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CEA in the News |
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Jarvis: Dead on the road, unless we do something about it ANNE JARVIS, WINDSOR STAR / Updated: August 22, 2019 The slaughter starts in September, unless we do something about it. Across the Ojibway Prairie Complex this month, snakes are hatching. Some, like the Butler’s gartersnake, are born live. Next month, they’ll begin the harrowing journey to hibernation sites. That’s when the carnage will start. Between 2010 and 2013, at least 2,083 vertebrates from 49 species were found DOR – dead on the road – around Ojibway, killed by cars. They included seven species of snakes and turtles at risk of becoming extinct in Ontario. Conservation biologist Jonathan Choquette, co-author of that study in The Canadian Field-Naturalist, has continued tracking the decimation. A total of 1,243 snakes were found flattened between 2015 and 2018, including 263 belonging to species at risk of extirpation (local extinction). Ninety-one carcasses were found in one day in 2016. Two days later, another 72 were found. Most of the roadkill – 72 percent of the snakes from species at risk – were found on Matchette and Malden roads, which bisect Ojibway. Most were found in September and October. “Most people will be able to sleep at night,” said Choquette, “but those of us who know, we know it’s a slow move to extirpation.” Last month, the Windsor Essex County Environment Committee, a city council advisory committee, approved a resolution to close Matchette, from Sprucewood Avenue to Broadway Street, and Malden, from Todd Lane to Armanda Street, from September 1 to October 27 to check the destruction. Residents would still have access to these stretches. There were 26 letters supporting the committee’s report, including from Wildlife Preservation Canada and the Toronto Zoo. The report went to council’s environment, transportation and public safety standing committee, which makes recommendations to council. The standing committee didn’t debate it. It sent it back to the environment committee for more information. Both recommendations – one to do something and one to defer it, yet again – go to council on Monday. It will be a chance to finally get it right, to be proper stewards of a special park and the rare species it shelters, some found almost nowhere else in Canada, and to be accountable to our parks and environmental master plans that recognize the need to protect Ojibway. So far, it seems like the people who can do something just don’t care enough. Councillors voted against closing Matchette permanently in 2017, citing the 9,800 cars a day that travel on it, a potential lawsuit from a nearby developer and the $150,000 to $250,000 estimated cost of a required environmental assessment. They would consider building a bridge or tunnel for wildlife to cross, they said. But that hasn’t happened, either. Now, we’re not even willing to consider limiting traffic on three-and-a-half kilometres of roads for eight weeks, less than some construction detours. There are new members on the environment committee and new councillors, said Coun. Fred Francis, who represents the ward, voted against closing Matchette last time and moved the deferral this time. They need to read the previous reports and decisions, he said. He also wants more information. How much traffic is there on Malden and where will it go? he asked. Driving through the park seems more important than saving what’s in it. What will happen to the cars? What will happen to entire species in Canada? Council dances. Species disappear. “What other options are there?” asked environment committee member Derek Coronado. “At some point city council is going to have to say, OK, we’re satisfied with the status quo, with these species being wiped out. That’s fine.” Sixty-two percent of Windsor and Essex County’s reptiles and amphibians have become extinct locally or are on the verge of being extirpated, according to a new study co-authored by Choquette in The Canadian Field-Naturalist. Thirteen species have disappeared from the region in the last century. Another 13 are on the way out. We’re down to 12 Massasauga rattlesnakes, he estimated last spring. They’re disappearing because their habitat is in tatters, and we’re running over them with our cars. We’re doing something about the first problem. The city is set to acquire Ojibway Shores, the last natural shore on the Canadian side of the Detroit River, and add it to the other remnants that compose the Ojibway Prairie Complex. If we can do that, we can temporarily close several kilometres of roads to protect our investment. The community benefits for the Gordie Howe International Bridge include seed money for an eco passage over Ojibway Parkway between Black Oak Heritage Park and Ojibway Park. It’s contingent on the city providing additional money. One of the steps is hiring a consultant for preliminary drawings and cost estimates. If the city can do that, it can temporarily close several kilometres of roads on the other side of Ojibway. “It’s not as simple as it looks,” said Francis. Other cities do it. Kitchener and Burlington do it. Windsor can do it. It can approve this Monday. It’s a matter of will. © Copyright (c) Windsor Star |