As tribunal continues, naturalists nominate PECFN for award

Kingston Field Naturalists and Quinte Field Naturalists have nominated Prince Edward County Field Naturalists (PECFN) for the W.E. Saunders Natural History Award from Ontario Nature.

The nomination describes PECFN’s commitment to preserving the PEC South Shore IBA saying: “Appealing against the Ostrander Point approval is a David versus Goliath task! The difficulty is immense, but the significance is enormous. – If wind turbines cannot be stopped at Ostrander Point in the heart of an IBA, they are unlikely to be stopped on environmental grounds anywhere in Ontario.”
The nomination also states:
“The leadership qualities demonstrated by the PECFN are amazing.  In the face of a giant, this dedicated group analyzes the issues and formulates well organized plans to move forward, always communicating well, and recruiting many skilled people to support its cause.  PECFN’s campaign has educated many people about the value of caring for our natural environment.  They are truly environmental heroes!”

“We are humbled by this over the top description of our efforts to Save Ostrander Point and thank KFN and QFN for their support of the cause,” says Cheryl Anderson, of PECFN.

Anderson said the Environmental Review Tribunal ground on last week with presentations by Fred Beaudry, Ted Cheskey and Bill Evans.

“It is an on-going strategy of the MOE and Gilead lawyers to try to discredit the knowledge and experience of our witnesses; however, the tribunal has ruled in every case as to the truth of their “expert” label,” said Anderson.

Dr. Beaudry is an expert in the ecology of the Blanding’s Turtle.  After reviewing the planning documents for the IWT project his conclusion is that the turbine roads will result in serious and irreversible harm to the turtle population.  Dr. Beaudry  also explained the  reduced area biodiversity and species genetic diversity leading to reduced species survival.

Ted Cheskey spoke about the Important Bird Area.  He described how IBA’s are identified and their importance to maintenance of avian populations.  Important to his testimony was the concept of IBA Conservation Plans as a “living document”.  The IBA Caretaker role that has been taken on by Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory allows for on-going monitoring and updating of the status of the avian populations in the IBA.  Studies of Species at Risk in the IBA are part of this on-going monitoring.  He compared these in depth, on-going studies to the brief overviews carried out by Stantec.  It is his opinion that the wind energy project will cause serious and irreversible harm to the birds migrating through and breeding at Ostrander Point.

On Friday, Bill Evans from Old Bird Inc. in New York State began his testimony.  He is concerned the mortality studies that have been reported for wind energy installations in North America are faulty.  His statistics, using complicated calculations, indicate far higher mortality levels.  Cross examination of his testimony is to continue on Monday.

The following ERT schedule has been set out for the rest of April
Mon April 8: Bill Evans cross-examination, Don Davis, Monarchs
Tues April 9: Gilead – Stantec witnesses
Fri April 12: Gilead- Mike Lord and Ms Voltura (Merlin Radar system)
Wed April 24: – Fri Apr 29- MOE – MNR staff and County Sustainability Group
Mon April 29: – May 2 -Gilead witnesses.