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CEA in the News |
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Council unanimously seeks federal protection for Ojibway Shores "It's a piece worth fighting for," says Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens BRIAN CROSS, WINDSOR STAR Unanimously, city council jumped aboard the long-standing fight to keep Ojibway Shores a natural forest on Monday, calling on the federal government to declare it an environmentally protected area. “I’m a big champion of this, I really see the value of preserving this in its natural state,” Mayor Drew Dilkens said after spokesmen for local environmental groups implored council to help save the 33-acre riverfront “gem,” which they regard as the most biologically important property in the region. Dilkens described it as the “missing link of the Ojibway complex,” the 680-acre collection of forest, prairie and wetlands in the city’s west end. Ojibway Shores is controlled by the Windsor Port Authority which five years ago made noises about clear-cutting its forest to make way for possible development and infilling it with rubble from the nearby Herb Gray Parkway project. That plan was met with howls of outrage from citizens upset about the loss of the last natural forest on the Windsor side of the Detroit River shoreline, which links the Ojibway complex to the water. The mayor said he agrees with the environmental groups, which have been fighting to preserve the property for many years. “It’s a piece worth fighting for,” he said. Tom Henderson, chairman of the Detroit River Canadian Cleanup’s Public Advisory Council, said that in recent years the Port Authority has been “fantastic” preserving the area. Last year, it chased out mountain bikers who had severely damaged the natural area and set about repairing it. But as long as it’s in the Port Authority’s hands, a question mark remains, Henderson said. He noted that the authority’s website still lists the land as available for development. “They’ve done everything, except guarantee it’s survival in perpetuity,” he said, describing the area as more biologically significantly and diverse than the entire Ojibway complex. “It’s a gem that’s unlike anywhere else in Canada. We have to keep it.” While it’s been in the port authority’s hands since a land swap with the city 25 years ago, the authority is a federal agency and MP Brian Masse (NDP–Windsor West) has been arguing it is taxpayer-owned federal land that should simply be taken over and preserved by either the city or Environment Canada. The port authority, however, has talked about financial compensation as high as $10 million. The city, meanwhile, has $1.5 million set aside in case it needs to buy the land. Dilkens said the city and port authority have met numerous times to discuss the issue, and are meeting again in three weeks. “On the face of it, it looks like a really simple thing: Write them a cheque, they give you the land.” But it’s been much more complicated, Dilkens said. The mayor said he has spoken to federal Transportation Minister Marc Garneau at least four times on the matter. Monday’s motion, he said, is probably more of a symbolic gesture, because there is movement towards preserving Ojibway Shores, either as a city, provincial or federal natural area. “At the end of the day, public ownership, preserving it for perpetuity, that’s all any of us want.” Derek Coronado, co-ordinator of the Citizens Environment Alliance, told councillors that without proper protection, the fear is the port authority “will continue to push for development and eventually get away with it.” © Copyright (c) The Windsor Star |