Support for assessment

I am writing this to support the Federal Government making a study to assess the impacts of developing / destroying the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve which borders much of the Rouge National Urban Park eastern boundary. As a person who hikes in the Rouge at least once a week and often more often, I would like to make the following points.

The Toronto Zoo and the RNUP work in partnership to raise and release endangered Blanding’s turtles in the Rouge watershed. A primary site for the release of Blanding’s turtles is in the ponds along the Townline across the street from the Duffin Rouge Agricultural Preserve. I believe that this area is identified as “critical habitat” for the Blanding's turtle, which is a threatened species under the federal Species at Risk Act.  Building houses in this area, actually right across the street, will very likely have profound negative effects on the Blanding’s Turtle population. I hope that the assessment takes this into consideration. If the Premier has his way, soon home owners will be able to walk out their back doors and into these critical habitats with likely catastrophic consequences.

The Rouge National Urban Park has a mandate to protect agricultural landscapes which includes Class 1 farmland -- the rarest, richest and most fertile in the country – which is disappearing at an alarming rate in other parts of the country. Preserving this land in Ontario and in and around the RNUP should be a priority. Please check to see how many farms will be fragmented if this destruction of the DRAP takes place. Fragmented farms may prove non-viable for the farmers.   

The DRAP is beside and also contains, critical habitat for species at risk. I hope this is documented in the assessment as great swaths of this habitat will be destroyed if the DRAP is opened for housing developments. Many negative effects on the ecological functioning of the RNUP which borders on the DRAP, will likely occur if this development proceeds.

The Ontario proposed development area contains a Great Blue Heron rookery. Below is a list of some of the birds I have heard and / or seen in the Beare Wetlands which is very close to the DRAP. It is logical to assume that these birds use the DRAP lands as part of their range and even as breeding areas.  Baltimore Orioles, Barn Swallows, Blue jays, Canada gooses, Cardinals, Catbird, Cedar waxwing, Chickadee, Chipping sparrow, Common loon, owbird, Crow, Double-crested cormorant, Downy woodpecker, Field sparrow, Flicker, oldfinch, Grackle, Great blue heron, Green heron, Hairy woodpecker, Herring gull, House sparrow, House wren, Killdeer, Kingbird, Least flycatcher, Mallard, Mourning dove, Pileated woodpecker, Red-bellied woodpecker, Red-winged blackbird, Ring-billed gull, Robin, Rock pigeon, Song sparrow, Spotted sandpiper, Tree Swallow, Trumpeter swan, Turkey vulture, Warbling vireo, Wood duck, Wood thrush, Yellow warbler, Yellow-rumped warbler and others.

The notion that the Agricultural Preserve is expendable and that building 2000 more homes in Pickering rather on land that is already designated for houses elsewhere, is ludicrous.