I have finally taken the time to review the Monitoring the Moraine 2012 Status Report which was published in June.  It was well worth the read as it caused me to think beyond the challenges and problems of my own backyard (i.e. King Township), to consider why it is happening; and importantly to think about what I can be doing about it.  Its well written and is relatively short (16 pages plus maps); I strongly recommend it to anyone who appreciates the Moraine and wants it to be protected.  As the report reviews there is a critical role for citizens.  You can read it here.

To quote the Status report:   “Land-use activities and threats to the Moraine’s water are prevalent across the Oak Ridges Moraine as a result of unenforced and ineffective bylaws, loopholes in the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan (ORMCP), and permissive policies directing infrastructure projects.”  The Status Report neatly summarizes specifics across the ORM.   As indicated in the Report one of the challenges of making a status report is simply having the data and information.  Protecting the ORM is severely hampered by lack of mandated score keeping and is very dependent on concerned citizens (i.e. volunteers) monitoring and reporting.

The significance of the latter hit home hard.   I was asked by EcoSpark to review the Status Report prior to publishing; while doing so I identified several projects in King which were not in the Status Report and should have been in terms of what the Status Report was presenting.  Some I had personally been involved with as a “concerned citizen.”  As I reflect back, my energies had clearly been focused on the project and not on filing the report!  Concerned citizens are not enough.  There needs to be a structure of sorts with accountability to Ministry of Municipal Affairs & Housing, the Ministry which launched the ORMCP.

As the ORMCP is up for review in 2015 the lack of a good data base is problematic.  There is not even a good data base about environmental assessments being conducted on the Moraine.

As I said at the beginning the Status Report caused me think about what I can do; actually it makes some very clear recommendations for Municipalities.

The specific recommendations applicable to King:

• Implement a tree conservation bylaw.

• Review our site alteration bylaw to ensure that it is effective.

• Track and record all EA’s taking place on the ORM so that the information is easily accessible to the public and available for use during the 2015 ORMCP.

All of the above are entirely consistent with our Sustainability Plan and once we have our Sustainability Committee in place I will be bringing these ideas forward.