The Niagara Escarpment: The Last Preserve

by Hans Tammemagi

            I love to hike along the Bruce Trail. Walking from the car into the peaceful, cool greens of the forest is like entering a majestic cathedral.

            You are alone in solitude, the spirit soars, and peace descends on the soul. Trees sweep upward reaching toward the sky like vast organ pipes, with green leaves shimmering against the brilliant blue of the sky. Ancient limestone boulders, massive sculptures covered in dark green moss lie scattered along the long slope.

            The trail weaves along, paralleling the long rampart of the escarpment sometimes climbing up the steep pitch, sometimes running down the steep fissured limestone slope. Occasionally, a ravine cuts across the path with a stream bubbling at the bottom. Waterfalls like thin veils tumble delicately over limestone crags and sometimes, next to them, sit old mills that churned out wheat or grist or lumber in years gone by. In the springtime, wildflowers in dazzling quantities spread on the forest floor like magnificent carpets.

            Some day I would like to hike the entire the Bruce Trail, which meanders along the Niagara Escarpment, a natural wonderland formed by a long linear geologic ridge that stretches for 750 kilometres from Niagara to Tobermory at the north end of the Bruce Peninsula. The ancient limestone cliffs, in addition to being a hikers' heaven, are a haven for wildlife offering a habitat for a breathtaking spectrum of life: 300 species of birds of which 25 are endangered or threatened, 55 mammal species, and 34 species of reptiles and amphibians - more than anywhere else in Canada. And the most wonderful trees - sassafras, tulip, magnolia, black walnut - inhabit the forest, particularly in our Niagara area.

            We locals often take the Escarpment for granted, not realizing that it is one of the most beautiful and special places in eastern Canada, and perhaps in the world. The Escarpment received international acclaim when it was named a World Biosphere Reserve by the United Nations in 1990, joining the Galapagos Islands, the Florida Everglades, and the Serengeti Plains - not shabby company.

            But like a butterfly, the beauty of the escarpment could be an ephemeral, fleeting thing. In 1967, Robert Bateman, the wildlife artist, painted cultural aspects of his corner of the escarpment. Years later when he went back to photograph these sites, he sadly observed "Everything that I had painted depicting the historic hand of man was gone. My efforts were like the kiss of death." All that Bateman had found charming was torn down in the name of development.

            Recognizing the menace posed by a growing population, the Ontario government passed the Niagara Escarpment Planning and Development Act in 1973 to protect the Escarpment as an essentially continuous natural environment and to ensure any development would be compatible with that natural environment. The Act created the Niagara Escarpment Commission and designated approximately 1,860 square kilometres as Escarpment lands, which are divided into three zones: natural, protection, and rural areas. Any proposed development in these lands requires a permit from the Commission.

            In an ideal world this column would end here. The Escarpment is recognized as a special place, and measures have been put in place to protect it and save it for the enjoyment of all.

            But sadly life is not so simple. Since the day the Niagara Escarpment Commission was created, it has been a crucible for conflict between the altruism of environmental protection and the steamroller called development. And recently the conflict has taken an ominous turn.

            Unexpectedly, Mike Harris' Progressive Conservatives have reversed the stance of all previous governments, as well as all opposition parties, and turned from defending the escarpment to encouraging development - and their actions are not subtle. It is rumoured that the Tory cabinet considered disbanding the Niagara Escarpment Commission; instead, they chose to emasculate it. Pro-development commissioners, including a former chairman of an aggregate association, have been appointed. This is akin to nominating atheists as bishops of the Church.

            Recently, contrary to everything the Commission was supposed to stand for, a 56-unit condominium resort for Vineland Estates was approved; both Glen Ridge landfill in St. Catharines and Mountain Road landfill in Niagara Falls (which should never have been built on the edge of the escarpment in the first place) have been granted extensions; and several single residences have been permitted. This summer, the logging of a tract of woodland through which the Bruce Trail passed raised a furor.

            The situation is complex. With about 95% of the designated protected land in private hands, it is natural that the owners would like to make a buck from their properties without government interference, after all, it's the capitalist way. Municipalities who are struggling financially would like to extend subdivisions and increase their tax base. Businesses would like to quarry the excellent quality aggregate and building stone and, with its majestic setting, the escarpment is well

suited for tourism enterprises like ski hills, wineries, and hotels.

            The escarpment is caught square in the headlights of a runaway transport truck, the human population explosion, a fundamental problem that the booming Golden Horseshoe area shares with much of the rest of the world. A growing population needs land on which to place the constant stream of new arrivals, their homes, and their many support facilities such as farms to grow food, factories to make the numerous consumer products they demand, highways for their cars, landfills for their garbage, and quarries and mines for raw products. It is inevitable, so long as the population grows, that there will be encroachment on the planet's resources, whether it is prime farmland, the Amazon rainforest, fish stocks, or the Escarpment.

            And encroachment is a fiendish foe because it creeps up on us in such little steps. There is no single big decision, just incremental small ones, like Chinese water torture, constantly, day after day, eroding away. It is so easy to give in to these small temptations: a building  permit here, a winery there, a new landfill, and so it goes. And often it even seems so reasonable, after all, many of the proposed facilities would enhance the local economy. And how can we deny other humans the very things we enjoy and aspire to?

            Finding a way to put the brakes on the runaway truck of population growth is crucial not just for the Niagara Escarpment but also for the future of humanity. But sadly, little effort is directed in this direction. In the meantime, do we simply shrug our shoulders and give in to development? Should we let the Niagara Escarpment be "Open for business?"

            In our hearts we all know the answer. It is critical that we preserve natural spaces - they are essential to sustain a rich and diverse habitat, which forms the complex web of life on this planet. And as the world becomes more crowded and impersonal, natural space takes on increasing value to provide a place to escape from the crush of humanity, a place where the spirit can soar.

            We need to recognize that there are places that are so meaningful that they must be preserved for the good of all. The Niagara Escarpment ranks with the Mona Lisa, the Grand Canyon, cathedrals, and the other Biosphere Reserves as part of the heritage of the human race and all living things.

            Resisting the constant unrelenting pressure of development is not easy, but somehow we need to find the courage, the will power and the resolve. For if we do not, we will eventually lose this great treasure - and what is the point of living then? As Eleanor Roosevelt said, "Perhaps nature is our best assurance of immortality."

            There are places where governments should not tread, where their endless committees and countless bureaucrats only muddy the waters. And there are situations, such as this one, where the best way forward is with the firm hand of the government on the tiller.

            I would like to make two suggestions. First, the government should acquire as much of the escarpment lands as possible, thus removing it permanently from the threat of development. A program has been in place since 1985 to purchase lands for a Niagara Escarpment parks system; it should be expanded, given greater funding, and pursued aggressively.

            More importantly, the government must face the pressure of development with steel in their backbone, for matters will only get worse as the Golden Horseshoe continues to be the growth engine of Canada. The government and the Commission must practice "tough love" and "zero tolerance" - permits should not be allowed in the protected lands no matter how compelling or reasonable the arguments.

            But governments do not act in isolation. We as individuals need to get the message to our political representatives that the Escarpment must be preserved at all costs.

            Let us hope that our great-great-grandchildren will be able to hike this unique, continuous trail with its waterfalls like thin veils.