next message in archive
no next message in thread
previous message in archive
Index of Subjects
(petitions to copy and circulate available on-line in a day or two) ***************************************************************** Greenwich National Park Death Sentence by Sharon Labchuk, Earth Action When the dunes at Greenwich were declared a national park last year, most people figured this relatively unspoiled natural area would finally be safe from lowlife developers. They were forgetting one thing though - lowlife politicians. Lawrence MacAulay, Canada's solicitor general and Liberal MP for the Greenwich area, has one thing on his mind - re-election. And he's not going to let anything like rare plants or the endangered piping plover get in his way. Not one for modesty, he's bragged publicly about his major role in "convincing" Minister of Canadian Heritage Sheila Copps to designate this fragile ecosystem a national park. He further consolidated his political position in his economically depressed riding by announcing a federal $1.3 million ‘development plan' for the park. The development will help attract more than 100,000 tourists this summer to trample this unique ecosystem to death. Even more tourists are expected in succeeding years as the park becomes more developed and better advertised. MacAulay spouts the usual political rhetoric about "respecting and honouring the fragility and integrity of this beautiful place" but the man hasn't the slightest environmental sensibility. Out of the other side of his mouth he calls Greenwich, an area Parks Canada says has natural features not found anywhere else in the world, a ‘project' and a ‘resource'. "This project is an excellent example of how federal investment will lead to social and economic opportunities," he says. Parks Canada on PEI, charged with protecting Greenwich, seems equally ignorant of the critical need for ecosystem protection over economic and recreational opportunities for humans. Last fall Dave Lipton, Parks Canada's head bureaucrat on PEI, directed the construction of a trail through sensitive sand dunes and over top of 4 recognized archeological sites without first conducting an environmental screening, clearly contravening the province's Archeological Sites Protection Act and Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency regulations. The trail was hurriedly built and the screening process ignored in order to access federal government funding that would not have been available later. Guess which federal politician would have greased the wheels for this money? The trail construction created about 12 short-term jobs and got MacAulay about 12 votes. A walk on the trail reveals the damage caused by hasty planning and lack of expert advice. Built as close to the bank's edge as possible, parts of the trail are already collapsing over the side and onto the beach below. Pottery shards, brought to the surface during trail excavation, are clearly visible in the archeological sites. Pesticide-soaked lumber, used for the boardwalk section, now leaches its toxic load onto the sand dunes. The problem with Parks Canada on PEI is that there is no ecologist on staff, so MacAulay's economic development schemes for the area have been allowed to dominate. And while a biological survey of Greenwich has been contracted out by Parks Canada, it's nothing more than lip service. The survey cannot be completed in time to influence scheduled major development this spring. Besides harm already caused by trail construction, Parks Canada has cut a 10 foot wide swath through the forested edges of the park, claiming this is standard procedure in all national parks. The swath will be kept denuded for all time to delineate park boundaries. Three separate parcels of land, with privately owned property between, make up the tiny park on the Greenwich Peninsula. Development plans for the smallest parcel, which is not much more than a strip of dunes along the shore and a bit of field, include an access road for beach goers and a parking lot for 90 cars and 10 buses "with room for expansion." Tourists frolicking on this beach will find all the amenities here - toilets, showers, hot dog stands, the works. Spectacular dunes on the largest and most sensitive parcel of land will be in full view of the hordes sunning on the beach. This land, previously only accessible by a long tiring hike up and down sand dunes, will soon be easy to reach by simply driving up the proposed access road and strolling along the beach. Besides facilitating access from a public beach, Parks Canada intends to penetrate this area with boardwalks. There's even a bizarre plan to allow recreational fishing boats on the little pond situated in the midst of this massive dune system. On most fine summer days, one would be lucky to encounter a half-dozen people in this dramatic and biologically diverse natural area, although all terrain vehicles were a problem. Now that the federal government is protecting it, throngs of unrestricted and unsupervised tourists will be given free rein to go anywhere in the park, for Parks Canada has no plan in place to make people stay on the boardwalks. We know from the sorry mess at the national park in Cavendish that, free to roam, it's impossible to keep people from climbing and destroying fragile dunes. A ‘special planning area' outside park boundaries has been established by the Province. Yet-to-be-determined development in this zone will sever the park ecosystem from the surrounding countryside, creating an ‘island of doom' unable to maintain biological integrity in the long run. Already developer George Dierks, who owns 400 acres near the park, is planning a four star hotel and golf course complex. MacAulay and others see Greenwich as a cash cow to be milked for all it's worth. But others are horrified that one of PEI's scarce natural areas has been reduced to a commodity and will soon swarm with tourists. According to the most basic ecological criteria, the planet is overpopulated today with 6 billion humans, and our population may double in the next century before it levels out. Highly regarded conservation biologists say at least 50% of the Earth must remain wild, free from human interference, to protect biodiversity and avoid mass extinctions. These wild areas, they say, must be big, really big, to allow other species the space they need to survive and evolve. And they must be interconnected with corridors and surrounded by buffer zones where only limited human activity is permitted. Corridors are necessary to allow for genetic exchange between populations and for habitat needs of wide-ranging species. Present human interference with the natural world is excessive and the situation is rapidly worsening. An estimated 150 species per day are eliminated by human activity. Many species of plants and animals, once teeming in Atlantic Canada, have had their populations decimated and are confined to ever-shrinking pockets of wilderness to make room for humans. PEI has the most intensively ‘managed' landscape of all provinces and various native animals, like bear, lynx, pine martin and woodland caribou have long since disappeared because of hunting, trapping and forest destruction. Are we not generous enough to leave wild places on this island to accommodate the needs of other species? We urgently need to rewild large sections of PEI, not only because humans are part of Nature and we ultimately depend upon its integrity and health for our survival. But because humans have no right to reduce the diversity of life on Earth except to satisfy vital needs, and because other species have the right to exist irrespective of their usefulness to humans. Let Greenwich signal a new appreciation for Nature conservation on PEI. Human intrusion into this national park needs to be limited to scientific study and strictly controlled guided tours to only the least sensitive areas. The Island has miles of shoreline already servicing the recreational needs of tourists. Leave the Greenwich dunes to the endangered piping plovers and other wild things. ACTION ALERT: If you care about conserving wildlands, and if the biological meltdown now in progress brings you to tears, infuriates you, or otherwise makes you feel like taking action, now's the time to act. Help defend Greenwich from development. When Greenwich National Park officially opens in July 1999 development will be well underway. Contact Earth Action to find out how you can help. At the very least, write a letter to Sheila Copps and copy it to the people below. Postage is free to the House of Commons. Letters to the editor are effective. Sheila Copps Minister of Canadian Heritage House of Commons, Ottawa Fax: 819-994-5987 coppss@parl.gc.ca Hon. Mark Muise Progressive Conservative Party House of Commons, Ottawa Fax: 613-996-9857 muisem@parl.gc.ca Hon. Rick Laliberte NDP House of Commons, Ottawa Fax: 613-995-7697 lalibr@parl.gc.ca Hon. Inky Mark Reform Party House of Comons, Ottawa Fax: 613-992-0930 marki@parl.gc.ca Hon. Suazanne Tremblay Bloc Quebecois House of Commons, Ottawa Fax: 613-996-8298 trembs@parl.gc.ca Joe O'Brien Director General for Eastern Canada Parks Canada 1869 Upper Water St Halifax, NS B3J 159 Fax: 902-426-1378 joe_obrien@pch.gc.ca Your Member of Parliament House of Commons, Ottawa Earth Action 81 Prince St Charlottetown, PEI C1A 4R3 Fax: 902-621-0719 slabchuk@isn.net -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- You received this because you are subscribed to "sust-mar", the Sustainable Maritimes mailing list. To unsubscribe, send email to <majordomo@chebucto.ns.ca> with "unsubscribe sust-mar" (without quotes) as the body of your message. To post a message to sust-mar subscribers, send it to <sust-mar@chebucto.ns.ca> Posts that are off-topic or excessive length (10K) will be rejected. For help contact <sust-mar-owner@chebucto.ns.ca>
next message in archive
no next message in thread
previous message in archive
Index of Subjects