Ontario Nature Conservation and Science Department

Save Ontario’s Species (SOS), a coalition of leading environmental groups, is marking the first year of the coming into force of Ontario’s Endangered Species Act, 2007 (ESA) with the release of its first ESA report card. The report card indicates that the province is setting itself up for failure.

Habitat loss is the number one threat to most endangered species in Ontario, so the identification and protection of all areas used by these species is crucial to their survival and recovery. To protect the habitat of ten “fast-track” species under the ESA, the Ministry of Natural Resources was to have completed ten habitat regulations by June 30, 2009. Now, with only nine of those ten regulations posted in draft form, it is clear that many of the regulations will fail in their primary goal – to protect the habitat needed to ensure the continued survival and recovery of the species, among them the American badger and the barn owl. At present, it is estimated that there are only 200 badgers and 5-10 pairs of barn owls remaining in Ontario.

“Our report card grades are based on the fact that habitat regulations are the most critical element of the new ESA, and it’s crucial we get these first ten right,” said Dr. Anne Bell, senior director of conservation and education for Ontario Nature. “These regulations are the first real test of whether the ESA is going to be effective.”

Animals and plants rely on a variety of areas throughout their life cycle—including spaces for breeding, rearing young, hibernating, migrating and feeding. “Habitat means a lot more than just dens, nests and roosts. A habitat regulation that protects only dens is as effective as a private property law that applies only to your bedroom,” says Rachel Plotkin, biodiversity policy analyst, David Suzuki Foundation. “Like people, species need areas to find food and to move around, not just a den to sleep in.”

The report card identifies significant failings in the key areas of translating sound science into strong policy. Five of the nine posted regulations were awarded poor or failing grades.

“Ontario has the best endangered species act in the world, and it’s being gutted one regulation at a time,” says Janet Sumner, executive director, CPAWS-Wildlands League. “When climate change and habitat fragmentation are driving our ecosystems to their knees we need more, not less, protection for species.” The government failed to post a draft habitat regulation for woodland caribou in time to meet the June 30 deadline. As a result, logging and road-building continue and forest management planning proceeds without any clear direction from government about habitat protection.

“Each day that goes by without a habitat regulation for the woodland caribou brings the species that much closer to extinction,” says Catharine Grant, boreal campaigner, ForestEthics. The absence of a draft habitat regulation for the woodland caribou is a violation of a commitment made by the government of Ontario to regulate habitat for ten species by June 30, 2009. “Woodland caribou face great peril from ongoing activities, such as logging, in its critical habitat,” said Justin Duncan, coordinating lawyer, Ecojustice. “Delaying this regulation will have serious ecological, and possibly legal, implications that cannot be dismissed by our government.”

Download ESA Report Card >>

Frenchman’s Bay Harbour News

Persons interested in the latest information regarding the Frenchman's Bay Harbour Entrance Class Environmental Assessment may go to: www.trca.on.ca/frenchmansbay or www.cityofpickering.com

To view the most recent Environmental Study Report (September 2009) please click on this link: http://www.trca.on.ca/dotAsset/50330.pdf

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