Royal City Rag

Bob Gordon

Natural Heritage Strategy, Part 1: The Devil Is In The Details And The Big Bits Too
Bob Gordon, Freelance Journalist/Royal City Rag Contributor

There is good news and bad news contained in the Draft Natural Heritage Strategy, the City of Guelph presented for discussion on February 4.

First, the good news. The dark green areas on the Recommended Natural Heritage System Map (below) are all safe in perpetuity. The dark green areas will remain dark green, forever and ever, Amen.

The bad news is what’s green on the maps is not what’s green now. There is no map that shows you what is green now.

Try a nice big Google Earth image of Guelph, set the Recommended Natural Heritage System Map beside it and see the green turn white as you glance from Goggle Earth to Guelph.

Everything other than the dark green is fair game for development.

Unfortunately Buffers and Adjacent Lands are carefully delineated, but then casually dismissed.

The single most common phrase in the document is “unless it has been demonstrated through an Environmental Impact Study (EIS), Environmental Assessment (EA) or subwatershed study, there will be no negative impact.” (!)

Reassuringly, the glossary contains a long and detailed itemization of three types of negative impacts in impeccable ‘greenspeak’; associated with degradation to the quality and quantity of surface and groundwater, alteration, disruption or destruction of fish habitat and degradation that threatens the health and integrity of the natural features or ecological functions for which the area is identified. (!)

However, it then leaves their identification to consultants hired and paid for by the landowner to justify encroachment. Needles to say, this raises the potential for a serious conflict of interest.

In the second part of the series we’ll explore the devilish details, and in the final part, the glaring absence of basic principles of environmental law in Canada, the big bits, will be considered.

Bob Gordon
bob34g@gmail.com

Missed Bob Gordon’s other articles on the Draft Natural Heritage Strategy? Follow the links below to get caught up.

Part 1: The Devil Is In The Details And The Big Bits Too

Part 2: Conflict Of Interest Unmasked

Part 3: Will The York District Lands Be Guelph’s Next Developmental Debacle?

Written comments on the Draft Natural Heritage Strategy should be submitted to michelle.mercier@guelph.ca by February 24, 2010 .

Don’t forget to make your voice heard. City Council needs to know we care about how much and how well our natural green space is protected.

Download Draft Natural Heritage Strategy Phase 3 (pdf, 831 kb)

Download Recommended Natural Heritage Systen Map Jan 2010 (pdf, 560 kb)

For more on this and other community issues, tune into Royal City Rag, Saturdays 7-9 a.m. on CFRU 93.3fm.