Global TV interview (on Monday, 03 September 2012)
with Harry Stelfox on behalf of the ENC re: City of Edmonton Nature Conservation Policies
Some of the interview content is as follows:
Positives:
· The City does deserve recognition for having raised the profile of natural areas and biodiversity conservation over the past 10 years since the Office of Natural Areas (now Biodiversity) was created.
· The Office of Natural Areas has produced a number of high level policies and strategic planning documents recently that focus on natural areas and biodiversity conservation. There are a lot of ambitious and good ideas contained. Expectations for significant progress have been
raised.
· City programs, such as the Master Naturalist Program and the Naturalization Program are very good.
Cautions:
· It is questionable as to whether the City has the current capacity to deliver in a meaningful way on the conservation of natural areas and associated biodiversity. The challenges are huge, especially given the pace of development in an environment where economics usually takes precedent over environmental interests. The Office of Biodiversity has limited staff and financial resources to offset the development juggernaut.
· Recent efforts have focused on securing relatively small and isolated natural areas in the tablelands – mostly outside the central core of the City. These sites might provide for valuable opportunities for local residents to visit and enjoy nature, but they could easily be degraded by too many people activity. Also, these site are probably unable to sustain high species diversity because of their small size and isolation.
· The focus on tableland natural areas has drawn attention and resources away from core biodiversity natural areas associated with the river valley and ravines. There does not appear to be much on-the-ground stewardship of any of these lands by the City. The City’s stewardship strategy appears to rely almost exclusively on volunteers and local community groups.
·Top-of-the-bank development setbacks are totally inadequate in terms of securing the ecological integrity of our river valley and ravine natural areas.
· Residential developments still ignore the need to maintain connectivity between the river valley/ravine natural areas and nearby tableland natural areas – mentioned example of Rabbit Hill Natural Area in the Magrath area being isolated from the Whitemud Creek Ravine.
· It is questionable as to how much influence the Office of Natural Areas actually has within the City administration for the purpose of influencing planning and development decisions.
written by Harry Stelfox