Request McGuinty to protect IBA, deny Gilead project

Dalton McGuinty, Premier
Main Legislative Building, Room 281
Queen’s Park
Toronto, ON
M7A 1A1
January 11, 2011

Dear Mr. McGuinty,
I am a volunteer at the Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory in Prince Edward County and the president of its Board of Directors. Over my ten-year involvement with the Observatory, I have developed a deep appreciation for the miracle of the annual bird migration. Every year our Canadian boreal forest becomes a highly productive avian nursery for approximately 300 North, Central and South American bird species.

Early in the spring, millions of birds are impelled to leave their winter homes and begin the long trek north – Bobolinks from Argentina, Warblers from the rain forests of Brazil, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks from Columbia, Purple Martins and Cedar Waxwings from Nicaragua. Their first hurdle is to cross the Caribbean Sea, taking advantage of the many islands as resting places. Then, some head up the Atlantic seaboard, while others keep to the west of the Appalachians until they come to the Great Lakes – the last major obstacle in their flight path. Most prefer to cross the smaller, lower Great Lakes, Erie and Ontario.

Wanting to spend as little time as possible over open water, they look for islands and pieces of land jutting out into the lakes where they can rest, refuel and seek shelter from nasty weather and predators – hence the significance of Long Point and Point Pelee in Lake Erie, and the south shore of Prince Edward County in Lake Ontario.

The Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory (PEPtBO) is located in the Canadian Wildlife area at the southeastern end of the Prince Edward County South Shore Important Bird Area (PECSS IBA).  As a member of the Canadian Migration Monitoring Network (CMMN), PEPtBO conducts standardized banding operations and surveys that result in daily estimated totals for each species passing through the area during the spring (mid-April to early June) and fall (mid-August to early November) migrations.

Annually we band between 10,000 and 17,000 birds of 166 species of passerines (song birds) and raptors. A daily census and observations bring our annual total of migrants to between 500,000 and 650,000 birds of over 200 species of passerines, waterfowl and raptors. Without a doubt, similar numbers occur at any of a number of points along the PECSS resulting in the potential of several million birds migrating through the area annually on route to and from their nesting sites in the Boreal forest.

We fully support the Government’s efforts to provide clean, renewable sources of energy, reducing our reliance on fossil fuels. We have also, perhaps rather foolishly, trusted that the Government would recognize and protect the uniqueness of an Important Bird Area such as the south shore of Prince Edward County. The IBA programme is a science-based initiative to identify, conserve, and monitor a network of sites that provide essential habitat for bird populations. IBAs are identified using criteria that are internationally agreed upon, standardized, quantitative, and scientifically defensible. In Ontario, about 70 IBA sites have been designated. (For more information on IBAs see enclosed pamphlet or go to www.ibacanada.com).

In December, I was asked, as president of PEPtBO, to review your Ministry of Natural Resources policy document entitled Birds and Bird Habitats – Guidelines for Wind Power Projects, and to take advantage of the opportunity to make comments and recommendations (EBR 011-0112).  As I read the document, I became more and more disturbed. The guidelines are vague and weakly worded. The environmental requirements are limited to a site investigation (with little guidance regarding timing, duration or methods to be used) and a records review, all to be completed by the applicant! And most shocking of all – there is no provision made for IBAs. How can a superficial assessment of bird activity and populations, contracted by companies that have a vested interested in developing the area, even begin to reveal what the experts have known for years and PEPtBO’s data confirms: the entire PECSS IBA is situated on a major migration route?

Our energy problems are huge – and of our own making. However, do we have the right to interfere with the essential life patterns of other creatures? Where is the equality in the equation of providing power for several thousand homes at the expense of inhibiting the migratory practice of millions of birds by further diminishing their access to our north? The placement of industrial wind turbines on a major avian migratory route defies the principles of conservation and no amount of promising to monitor the number of dead birds after the fact can mitigate that reality.

We applaud the Government for its commitment to green energy, and recognize that the issue around industrial wind turbines is complex. However, if the movement to develop green energy is to be environmentally sound, its growth and implementation must not come at the expense of our wildlife and its habitat. Unless there is a responsible commitment to protecting our wildlife, it has no right to bear the name “Green”.

The Gilead Power Corp is currently seeking approval to proceed with its project at Ostrander Point located in the middle of the IBA not far from the Observatory.  I would ask that you 1) take a stand to protect this significant piece of shoreline, 2) prohibit wind power projects within IBAs, and 3) deny the Gilead application.

Thanking you in advance for your thoughtful consideration of this request.

Rosemary Kent
Picton