Each fall Ontario’s environmental commissioner Gord Miller, looks deeply into environmental issues and outlines what he sees in an annual report.
He reviews how well the province is complying with the Environmental Bill of Rights, then makes recommendations. The 2010 report, released in September, said Ontario’s conservation authorities make an important contribution to natural resource conservation.
He recommends redefining conservation at provincial, watershed, and municipal levels to include a new, broader understanding of the natural world that has developed recently.
The new reality means a fundamental change in the way we live and function and a redefined conservation ethic that is deeply ingrained in our collective psyche, he said.
Topics in the report that are of interest to conservation authorities are tree planting and biodiversity, wetland drainage, integrated watershed management, storm water management, protection of the Waterloo, Paris, and Galt moraines and retrofitting dams to incorporate fish ladders.
In addition, Miller asked the province to increase funding for conservation authorities because of their key role in protecting the environment. Provincial funding has not changed in 10 years.
Miller’s report mentions a GRCA tree planting project near Pioneer Tower in south Kitchener. Around 15,000 native trees – black walnut, silver and sugar maple, white and burr oak, cottonwood, white cedar and white pine – were planted on nine hectares of land.
“To say trees are important is an understatement,” he noted, adding that this is an example of the projects taking place across the province.
Miller calls Guelph’s wastewater optimization program admirable and profiles it in his report.
Protect local moraines
Miller also reports on the Ministry of Environment review of the Waterloo, Paris, and Galt moraines.
He believes that current policies do not adequately “protect the ecological integrity and hydrogeology of the moraines.”
He asks that the province take a broader, integrated approach to the protection of the moraines by amending the provincial policy statement to require that long-term ecological function and biodiversity of natural heritage systems are maintained.
Miller is pleased that the province is thinking of extending the period conservation authorities have to prosecute regulation violations from six months to two years. That amendment would enable conservation authorities to successfully prosecute more landowners who damage or destroy wetlands in southern Ontario.
It can be difficult to collect evidence within six months of an offence, especially with respect to site conditions in wetlands during the winter, he noted.
Miller would like guidelines for stormwater management to be brought up to date so that stormwater is addressed in a more holistic way.
In total, he makes 15 recommendations to the province. The full annual report and supplement are available on the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario’s website at www.eco.on.ca. A report highlighting conservation authority concerns went to the board in October and is in the meetings section of www.grandriver.ca.
Janet Baine is a GRCA communications specialist.
