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March 22, 2007
LONG POINT CAUSEWAY CONTRACT AWARDED
The Long Point World Biosphere Reserve Foundation (LPWBRF) has awarded a $40,000 contract to Ecoplans Limited of Kitchener, Ontario to conduct a feasibility study of potential improvements to the causeway that links the Long Point Peninsula on Lake Erie with mainland southern Ontario. The study will look at measures dealing with wildlife road mortality as well as other possible roadway enhancements benefiting roadway safety and the water quality of the adjacent Big Creek Marsh and Long Point Bay.
Work on the feasibility study will begin this month and continue until August when Ecoplans Limited will present its draft findings and recommendations at a public meeting at the Port Rowan Community Centre on August 18 to seek comments from local residents and organizations.
³We want to make sure that people in this community have an opportunity to comment on the results of the study and potential plans to revitalize the causeway," said Paula Jongerden, chair of the LPWBRF. ³Ecoplans will be incorporating those public comments in its final report which is expected by the end of this year.²
Jongerden said Ecoplans Limited was selected among five competing firms based on its wealth of experience in similar projects and the expertise of its parent company, McCormick Rankin Corporation (MRC), in transportation engineering. For example, Ecoplans Limited and MRC are currently collaborating on a causeway improvement study at the Lynde Marsh in Durham Region with many of the same wildlife, habitat and stakeholder issues as the current Long Point Feasibility Study.
³We are pleased to be working with the Long Point World Biosphere Reserve Foundation and other stakeholders to identify causeway improvements that are more compatible with the goals and objectives of the Long Point Biosphere Reserve², said senior ecologist Geoff Gartshore of Ecoplans.
The list of potential improvements to the causeway include:
_ Reducing wildlife road mortality
_ Improving access between Long Point and Port Rowan
_ Creating safer roadway conditions for motorists, pedestrians, and cyclists
_ Improving the hydrological function of the Big Creek marsh
_ Improving recreational opportunities (e.g. biking, birding, fishing)
The causeway rehabilitation project is being guided by an ad hoc committee of the LPWBRF that includes representatives from Environment Canada, the Canadian Wildlife Service, the Norfolk Land Stewardship Council, Bird Studies Canada, the Nature Conservancy of Canada, Norfolk County, the Long Point Region Conservation Authority, the Long Point Country Chamber of Commerce, the Long Point Ratepayers¹ Association, the Long Point Anglers¹ Association and the Long Point Area Fish and Game Club. Local organizations have already committed nearly $10,000 towards the study and the LPWBRF is planning to raise additional funds for the completion of the study. Individuals or organizations that would like to pledge funds towards this project should contact Paula Jongerden at paulajongerden@hotmail.com or Dave Reid at dave.j.reid@ontario.ca.
³Ecoplans Limited of Kitchener, Ontario was established in 1970 and provides consulting services in the natural sciences, hydrogeology, environmental planning, environmental management, environmental impact assessment and Landscape Architecture. Its parent company, McCormick Rankin Corporation (MRC), which is celebrating its 50th anniversary, is a world recognized leader in transportation engineering, with its head office in Mississauga. (See attached backgrounder for more information on Ecoplans Limited)
The Long Point World Biosphere Reserve is one of 13 in Canada and one of 459 globally, which serve as models for fulfilling various international commitments for conserving biodiversity and working towards a sustainable future. The Long Point World Biosphere Reserve Foundation (LPWBRF) promotes research, monitoring, education and projects that support the goals of conservation and sustainable use in our Biosphere Reserve.
For more information, please contact:
519-426-4259
Established in 1970, Ecoplans Limited provides consulting services to a wide variety of private and public sector clients. Project work ranges from initial concept development, policy development, and peer reviews, to detailed inventories and impact assessments, and finally to construction supervision and post-construction monitoring. Projects range from single lot studies to complex multi-factor impact assessments for major utility and transportation corridors and large scale area developments. Habitat creation, restoration work, and natural channel design are also product services. Its parent company, McCormick Rankin Corporation (MRC) is a world recognized leader in transportation engineering, with the head office in Mississauga and additional offices in Ottawa, Kingston, Halifax, Brisbane, Edinburgh, and Auckland. Structural, civil and water resource engineering services are frequently integrated in our natural environmental assessments. Ecoplans Limited has completed literally hundreds of ecological planning, environmental assessment, and design studies both within and outside Ontario for numerous private and public sector clients over our 37 year history. Many, if not most of these projects have had a wildlife component, hydrology component, and extensive public/agency/stakeholder liaison to varying degrees. A large portion of our work integrates ecological assessment with transportation planning and engineering. Consideration of the flow of water, sediments and wildlife across the roadway “membrane” is an integral part of that work, and has more recently been popularized under the term Road Ecology as coined by Robert Forman. Wildlife and road ecology research is an active part of our services and Ecoplans Limited/MRC is well recognized in this field through the following kinds of projects: Delivery of a habitat creation plan and dedicated wildlife crossing structures for the Bayview Avenue extension along with ongoing structure monitoring (camera detection system) for York Region (Consulting Engineers of Canada Award of Excellence). Preparation of the Environmental Guide for Wildlife on the Oak Ridges Moraine, a detailed road ecology and wildlife structure literature review with linked fact sheets (for the Ontario Ministry of Transportation - see Ecoplans Limited website under Environmental Standards Project). Preparation of a landscape scale functional analysis review of the Highway 404 extension to identify key wildlife movement areas, and the nature and location of mitigation measures (such as wildlife structures) to reduce the fragmentation effects and wildlife mortality risk of the future highway (for York Region). Preparation of the Environmental Management Plan (EMP) for the Fredericton to Moncton highway that included wildlife structures for the Grand Meadows wetland area crossing (Transportation Association of Canada Environmental Achievement award).
The Long Point Causeway Improvement Project is a community-based project to revitalize the 3.5 kilometre-long causeway that links the Long Point Peninsula on Lake Erie with mainland southern Ontario. The Long Point World Biosphere Reserve Foundation (LPWBRF) is leading an ad hoc Steering Committee to promote and develop plans for improving the causeway road. As a first step, the LPWBRF has engaged Ecoplans Limited of Kitchener, Ontario to conduct a feasibility study of potential improvements including:
Reducing wildlife road mortality
Improving access between Long Point and Port Rowan
Creating safer roadway conditions for motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians
Improving water quality and water movement between Big Creek marsh and Long Point Inner Bay
Improving recreational opportunities (e.g. biking, birding, fishing)
The study will examine mitigation alternatives along the causeway itself, within the neighbouring marsh and throughout the Big Creek watershed. It will also investigate how similar projects were undertaken across North America.
The Causeway project is being guided by an ad hoc committee that includes representatives from the Long Point World Biosphere Reserve Foundation, the Canadian Wildlife Service-Environment Canada, the Norfolk Land Stewardship Council, Bird Studies Canada, the Nature Conservancy of Canada, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Norfolk County, Upper Thames River Conservation Authority, Ontario Ministry of Transportation, the Long Point Region Conservation Authority, the Norfolk Field Naturalists, the Long Point Country Chamber of Commerce, the Long Point Ratepayers’ Association, the Long Point Bay Anglers’ Association, the Long Point Waterfowlers’ Association, the Long Point Area Fish and Game Club, the Ruffed Grouse Society, the Long Point Basin Land Trust, the Norfolk County Environmental Advisory Committee, and local residents.
Local organizations have donated nearly $10,000 towards the study and the Canadian Wildlife Service - Environment Canada has committed funding of $5,000 through its Species at Risk Program. As well, the Nature Conservancy of Canada says it will match funds raised by non-government organizations to a maximum of $10,000, provided government agencies match the combined total raised.
For more information, please contact:
Long Point World Biosphere Reserve Foundation Phone: 905-768-5166 or
Norfolk Land Stewardship Council Phone: 519-426-4259
or visit: www.longpointbiosphere.org
Fast facts
The Causeway was constructed in 1927-8 to provide access to the Long Point beaches from the mainland.
On average, 2250 car trips are made across the causeway every day between April and October (2005 data). Four times this number of cars crosses the causeway on summer weekends.
It is estimated that 10,000 animals die on the causeway annually, according to surveys by the Canadian Wildlife Service- Environment Canada (CWS). Most are leopard frogs but 99 other species of frogs, turtles, snakes, birds, and mammals have been run over including rare and endangered species.
So many turtles are being run over at Long Point that the causeway is now ranked the 5th deadliest road in the world for turtles.
The Big Creek Marsh acts as a giant natural kidney for the entire watershed. Because the marsh now has only one outlet into Long Point Bay, sediment and pollution-laden water now flows directly into the bay instead of being purified by the marsh
Prepared by Long Point Causeway Improvement Project Steering Committee July 2007
Simcoe Reformer Friday March 23, 2007
A Kitchener consulting firm has been hired to come up with a plan on how to re-do the Long Point causeway to make it safer for wildlife, drivers and pedestrians.
Every year countless turtles and snakes are killed trying to cross the roadway, which crosses an ecologically sensitive marshy area between the mainland and Long Point.
Ecoplans of Kitchener will be paid $40,000 to study how to revitalize the causeway. It will present its results to the public in Port Rowan on Aug. 18 for feedback.
The company will issue a final report at the end of the year.
"We want to make sure that people in this community have an opportunity to comment on the results and potential plans to revitalize the causeway," Paula Jongerden, chair of the Long Point World Biosphere Reserve Foundation, said in a press release.
The changes are intended to also help improve water quality of the adjacent Big Creek Marsh, improve access between Long Point and Port Rowan, and create new opportunities for biking, birding, and fishing.
Bob Hodgins, president of Ecoplans, said that in similar projects the company has been involved in, pipes were put underneath highways to provide safe passage for migrating animals from one side to the other.
"The challenge is how to encourage animals to find the crossing," Hodgins told the Reformer. "We have put in directional fencing to guide them."
Making roadways safer for wildlife to cross "is a relatively new science," he added. "There's an increasing awareness about what should be done."
Money for the project is coming from the biosphere's fundraising and from local environmental groups, which have pledged $10,000.
The project is being guided by a handful of groups, including the biosphere, Environment Canada, the Canadian Wildlife Service, the Norfolk Land Stewardship Council, Bird Studies Canada, the Nature Conservancy Authority, the Long Point Country Chamber of Commerce, the Long Point Region Conservation Authority, the Long Point Anglers Association, the Long Point Area Fish and Game Club, and the Long Point Ratepayers Association.
