Collaborative Conservation
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Text by Lorraine Johnson
A new approach to the protection and management of remaining natural areas in the Hamilton/Burlington region offers an exceptional example of collaboration for the greater good. Under the banner of the Cootes to Escarpment EcoPark System, a multi-agency alliance has formed to purchase and restore remaining green spaces and create corridors connecting Lake Ontario to the Niagara Escarpment. Discussions began in 2006, and a formal agreement (a Memorandum of Understanding) among the various partners was signed in 2013. According to Peter Kelly, coordinator of the project, no other alliance quite like it exists in eastern North America. What’s unique is that although the deed for each land purchase (or donation) may be held by one particular agency within the coalition, the money for the purchase may be jointly raised, with the understanding that the land will be protected and managed in perpetuity as part of the larger EcoPark System. The alliance formed in response to development pressure in one of Canada’s most rapidly growing urban regions. Natural areas in this part of southern Ontario are severely fragmented, with a number of 400-series highways and rail lines flowing through—and bisecting—the landscape.
According to David Galbraith, Head of Science at the Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG) in Hamilton who has been chair of the EcoPark System initiative from its earliest days, the project stemmed from two related questions: how best to manage Cootes Paradise, which the RBG owns, and how best to facilitate the ongoing remediation of Hamilton Harbour, which multiple agencies, including the RBG, are involved in. “You can’t improve a harbour,” notes Galbraith, “if you don’t improve the watershed.” Hence, the natural heritage committee of the remediation project started exploring options to bring various conservation groups and agencies together to improve connectivity across the landscape. “We tend to manage natural areas on the basis of property lines,” says Galbraith. “But a Jefferson salamander doesn’t care who owns the land. What’s important are things like road risks, and permeability of the landscape, and habitat values.” To date, nine partner groups have signed onto the formal agreement to expand conservation lands in the region, and to restore the properties: two conservation authorities (Conservation Halton and Hamilton Conservation Authority), three municipalities (City of Burlington, City of Hamilton, and Halton Re-
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Marsh, Royal Botanical Gardens, Hamilton
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Peter Kelly
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Kerncliff Park boardwalk, wetland, and cliff
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Peter Kelly
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Smokey Hollow, Waterdown
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Peter Kelly
