BRENDA O’FARRELL
The 1019 Report
The environmental mantra that urges people to “think globally, act locally” was reinforced Monday in Hudson as the town’s council adopted its long-awaited conservation plan that outlines what natural spaces should be protected.
“This is where the rubber meets the road,” said councillor Mark Gray, who is one of council’s advocates for natural space protection.
The plan is an important step, he said, to “enact legislation, bylaws, to protect biodiversity.”
The plan, which has been in the drafting stage for more than a year, identifies three main ecological corridors as “high priorities for conservation.”
These include the Viviry River corridor, which traces its way from Harwood north to the Sandy Beach area; the Black Creek corridor, in the Como district, which in turn links up with the Viviry; and what is known as the Alstonvale Escarpment corridor, in the western end of the municipality.
“I’m very proud that we’ve come this far with conservation and of the amazing team working on the town side as well as an amazing group of citizens on the environment committee,” Gray said.
“This is putting the international decrees into action,” Gray said, explaining how the plan provides a framework to fulfill accepted commitments to save 30 per cent of natural spaces. “And that is a big deal.”
The plan also aims to help restore degraded ecosystems through management, engage private landowners to be part of the conservation effort and improve sustainable access to nature.
An example of how to improve ecosystems, Gray said, is a pilot project that has recently been started that will see better forest management in the woods around Le Nichoir.
This is the first plan that includes the entire territory of the town, not just the municipality’s urban perimeter, Mayor Chloe Hutchison said. It also outlines what she called a “concerted approach” that not only includes the town, but private landowners, conservation groups and other stakeholders who can all contribute to preserving natural spaces.
The town, she explained, cannot aim to own 30 per cent of the land mass in its territory to ensure its protection, but it can collaboratively encourage it.
The town currently owns about 10 per cent of natural spaces in the municipality, Hutchison said.