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Project plan
You may wish to download and read our complete plan to improve the Long Point Causeway. Be warned that this is a 50 megabyte file so it will take a few hours on a dial-up connection.
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Long Point Causeway Improvement Project
c/o Long Point World Biosphere Reserve
P.O. Box 338
Port Rowan, ON
N0E 1M0
info@longpointcauseway.com
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Friday, February 22 2008 @ 08:29 AM EST
The Long Point Causeway Improvement Project is a community-based effort to revitalize the 3.5 kilometre-long causeway that links the Long Point Peninsula on Lake Erie with mainland southern Ontario. The Project began in October 2006.
As a first step, a $40,000 contract was awarded to Ecoplans Limited of Kitchener, Ontario to conduct a feasibility study of potential improvements that would reduce wildlife mortality and restore the hydrological connections between Big Creek Marsh and Long Point Inner Bay. The improved Causeway could also provide ancillary social benefits including improved road safety and enhanced recreational opportunities while maintaining the rural character of the Long Point countryside.
The Project is managed by a Steering Committee which includes representatives from Bird Studies Canada, the Nature Conservancy of Canada, Parks Canada, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, Norfolk County, the Norfolk Land Stewardship Council, the Long Point Region Conservation Authority, the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority, the Norfolk Field Naturalists, the Long Point Country Chamber of Commerce, the Long Point Anglers Association, the Long Point Waterfowlers' Association, the Toronto Zoo, and the Ruffed Grouse Society. There are also three individual citizen members who are well-known in the local community.
The Committee receives administrative and management support from the Long Point World Biosphere Reserve Foundation, which promotes research, monitoring, education and projects that support the goals of conservation and sustainable use in the Biosphere Reserve.
The study was completed in April 2008 and recommended the following improvements:
Thursday, July 29 2010 @ 06:11 AM EDT
Port Rowan – The Long Point Causeway Improvement Project (LPCIP) has launched a fundraising campaign to install and maintain heavy-duty barrier fencing to reduce wildlife road mortality along the Long Point Causeway. The work will complement the installation of three ecopassages under the roadway that the LPCIP has proposed for next year.
The LPCIP’s monitoring program over the past two years has shown that barrier fencing is an effective way to reduce road kill of turtles, snakes and frogs along the Causeway. However, it has also found that the low-cost black silt fencing that was initially installed to study this issue simply isn’t durable enough for the weather conditions at Long Point. 
“This fundraising effort allows people in the community to make a tangible contribution to protecting the Species at Risk turtles and snakes and other wildlife that are killed on the Causeway,” said Paula Jongerden, chair of the LPCIP steering committee. “Through their donation, they can cast a vote in favor of making long overdue improvements to this natural gateway to the Long Point World Biosphere Reserve.”
Thursday, July 08 2010 @ 09:36 AM EDT
Posted By DANIEL PEARCE, SIMCOE REFORMER
The first step in a controversial proposal to upgrade the causeway to Long Point is about to begin after municipal officials voted last night to move to the design stage.
Norfolk County will now look at how to run three culverts under the narrow two-lane roadway to create a safe passageway -- from the marsh on the west side of the causeway to the inner bay on the east -- for both water and reptiles.
As well, an environmental assessment and a hydrological study will be conducted to make sure the project is feasible and won't cause more harm than good.A couple of people in the council gallery, supporters of the group of environmentalists who are advocating for the change, burst into applause after the vote went through.
Thursday, July 08 2010 @ 09:34 AM EDT
Posted by Renee Berube, CD 98.9 FM, Simcoe
The Long Point Causeway Improvement Project is getting set to move on with their next big phase. They've secured 400 thousand dollars worth of grants to fund an environmental assessment on three eco-passages, which would allow wildlife and water to pass the underneath the road safely. Project Coordinator, Rick Levick says now they just need Norfolk County on board as the acting body and for staff's expertise. The County has agreed to take the role because they believe it will be nothing but a benefit to have these passages put in, if the environmental assessment agrees. Levick says the funding will only cover two smaller passageways, but is confident they could raise what's needed for the third large one, no problem.
Monday, April 19 2010 @ 10:20 AM EDT
With the early warm weather, turtles, snakes and frogs are starting to move across the Long Point Causeway where they risk being hit by passing vehicles. On April 17, a dozen volunteers, including Scott Gillingwater and Crystal Robertson (in photo), helped repair and reinstall the temporary barrier fencing that keeps these reptiles off the roadway. Norfolk County has also set up turtle crossing signs and the electronic message sign altering drivers to watch for wildlife on the Causeway.
The Long Point Causeway Improvement Project Committee is encouraging drivers to watch out for animals on the road when they drive across the Causeway.
Monday, April 19 2010 @ 10:14 AM EDT
Efforts to reduce road kill of turtles and snakes, including species at risk, on the Long Point Causeway are having a notable impact according to monitoring studies conducted by the Long Point Causeway Improvement Project (LPCIP) Committee over the past two years.
The annual road kill count of turtles dropped from highs of 202 in 1979 and 190 in 1993 to only 85 in 2009. The studies also noted significant declines in the numbers of amphibians (frogs and toads) and small mammals killed on the 3.6 kilometer-long roadway.
The LPCIP Committee has installed about 4,000 metres of temporary barrier fencing along the Causeway to prevent animals from venturing onto the road. Sixteen artificial nest mounds were also created on the marsh side of the fencing to provide turtles with alternative locations for laying their eggs. As well, the LPCIP Committee has set up an electronic message sign and turtles crossing signs along the Causeway during the spring and summer months to alert drivers to watch for animals on the road.
Thursday, March 25 2010 @ 11:37 AM EDT
Reptiles at Risk on the Road has produced classroom resources for grades 1-8, based on the 2009 Ontario science curriculum, developed through funding from the Ministry of Natural Resources Species at Risk Stewardship Fund. These activities are intended to accompany the educational efforts of the Reptiles at Risk on the Road project, but they may be used by anyone with an interest in Ontario’s reptiles!
The Grade 8 curriculum unit features the road mortality issues related to the Long Point Causeway and proposed efforts to reduce the annual road kill of turtles, snakes and amphibians, including Species at Risk, on the 3.6 km. roadway in southwestern Ontario.
Downloadable copies of the resources are available at http://www.scalesnaturepark.ca/Curriculum.html at no cost
Thursday, February 25 2010 @ 10:36 AM EST
The Long Point Causeway Improvement Project (LPCIP) was hard at work throughout 2009 thanks to $69,000 in funding received from Environment Canada and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources which regard this as a very worthwhile, scientifically-validated project and have confidence in the LPCIP’s ability to deliver on its commitments. To date, the LPCIP has raised more than $198,000 much of which has been spent in and created employment in Norfolk County.
Working with students on the Norfolk Environmental Stewardship Team (NEST), we repaired existing 2,500 of fencing damaged by wind and weather and installed 2,800 metres of new fencing including 600 metres of heavy duty fencing recommended by the Ontario Ministry of Transportation in areas prone to wind and wave action. The hardworking NEST students included Kyle Mathe, Brad Demeyere, Nicole Waite and Nolan McGahey.
Tuesday, September 15 2009 @ 12:16 PM EDT
Come out and join us for some community service as we clean up garbage from our local shorelines -- Long Point Beach (off Cove St. and Hastings Drive) and The Causeway on Sunday, September 20th, 2009
Volunteers will meet at the Canadian Wildlife Service parking lot on the Causeway at 10 a.m. All volunteers will be asked to fill out a waiver and will be supplied with garbage bags, plastic gloves, etc.
Please call Terri Groh @ 519-586-9545
or Bernie Solymár @ 519-426-7124 to sign-up.
The Great Canadian Shoreline Clean-up is sponsored by the TD Friends of the Environment Foundation and the Vancouver Aquarium
Thursday, August 20 2009 @ 05:18 PM EDT
Letter to the Editor, Simcoe Reformer, Tillsonburg News
We wish to counter some erroneous information presented by the “Friends of the Causeway Association” (FOCAS) in a deputation to Norfolk Council recently about the low-level temporary fencing that the Long Point Causeway Improvement Project Committee has installed to reduce the large annual roadkill of turtles and other wildlife, some of which are species at risk, along the Long Point Causeway.
Unfortunately, your newspaper repeated this incorrect information under the headline “Doing more harm than good,” giving your readers an inaccurate perception of our conservation efforts on the Causeway. If your reporter had contacted us to fact-check the story, he would have learned that:
• Our proposal to install fencing was reviewed and approved by scientists at Environment Canada and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. Both levels of government provided grants to support the work.
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