia Croome, lawyer for community group Protect Our Dundas, raised the possibility of closing the road separating the Desjardins Canal from the subject site, Volunteer Marsh and Lake Jojo during cross-examination of two witnesses presenting evidence on behalf of property owner and appellant Doug Hammond. She raised the idea after environmental consultants Karl Konze and James Kamstra suggested the site was not a preferable option for turtle nesting– although they found five nests on the site and eight nests across the street at Desjardins Canal last summer. After Konz...

Conservation authority hopes to remove 14 greenhouses Craig Campbell & Mike Pearson, Dundas Star News Staff Published on Dec 11, 2009 By requesting a $131,822 interest-free loan from the City of Hamilton, the Hamilton Conservation Authority is taking a first step towards remediation of the former Veldhuis greenhouse property purchased nearly one year ago. If everything goes according to plan, the long process of cleaning up the site should begin early next spring. Tony Horvat, the HCA director of land management, said last week the requested loan would pay for the removal of 14 unused greenhouses on the property. It will not pay for removal of five existing commercial and residential buildings, and one operating greenhouse, which will remain there for at least another full year. “We’d like to be finished by the first of May (2010),” Horvat said of removing the first 14 greenhouses. “I might have to adjust that date.” The loan request is expected to be considered by city councillors...

Heartening to see this valuable natural area upstream from Cootes protected from being "developed" - I hope we are on the way to re-developing our views on the importance of natural areas threatened by sprawl. One more strike and the developer is out? Way to go Ontario! Strike two against 760-unit Dundas retirement project TheSpec.com - BreakingNews - Strike two against 760-unit Dundas retirement project Hamilton Spectator DUNDAS — The Ontario government is taking another step to block construction of a 760-unit retirement community on York Road in the rural Pleasant View Neighourhood. Having passed a new law that sets the stage for protecting Pleasant View under the Niagara Escarpment Plan, the province now says it plans t...

Princess Point, sunset, November 10, 2009, with a wall of traffic noise from highway 403 behind the lens.

Remains of the former Longwood Road between Cootes Paradise and Snake Road, now located in the Royal Botanical Gardens' Hendry Valley. Nature eats away at the asphalt, slowly reclaiming the forest floor. Roads can be reclaimed, and natural areas expanded, and here is a little bit of proof.