Update on the Conservation Authority Consolidation

Recently the Ontario Environment Minister sent a letter to all conservation authority heads directing them to halt any “significant financial, asset or employment decisions” That pretty well shuts down any initiatives at Ontarios 36 CAs until they are fully consolidated into 9 units under the direction of one provincially controlled central command agency. But, there are still many unanswered questions. What will happen with the relationships with the various municipalities and their planning responsibilities, especially with regards to flooding? And, what will happen with regard to the drinking water protection zones currently managed within the CA structure? The journalist Fatima Syed elucidates the details and uncertainties in a recent Narwhal article ( https://thenarwhal.ca/conservation-authority-directive-drinking-water/).

But what is the Earthroots main concern in this provincial reorganization? Earthroots often simplifies its role by stating its is about wilderness, wildness and watersheds. There is not really a wilderness concern here because the nature of CAs has always been primarily about watersheds impacting organized municipalities and their consequent responsibilities to their populations. Similarly, CAs as they have been constituted and have functioned for decades, are clearly about watersheds, so we will leave those matters for resolution by provincial interactions with the municipalities that are impacted by them. That leaves wildness, and yes there are significant Earthroots interests in what the restructuring of the CAs could mean to Ontario’s wildness.

One of the most significant aspects of CAs as they have developed was not originally identified as an essential function but has become one in both the public eye and the ecological fabric of the land. It was always recognized that the flooding and future watershed management responsibilities would lead to the CAs owning and managing tracks of land, often in a near natural state. It wasn’t foreseen how important these lands would become. Some are recognized as recreational areas and others serve as natural heritage parklands. Some lands are just held for future considerations. 

But all of these lands have become natural heritage islands in the highly developed southern Ontario landscape. They are ecological refugia, where elements of the biodiversity can find solace, be those migrating birds seeking resting and staging areas or lichens growing on rocks or tree branches in air quality that supports them. And these islands are not just locally important, They often are stepping stones for species seeking linkage with the greater expanses of wildness further north. Endangered species may be able to jump from one conservation area to the next and up to the northern forests permitting the genetic mixing which keeps the species viable. Think of the conservation areas as an archipelago of refugia supporting a widespread biodiversity in a sea of human development.

And what is the future of that archipelago in a province obsessed with land development? Currently CAs are local entities governed by boards composed of municipal politicians. One might not consider them all environmentalists but they are responsive to their electorate and presently many of the people value and understand the importance of their conservation areas. It appears this ‘consolidation’ will take control of the natural areas away from local people and transfer the fate of these lands to a provincial entity.