2011-01-06

Protest Urbandale Plans to Needlessly and Mercilessly Kill Beaver Pond Forest Wildlife

Demand Destructive Clear Cutting Be Put Off Till Spring

Save Beaver Pond Rally - At Urbandale Sales Office

Where: Urbandale Kanata Sales Office (They are the lead developer)
When: Saturday, January 8 from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm

Meet at All Saints High School Parking Lot & we will walk across the street to Urbandale Sales Office

Implications of Destruction (courtesy of Evelyn Abell)


Are we a society that has become desensitized to violence en masse but overwhelmed at the thought of physical harm to a specific individual or pet. We are mortified to learn of a puppy thrown from a truck window and seek due punishment for the perpetrator. Why then do we yawn in the face of mass destruction? Or do we? Are we changing our paradigm from “It’s not my problem” and “They should do something” to “I truly am connected and I must take some action. Moreover, if I just do nothing, it will still affect me.”

Martha Webber, a well known Ottawa botanist shares this perspective: “The more I think of the wildlife massacre, the angrier I get. Many animals and birds shelter against the winter weather in tree cavities, even those in dens in the ground, are warm. insulated with dry leaves, The and others in deep hibernation,may be lucky enough to die of shock and fright when their tree is cut. If they survive the tree fall, with or without broken bones and bodies, confused by noise of the machinery, loss of shelter and food, few will make it to the nearest garbage can. If a dog is mistreated the owner is penalized. It makes news in the Citizen. But the half tamed birds and animals of the forest who have shared it so long with so many of us, have no concept of what man can do if the price is right.”

How do we 21st century humans protect wildlife? Marianne Wilkinson, our councillor who generally weighs in on the side of ecology reports: “The City of Ottawas wildlife protocol … directs construction be phased to avoid trapping wildlife”. and construction will occur… such that at the end of each phase the outer edge of development will extend further north , allowing the wildlife to respond by moving north towards the core of the South March Highlands.

This is truly a war zone, but the ammunition is all fired from one side. Do we really expect hibernating animals to march ahead of the chainsaws? And what of the food stores the squirrels and chipmunks sequestered through the fall? Is mass animal starvation of no consequence to humans?

Julie Comber speaks well for the future home buyers – the current “younger” generation: "I'm glad the plight of the wildlife is moving you. The problem is our society treats animals arbitrarily, based on their relationship to humans, not based on their ability to suffer or their cognitive development, so laws only protect owned animals (pets) and are very lax on farm animals. Wildlife are not covered by animal welfare legislation. This is why legally, Urbandale can do this, while morally, clearly they shouldn't. I think this is another great example of how this Beaver Pond issue that seemed so local and contained at first really is interconnected with so many other issues, and forces us to ask questions about our society and the path we are on."

Let’s not forget economic implications. According to Earth Economics, Forest and watershed-filtered water utilities contribute billions of dollars to local and regional economies by providing ecosystem services such as fresh water filtration and storage, flood protection, habitat and recreation. This contribution is currently not generally recognized or valued and therefore the acquisition and management of these natural systems is difficult and burdensome.


Further resources on the South March Highlands

South March Highlands Overview

Save Ottawa's South March Highlands

Ottawa's Great Forest

I want to save the land North of Beaver Pond Park in Kanata Ontario Facebook Group

The Fifth Column SMH posts

The Fifth Column SMH Management Plan posts

Virtual Nonsense (Paul Renaud) SMH posts

South March Highlands Advocacy

South March Highlands Stewardship Plan


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

mankind has been running over the planet for centuries. But, our actions now are so large that we are pretty much threatening our own existence. So far removed we have become from nature now - our roots. We have become this society that pushes a button without realizing the massive infrastructure and detrimental effects of our need for housing our flesh and the power required to feed our ways...

a dominating creature of the planet we have become. To the point of plaguing the planet...

the instigators of it all can get away with it as well for we have all bought into it.

we need to get back to the basics.
Long before all of us arrived, the aboriginals and such lived in harmony with the land. We came and conquered. Shame on us for doing that really. what makes our ways better?