A Centretown-based national environmental group has launched a new campaign that asks people in Ottawa to call for change to local environmental policies.
The Canadian Parks and Wildlife Society’s Ottawa Valley Chapter addresses issues on public wilderness protection in Ottawa and surrounding areas from its office near the corner of Bronson Avenue and Gloucester Street. The organization works to preserve biodiversity in wildlife populations through public education.
“Fundamental Issues” was released Nov. 11 as its newest campaign. It says Ottawa-area protection for wildlife and natural areas is inadequate and will continue to be so until social and political change occurs. The campaign does not highlight new environmental issues, but emphasizes that inadequate wildlife protection will simply continue unless people speak up about it.
Brett Hodnett, chair of the Fundamental Issues committee at CPAWS-OV, says the campaign’s main purpose is to get citizens talking about the environment on a large scale. In order to improve legislation on the local environment, he says wildlife protection needs to become a bigger value in our society.
Carleton University biology professor Grégory Bulté says education is important for change.
A campaign like “Fundamental Issues” may help to fix problems that individuals cannot change in their daily life where their “only power is to put pressure on people they elect,” says Bulté.
Urban expansion is a big threat to wildlife protection, he adds. As the city builds communities farther from Ottawa’s core, the more it invades natural areas.
“Habitat destruction is the number one cause of species loss,” says Bulté.
This drives wildlife to enter urban areas, such as the stray elk that wandered into Centretown and was shot by Ottawa police in early October.
“That’s going to happen more and more as we encroach on natural habitats,” says Bulté. Habitat destruction may force large animals, such as bears and coyotes, to relocate into the city as well, he adds.
Urban intensification must be promoted if people in Ottawa want to protect natural habitats, he says, to prevent continuous sprawl into rural and wild areas. But he admits the city cannot change the way it’s planned based solely on natural areas.
There are many changes individuals can make to have a positive effect on the environment, according to Bulté. Environmental campaigns are effective in gathering individuals to force governmental bodies to consider wildlife issues.
Gatineau Park continues to be one of CPAWS-OV’s main concerns since the organization’s establishment in 1970. Operated by the NCC, the park is not legislated and protected as a fully constituted National Park. This means the NCC could make decisions that impact the park’s wildlife at its discretion, from development plans to road construction.
Information like this is not well known in Ottawa, says Hodnett.
He hopes the Fundamental Issues campaign will result in increased knowledge in the city on environmental issues like Gatineau Park and will spark more discussion on the importance of Ottawa’s local natural habitats.