Significant brushing and habitat disturbance began without public notice in a section of approximately 25,000 square metres of the Ostrander Point Crown Land Block last week. Ostrander Point is a highly controversial naturally vegetated block of land owned by the Province of Ontario, in the heart of the Globally Significant Prince Edward Point South Shore Important Bird Area. It is part of a candidate Provincial Area of Natural and Scientific Interest due to its rare alvar habitat. It has a unique breeding bird community and is on the flight path of hundreds of thousands of migrating birds each spring and fall. Ostrander is the home of at least two federally listed Species at Risk, and was described by an official from the Federal Government as one of the most important spots for migratory birds in Southern Ontario. In 2006, Gilead Power Corporation of Peterborough began its application process to build 12, ninety metre high wind turbine towers with 45 metre long blades attached on this public land, along with a grid of roads and infrastructure to connect them, and a transformer station to link into the provincial grid on this highly significant bird habitat. More recently they submitted their final proposal, which includes 9 turbines, some within 200 metres from Lake Ontario, and supporting studies to the Province of Ontario for an Energy Approval Permit. If granted, this permit would allow them to construct this industrial project on this highly sensitive and signficant habitat.

Last week local guardians, opposed to Gilead’s industrial project, noticed workers actively brushing (destroying woody vegetation on strips of land) within the Ostrander Point Crown Land Block. Through questioning, it came out that this work is being conducted by contractors searching for and decommissioning unexploded ordinance from the Department of National Defence, which conducted training on parts of Ostrander Point about 50 years ago. Many believe that this work is really being done to pave the way for Gilead’s project.

“All of this seems like too much of a coincidence,” says local IBA champion Myrna Wood. “This is in the timeframe of Gilead Power’s application for a turbine project on this Crown land. It has been 50 years since this site was abandoned by the military and the South Shore has never been cordoned off from public use during that time. It seems clear that the reason for the investigation of possible unexploded ordinance is at the request of the MNR due to planned development projects.”

Nature Canada, along with provincial partner Ontario Nature and the Prince Edward County Field Naturalists, has requested both the developer (Gilead), and the Province to find another location for this project which has high potential to be very damaging to migrating birds, the local breeding bird community, species at risk, and migrating bats if allowed to proceed.