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Honourable Mayor and Members of Council:
I stand before council today as a representative
of the Task Force For The Preservation Of The Wilfrid Bog and as a
private citizen who knows enough to not sit by and do naught.
The Wilfrid Bog is an extremely unique glacial
relic habitat within our community, with all the right regulations
and bylaws placed upon the property by all levels of governments
within this great country of ours, providing the protection needed to
keep this property pristine.
Unfortunately, the current landowner, who's own
self worth and interests overpower his need to stay within the course
of these regulations, has gone onto the property and caused, and is
continuing to cause, considerable damage both through preparation for
peat removal, and through peat removal. This is in direct defiance of
these regulations and bylaws which have applied to this property long
before he became the property owner.
The loss of the Wilfrid Bog would be great
environmental loss for the citizens of Brock Township, Durham Region
and Ontario, not to say Canada and the world. It will be a great loss
to 2 different watersheds, where unusually clean unspoiled waters
discharge and supply refreshing purified waters to both the Beaver
River watershed and the Pefferlaw River watershed via Vrootman's
Creek and the Pefferlaw Creek. It will be a great loss to Lake
Simcoe, which relies on these replenishing waters to help revitalize
the existing overburdened ecosystem. It will be a great loss of our
bi-diversity, whose unique flora and fauna could be forever lost
within our region due to the bogs unique fragmented ecosystem. It
will be a loss of part of our natural heritage, where the unique
geology and lay of the land associated with Brock Township and the
Region of Durham, has left some seriously unique habitats within our
area. Areas including the bog we speak of today, perched up on top of
an unusual drumlinized plain, at an elevated height above the
associated watertables within the area. In other words, a wetland on
top of a hill, rare indeed. It would be a great loss to our future
increase in tourism, which, when and if the 404 is extended to Brock,
will bring extra persons seeking the unique habitats and hiking
trails present within our community. It will be a loss to many
hunters who have come and are still coming with others to Wilfrid Bog
every year to hunt the Turkey's released here by the OMNR in efforts
to help Brock with its tourism issues. It will be a loss to the
aesthetics of our community, with another open scar available for all
to see, with the SE section mimicking the NE side of the bog we have
all been forced to observe for many decades now. Most importantly, it
would be an unnecessary unrecoverable loss for our children and all
children hereafter, who may never have the opportunity to observe one
of Canada's rarest ecosystems.
For those of you that have not had fortune to
step upon the unique confines of Wilfrid Bog, to describe it here
would be difficult indeed, for it is a world onto it's own. The
average person would most undoubtably be unable to recognize or
identify many of the boreal flora present, with native terrestrial
orchids and carnivorous plants being among the norm within this rare
habitat more commonly associated with the James Bay region. These
strange acid loving herbaceous perennials, along with unrecognizable,
eracasous shrubs contributes to some of the strange eeriness that
overwhelms you when you entre the bog, an eeriness also attributed to
the unusual openness of the woods and the sphagnum carpet which robs
energy from your stride as you traverse its boundaries. One also
finds themselves within a deafening silence within the centre of the
bog, as this same sphagnum bed absorbs many sounds before they have
the chance to reach your ears.
I would like to address for a moment of the
unfair responsibilities place upon councilors today regarding these
ever increasing important environmental issues such as the Wilfrid
Bog. To hand down to the smallest level of government the task of
upholding what in the future will no doubt be considered some of the
most important environmental decisions made by mankind during these
times, seems slightly less than ludicrous.
Posing as an elected official, I myself would
find it hard to make sound decisions based on the business versus the
environment and vice versa and what is best for our community. On one
hand you have the majority of the community that has voted you their
elected official and who is essentially undereducated about the
environment and whose future prosperity within the community may
indeed depend on environmental issues such as these effecting them
directly. Example, the employees of Pefferlaw Peat who may be
wondering in the near future about their jobs. On the other hand you
have an important environmental issue that seems to keep cropping up,
causing concern to our councilors on how best to handle the matter,
always realizing that any move away from the business side of things
could influence their position on council next election. As a result
you have matters such as these reappearing for a second and now a
third time, to haunt the councilors of today because the councillors
of yesterday were unable to make fair, reasonable and sound
environmental decisions when the facts where laid out before them.
Decisions that are far too important to be dealt with under
conditions such as these and by average persons. For it takes elected
heros, or dedicated down to earth councillors, not to succumb to
these before mentioned pressures in order to make the right decisions
based on solid fact and not electoral opinion.
We, The Task Force For The Preservation Of The
Wilfrid Bog and all others who may be concerned, must rely on our
local council to do the correct thing and we plead that you see that
action must be taken here and it must be taken fast. To let this bog
fall into the hands of the environmentally ignorant and or a few
uncaring money motivated individuals for the sake of business within
our community would be of a short sighted view at best. There are far
too many negative, long term environmental implications that would be
felt for generations after, and these implications must be considered
to their full consequences.
I would like to state that I believe that
decisions made here on this matter regardless will not spell the
demise of the Pefferlaw Peat company. This company has had 20 solid
years to formulate a plan and find an alternative source of peat to
secure the future of their company. Indeed, the previous owner sold
the company and is now removing peat from a site west of here, within
another region altogether. Although he does not refer to himself as
Pefferlaw Peat any longer, his plans are the same. I can only imagine
that he finally realized that he was going to be unable to remove the
peat from the SE side of the Wilfrid Bog and has gone on to pursue
less regulated peat within less environmentally sensitive zones.
Surely the new owner of the Wilfrid Bog was aware of the status of
his property and the previous fights to save this special little
piece of Ontario. Surely he has alternative plans. Are we dealing
with the ignorant or the unscrupulous?
I would also like to state that decisions made
here on this matter will have one definite environmental implication.
A very important one. It will spell to the rest of the world whether
or not Brock Township is the place to disregard and break
environmental policies. If we let this happen to one endangered
habitat within our township, what of all the rest. Will we be
wrestling with peat extractors at the Derryville Bog next or what of
the gravel pit operators? Will failing to protect the Wilfrid Bog
scream to all wishing to make a quick buck off the environment to run
to Brock Township? Will Brock Council be attributed to this sort of
amuck behaviour? This is something that must be considered.
I have spoken with Richard Szarek at Durham
Region Planning, with Rennie Vos of the Lake Simcoe Region
Conservation Authority, along with Ian Buchanun of the Ontario
Ministry Of Natural Resources and they are all willing and eager to
help town council when and if you decide to pursue action and have
the work stopped on the property or what ever proper course of action
you feel appropriate to apply. You do not stand alone. The Task Force
has spoken with representatives from both the Nature Conservancy of
Canada and the Federation of Ontario Naturalists and they stand
behind their previous reports and views on the matter. They will help
where they can. The NCC has offered to purchase the property from the
owner at reasonable market rates and again enforces their view as to
the importance of this property.
With this being the third such infringement upon
this property within the last two decades, the Task Force is vowing
to make this the last. We will and already have found other means to
help prevent this atrocity. We hope, certainly, not to exercise some
options, but if we can't stop it here, today, within the powers of
our own council, then all options will be examined. It will not be
beyond us to take this to higher levels and or to effect the
commercial relationships the peat extractor has worked to gain. A
messy business indeed, but one necessary of undertaking if we cannot
prevent further damage to this bog now. I leave it in your
knowledgeable and capable hands. |
