With farmland and natural areas under mounting pressure, a movement is working to preserve Ontario’s ecological heritage for future generations.
Words :: Ned Morgan
Shrinking Countryside
I grew up on the southern shore of Georgian Bay. On my excursions through the surrounding countryside in recent years, I’ve noticed that it’s shrinking—the countryside, that is. There’s less country and more (for lack of a better word) town: more and bigger houses and outbuildings, more luxury housing developments, more infrastructure.
Where forests, escarpment features, fields and wetlands once dominated, hundreds of multipeaked rooftops now jockey for position.
Much of this development is piecemeal, with little sign of sound land-use planning—for example, the Ontario Farmland Trust estimates that Ontario has lost almost 3 million acres of farmland to urbanization and aggregate mining since the early ‘90s. Even more shockingly, Statistics Canada’s most recent Census of Agriculture reported that Ontario was losing an average of 319 acres of farmland per day.
Much of this development is piecemeal, with little sign of sound land-use planning.
Dystopia or Progress?
As farmland is scooped up, the remaining hinterland is by no means off the menu. A relatively booming economy, coupled with population growth and a lack of government safeguards, is driving development pell-mell into every corner of the landscape, leaving our shared natural heritage more vulnerable than ever.
When my 10-year-old daughter reaches middle age, will the landscape I loved—where nature and humans coexisted on a fairly even plane—devolve into an endless chain of sprawling upscale real estate, data centres, warehouses, golf courses, quarries and superhighways? To me, this is a dystopian vision: a blighted planet stripped of its vital resources and reduced to an overheated husk on life support. To others, it is a clear-eyed vision of human progress and the inevitable arc of Western civilization.
A Crisis Point, and a Solution
Even with the inevitable polarization over land-use principles and the larger question of humanity’s place in the biosphere, surely no one actually wants to lay waste to the only home we have (assuming most of us will be priced out of Mars or the moons of Jupiter and Saturn). Fortunately, there’s a growing recognition that urban development has reached a crisis point in Southern Ontario, and in the face of government inaction, something must be done.
One solution is the conservation land trust (CLT).
A CLT is a charitable entity, powered in large part by volunteers and community fundraising, that acquires land (or easements) to preserve habitats in perpetuity and restore ecological function. The work also includes reconnecting people with nature, often through establishing and managing trails and community events for learning and shared stewardship.
Even with the inevitable polarization over humanity’s place in the biosphere, surely no one actually wants to lay waste to the only home we have…
The newest CLT in the Southern Georgian Bay region is the Escarpment Corridor Alliance (ECA). Launched as a charity in 2022, the ECA should be credited with locally popularizing the concept of ecological corridors and their importance not just for biodiversity but for overall ecosystem health and the confluence of intact biospheres with sustainable recreation and agriculture. “While the ECA has been clear that we are not against development in general, we do seek to influence smart, sustainable development in existing settlement areas,” says executive director Jarvis Strong.
Late last year following successful campaigns including a joint effort with the Bruce Trail Conservancy (BTC) that resulted in the latter’s purchase of the former Talisman resort (a 120-acre slice of escarpment corridor), the ECA became a CLT.
“We studied the geographical and organizational landscape, spoke to hundreds of local residents, and determined that if the ECA became a land trust, more landholders would come forward to protect land and water, forever,” explains Strong. And by working with other CLTs, the freshly motivated ECA prioritizes partnerships over competition. “We want to see ‘sensitive lands in the right hands,’ so land donated to any land trust is a huge win for nature and the community,” he says.
Sandy’s Summit and Beyond
The ECA made its first acquisition, Sandy’s Summit Nature Preserve in the Kolapore Uplands area, late last year. The 24-acre property is a rugged showcase of escarpment cliffs and caves, mature hardwood and cedar forests, springs and wetlands. This year the ECA is aiming for five more preserves or conservation easements, including a property in the Pine River watershed of the Mulmur Hills south of Creemore. Some future ECA preserves will include new public hiking trails and other nature-access features, Strong adds.
While boosting the region’s climate resilience and nature-based recreation profile, CLTs also offer potential donors a powerful incentive. “As an eligible recipient of Canada’s Ecological Gifts Program, and through provisions in the Income Tax Act, the ECA can offer enhanced tax benefits (i.e., 100 per cent capital gains exemption) to landholders who want to help preserve this ecosystem,” says Strong. “Many community members are excited to learn about these benefits as they consider estate planning and leaving a legacy for future generations. We think of this as the ‘head and heart combination’ for deciding to make a gift of property. The ‘head’ being the significant tax benefits and the ‘heart’ being the legacy for nature and future generations.”
“While the ECA has been clear that we are not against development in general, we do seek to influence smart, sustainable development in existing settlement areas.”
Notwithstanding heads and hearts tuned to nature legacies, humans are nonetheless too often compelled to value our own needs far above those of every other species; we need a reminder that we’re just one among many passengers on Spaceship Earth’s loop voyage around the sun, and our fate is tied to theirs. “From red-headed woodpeckers to American hart’s tongue fern, the shores and escarpment of South Georgian Bay are home to an incredible diversity of habitats and species at risk in Ontario,” says ECA conservation director Carolyn Thickett. “As a community, we have a unique opportunity and responsibility to preserve and restore this landscape for nature and for people. This will preserve our towns, strengthen our economy and retain access to nature.”
Jarvis Strong adds: “Since our inception, the ECA has operated on a ‘conservation done differently’ principle, advocating for the concept of a conservation economy, which does not force us to choose between a healthy economy and a healthy natural environment.”
Learn how you can help the ECA protect your backyard HERE.
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