Have you had your say on Endangered Species?

Ontario recently introduced a new Endangered Species Act. 

Before government goes any further with this, it’s important that interested or potentially impacted groups have an opportunity to testify at public hearings.

At its core, the proposed legislation has two laudable goals: Identifying species at risk, and protecting them along with their habitats.  Given that protecting habitat in Southern Ontario is primarily left up to rural landowners, it is imperative they have a say in constructing a suitable law.

It’s important to strike the correct balance between protecting species, and ensuring that any changes do not put an undue burden on any person or group.  Farmers and private property owners have always been in a position to be stewards of natural resources.  But, government must ensure that plant, bird, and animal species are protected cooperatively with landowners, rather than through heavy-handed prosecution and enforcement.

Our neck of the woods falls within the Carolinian zone, stretching from the Carolinas to Ontario’s deep south.  Locally we find the forest cover of Six Nations, the marshes of the lower Grand River, Long Point and Turkey Point, Buckus Woods, and the unique sand plain spreading from Burford and Princeton south to the lake.

The Carolinian zone boasts a greater biodiversity of flora and fauna than any other ecosystem in the country – with an estimated 2,200 species of herbaceous plants, including 64 fern, 110 grasses, 130 sedges, 70 species of trees, and a variety of reptiles and amphibians.

Last Saturday I attended my niece’s wedding at Backus Woods – and I can’t help but think that Backus could be a location for a day of hearings on the new endangered species bill, or Bird Studies Canada at Port Rowan.

A few weeks ago, our local Long Point Foundation auctioned off a Robert Bateman original artist’s proof of a prothonotary warbler – one of Ontario’s endangered birds.  As the Long Point Foundation points out, “many private landowners are also doing their part by conserving habitats and rare species on their own properties.”

With this bill, government must not download the costs associated with pursuing a public good on private landowners.  I’m concerned that landowners could be reluctant to disclose the existence of an endangered species, knowing they could effectively lose control of their own property – without compensation.

One way of protecting both land rights and endangered species could be through the Alternative Land Use Services (ALUS) program, under which farmers and landowners are compensated for providing environmental services – like protecting endangered species.  Rather than relying on fines and enforcement, society pays for environmental services provided by the owners of land.

In a recent statement, resource groups – including the Ontario Forest Industries Association, Greater Toronto Home Builders, Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, Ontario Waterpower Association, and the Ontario Mining Association – argue “the provincial Liberal government is carelessly fast-tracking endangered species legislation that it knows will be a bureaucratic nightmare, expensive to implement and unlikely to result in the recovery of species at risk.  In doing so, they are poised to duplicate mistakes made by the Chretien government by ignoring the results of an independent audit of the National Species at Risk Act.”

In 1971, the Bill Davis government first introduced legislation to protect endangered species.  As we update the legislation, I will continue to advocate an approach that goes beyond rules and regulations and red tape and fining people.