Creating a Valuable Habitat

Years from now, long after the Bruce to Milton project is completed, our legacy won’t just be the 500 kilovolt transmission line, but the homes and habitats we have created for countless species of birds, frogs and other wildlife.

Our biodiversity initiative promotes the creation of new habitats and the opportunity to work with stakeholders and First Nations and Métis communities,” Brian McCormick, Manager Environmental Services and Approvals commented.

You see, long before the stakes are in the ground and the trees give way to new transmission towers, a team of Hydro One’s environmental planners work with agencies, stakeholders and the government to balance what’s right for our customers with what’s right for the environment.

And the normal balance is usually replanting one hectare for every hectare that is lost and sometimes that’s a gamble. Seedlings and young trees require care and sometimes, that care is not readily available. So for the Bruce to Milton Project, we’re actually creating something that’s more meaningful to the environment and also building strong community relationships.

Through this initiative, Hydro One will invest more than $2 million in 2010 and 2011 to support locally-designed stewardship and biodiversity projects to create and enhance natural habitat in the area. In fact, the ecological value of the habitat created will exceed what will be lost during construction.

The initiative was developed through a series of four workshops involving representatives from First Nations and Métis communities, municipalities, government agencies, interest groups and stewardship councils. At the workshops, par-ticipants developed a methodology and criteria that became the basis for selecting those opportunities that would receive funding.

Participants were then invited to submit letters of interest, proposing opportunities that offered the creation or enhancement of habitat within the area of the Bruce to Milton Project. The selected opportunities are within the four watersheds that the Project traverses (the Saugeen River, Grand River, Credit River and Sixteen Mile Creek). In addition, a number of projects will proceed on First Nations reserve and traditional lands, including the Sauble River watershed.

The opportunities range from the creation and enhancement of woodlands and grasslands to the recovery of the endangered butternut tree. Overall, the 280 hectares of woodlot that will be cut during construction creates an opportunity to create and enhance new areas of great ecological value, including over 70 hectares within First Nations reserve lands.

“We are very proud of this initiative as it is a chance to support opportunities which incorporate local values for the communities affected,” said McCormick. “The Bruce to Milton Biodiversity Initiative will lead the way as the standard for habitat restoration for other large Hydro One transmission projects going forward in the province.”

What is "Environment"?

It’s easy to think of the environment as just land and animals, but in reality it’s much more complicated than that. According to the Ontario Environmental Assessment Act, “environment” means:

• Air, land or water,
• Plant and animal life, including human life,
• The social, economic and cultural conditions that influence the life of humans or a community,
• Any building, structure, machine or other device or thing made by humans,
• Any solid, liquid, gas, odour, heat, sound, vibration or radiation resulting directly or indirectly from human activities, or
• Any part or combination of the foregoing and the interrelationships between any two or more of them in or out of Ontario.

Opportunities

In total, 23 separate opportunities will be implemented, by the following groups:

• Saugeen Valley Conservation Authority
• Saugeen Ojibway Nations
• Conservation Halton and the Métis Nation of Ontario
• Credit River Conservation
• Grand River Conservation Authority
• The Town of Milton
• Halton-Peel Woodlands and Wildlife Stewardship/Dufferin South Simcoe Land Stewardship Network/Bruce Stewardship Council/Grey County Forest Stewardship Network