As a first step, the LPCIP will be contacting several government agencies to find out what additional approvals and permits may be required to build more ecopassages under the Causeway. The LPCIP already spent more than $160,000 on studies, surveys and environmental assessments to install the first three ecopassages.
To learn more about the Long Point Causeway Improvement Project, please visit www.longpointcauseway.com
* * *
The Long Point Causeway Improvement Project is managed by Steering Committee comprised of representatives from 16 government agencies and local organizations and several individuals well-known in the community. The LPCIP receives financial and administrative 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.
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For more information, please contact:
Rick Levick
LPCIP Coordinator
rick@longpointcauseway.com
416-723-2910

By Monte Sonnenberg, Simcoe Reformer
Wednesday, April 17, 2013 2:56:20 EDT PM

LONG POINT - Anyone interested in a guided tour of the Long Point Causeway project can find a good one on YouTube.

The Brantford production company Lock3Media came to Long Point last November to shoot a video of the work done so far. The aim of the project is to reduce the incidence of reptile mortality on the 3.6-kilometre stretch of road.

The nine-minute video features Oshawa actress and environmentalist Mary Krohnert in conversation with Long Point cottager Rick Levick, co-ordinator of the Long Point Causeway Improvement Project. The segment briefly examines the issues that gave rise to the project and delivers an up-close look at the eco-passages that have been installed so far.

“I thought the video was first rate,” Levick said Wednesday. “Really, really high quality. As for my performance, my wife and daughter thought I could use a wardrobe assistant. ‘Where did you get that hat?’”

The Long Point demo is part of an ambitious plan to document all 16 world biosphere reserves in Canada in one-hour documentaries. Lock3Media has dubbed the project Striking Balance. The production company hopes the demos catch the attention of individuals and corporations who are prepared to fund such an undertaking.

“This is just the beginning to get momentum behind it,” says Yvonne Drebert, a producer with Lock3Media. “If we can get people involved, away we go. This is the kickoff.”

The nine-minute pilot played to favourable reviews at Norfolk council Tuesday night. Brian Craig of Langton, president of the Long Point World Biosphere Reserve Foundation, introduced the video to council.

“The many diverse projects undertaken in Canadian biosphere reserves aptly demonstrate that a balance between people and nature is attainable and necessary,” Craig said. “Healthy economies depend upon a healthy environment. The Striking Balance initiative shares success stories and will inform and inspire viewers that – together – as global citizens, we can balance the environment and economy for the benefit of present and future generations.”

The Long Point Causeway was built in the 1920s to create a land link between Port Rowan and the Long Point cottage community. Prior to the road’s construction, Long Point was only accessible by boat.

Levick’s committee is installing eco-passages to give snakes, turtles, frogs and small mammals a safe alternative to crossing the causeway, which divides Long Point Bay from the Big Creek Marsh. With as many as 20,000 vehicles traveling down the causeway on a busy summer day, roadkill has become a serious concern in this ecologically-sensitive part of Norfolk County.

The causeway project also seeks to re-establish the historic link between the marsh and the bay. A bridge at one time served this purpose but it was collapsed and infilled several decades ago.

As a result, the Big Creek Marsh has been silting in. As well, fish that have historically travelled between the marsh and the bay have been denied their traditional access.
A link to Lock3Media’s nine-minute demo has been posted at the Simcoe Reformer website at www.simcoereformer.ca. 

Monte Sonnenberg
519-426-3528 ext. 150
monte.sonnenberg@sunmedia.ca

More info

• Striking Balance web site

http://www.vdocshop.com/doc/on-nature-magazine/winter2012-13/2012112201/#0

Since it was established as the Federation of Ontario Naturalists in 1931, Ontario Nature has been a champion for nature in Ontario protecting wild species and wild spaces through conservation, education and public engagement. Ontario Nature is a charitable organization representing more than 30,000 members and supporters and 140 member groups across Ontario.

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Above photo : Members of the Long Point Causeway Improvement Committee and dignitaries turned out on a beautiful Friday morning, November 16, to witness the installation of ecopassages on Long Point. Participants included (left to right): MPP Toby Barrett, Long Point World Biosphere Reserve Foundation Vice President Paula Jongerden, Committee Coordinator Rick Levick, “Myrtle”, Councillor Betty Chanyi with grandson Ben Baruth, Committee member Jim Abbey and Biosphere Reserve President Brian Craig.

For Rick Levick, Christmas came early this year. “It’s so exciting” said Levick as he watched the wet ecopassage being installed west of the Canadian Wildlife Service office at Big Creek National Wildlife Area on the Long Point Causeway.

After years of hard work by the Causeway Improvement Committee of the Long Point World Biosphere Reserve Foundation, three ecopassages were installed to permit the safe movement of animals between Big Creek Marsh and Long Point’s Inner Bay under the Causeway road.

“It’s going back to the way nature designed” said Levick. “It’s a big operation dredging out that channel to restore connectivity”.

The wet ecopassage will allow fish and other aquatic species to travel back and forth. Two smaller dry ecopassages have already been installed for turtles, reptiles and small mammals. Levick said: “We were aiming to be done by the first week of December and we’re at least three or four days ahead of that”.

Critics warned of the cost of maintaining the ecopassages. Levick responded: “Bill Cridland [Norfolk County Roads Manager] isn’t worried. They maintain culverts all over Norfolk County. These structures are half the price of traditional box culverts”. Up to eight more ecopassages may be added after a two year study is undertaken by Long Point Waterfowl.

Committee member Jim Abbey attended the ceremony on November 16 and said “People forget how it all started. There was a tremendous sense of indignation about what was happening to the road itself and all the mortality. The first meeting took place at Bird Studies Canada about six years ago with Paul Ashley and Dave Reid and Scott [Gillingwater] and Rick and a lot of other people. They helped bring together a plurality of the community”. “There were concerns that it would be very expensive and property taxes would rise”. “There was a growing sense of nostalgia about what it was like years ago”. Abbey predicted: “Once this is in, people will see that it’s not catastrophic”. Abbey said: “Rick has shown real leadership. I don’t believe we would have weathered the controversies without his buoyant enthusiasm”.

Biologist Scott Gillingwater commented: “The positivity of the community has been phenomenal”. Councillor Chanyi described the initiative as “something that’s so very needed” and MPP Toby Barrett said: “A Causeway like this would never be allowed today”. “It’s our responsibility to remediate what was built”. Rick Levick said: “It will be reward enough when the first turtle goes in one end and out the other”.

Paula Jangerden, chair of the Long Point Causeway Improvement Project, and Scott Gillingwater, a species at risk biologist and member of LPCIP, show off one of the three underground eco-passages under construction in Long Point during a tour of the site on Friday. The passages will provide a safe thoroughfare for the endangered snakes and turtles that migrate across the causeway each year.

By Sarah Doktor, Simcoe Reformer

The construction of underground eco-passages in Long Point to protect turtles and snakes from becoming road kill is now underway. “We’re actually ahead of schedule,” said Rick Levick, co-ordinator of the Long Point Causeway Improvement Project, which is spearheading the initiative. If everything goes according to plan the construction will be completed by the first week of December, said Levick, during a tour of the site for media and dignitaries on Friday.

The project was created because the man-made road leading into Long Point is known as the fourth deadliest road for turtles in North America. The constructed passages will provide safe thoroughfare for the reptiles and small animals that will use them. Two of the passages have already been installed and only need the road to be repaved over them.

“The ironic thing is, people come down here looking for the eco-passages and say ”Where the heck are they?“They’re underneath your car,” said Levick.
Three passages will be installed in total, two dry and one aquatic. The two dry culverts are specially designed to attract reptiles to use them as passageways.
“They have holes in the top to let light and heat through because the cold blooded creatures are a bit hesitant to go through a very cold buried tunnel,” said Levick.
The aquatic culvert will also restore water flow between the Big Creek Marsh and the Long Point Bay. “We’re not creating anything new, we’re just putting it back to the way nature designed it,” said Levick.

Fencing, which was previously installed, will steer the animals toward the passages to encourage their use.
“We chose these locations, these particular locations, because we did an analysis of the road kill data we’ve collected over the years and these particular areas are hot spots. This is where a lot of turtles get killed because this is where they want to cross,” said Levick.

The LPCIP will monitor the passages and mortality rates on the roads next summer to ensure the culverts are successful.

Road mortality for species at risk is a major issue in North America, said Scott Gillingwater, a species at risk biologist and member of LPCIP. Turtles in particular are an important part of the local ecosystem. “They balance, by providing food and taking food. As soon as you take one piece out of that puzzle you can see a lot of the ecosystem fall apart,” said Gillingwater.

The project has been a labour of love for the organization for six years. “The hair on the back of my neck is still standing up,” said Paula Jangerden, chair of the LPCIP, in reference to seeing the project finally come to fruition.

Several organizations, individuals and Norfolk County have raised nearly $850,000 toward the project since 2006.

It’s been a long time coming, but construction on three ecopassages under the Long Point Causeway has begun.

The first shovel went into the ground earlier this week and the Long Point Causeway Improvement Project Coordinator, Rick Levick tells CD989 he expects a majority of the project to be completed by the end of December. The three Eco-Passages are being installed to allow turtles, snakes, frogs and other wildlife to avoid the dangers of the roadway. Something Levick is looking forward too.

“It’s great to have construction finally underway but I’ll have to wait until next spring to see that first turtle come out of the other end of an ecopassage, Then I’ll be a really happy camper”

The cost to install the three ecopassages is estimated at $443-thousand dollars, however, the group funded $385-thousand themselves.

Long Point has the 4th highest road death rate for turtles in North America.

After hearing deputations from Causeway Improvement Committee (CIP) Coordinator Rick Levick and Stu Ross of the Friends of the Causeway (FOCAS) , Norfolk Council approved $58,000 in funding towards the cost of installing three ecopassages under the County-owned Causeway Road at Long Point.
CIP deputation
CIP Coordinator Rick Levick addressed Norfolk Council on October 2 in support of the County staff recommendation to approve $58k for the installation of three ecopassages under the Causeway Road this fall. Levick cited the tight timeline for installing the ecopassages before winter frost stops the work and that “much of the funding we have raised for this project must be spent by March 31, 2013”.
To date, CIP volunteers have secured more than $890,000 over the past six years to undertake work on the Causeway, including erecting 4,000 metres of wildlife fencing and paid over $150,000 for mandated environmental and engineering impact assessments. Levick said: “Norfolk taxpayers have not had to contribute to any of the work completed to date… we are able to contribute $187,000 towards the construction of the ecopassages and another $18,000 to install fencing to link the passages to the existing fencing.
FOCAS response
Stu Ross spoke on behalf of the “Friends of the Causeway” local citizens’ group which is opposed to the Causeway Improvement Committee plan to install ecopassages under the road. Ross urged Councillors to reject the request for $58,000 towards the cost of installation, saying that the County’s roads are “deteriorating faster than we can repair them” and that “Norfolk Council should not use taxpayers money for wildlife when there are human needs”.

Webmaster’s Note. The following is Mr. Levick’s response to Council regarding the FOCAS deputation.

As Council has permitted a representative of the FOCAS group to speak against the ecopassage project, I have a few comments. Firstly, I would advise Council that the Ministry of the Environment turned down a request by FOCAS to “bump up” the EA to a much more complex and costly schedule c process. To have done so would have been a colossal waste of time and taxpayers’ money.

I would also note that the MOE also did not accept FOCAS’ alternatives to the ecopassages or any of its other claims such as the ecopassages causing the draining of the big creek marsh. Instead, the MOE approved this project based on the scientific credibility of what was proposed by the experts we consulted in preparing the EA document.

Mr. Chairman and members of Council

Thank you for this opportunity to speak in support of the staff report about awarding the construction contract for the Long Point Causeway ecopassages.

As you know, I am the coordinator of the Long Point Causeway Improvement Project, a community-based initiative that began six years ago with the primary goal of reducing wildlife road mortality on the Causeway. This road is the gateway to the Long Point World Biosphere Reserve and has been designated, ironically and sadly, as the fourth deadliest road for turtles in North America.

I am pleased to advise Council that the road kill of turtles, snakes and frogs on the Causeway has been reduced significantly thanks to our group’s work. We have installed more than 4,000 metres of barrier fencing to keep these animals off the road and, equally important, have encouraged motorists to be more watchful for wildlife as they cross the causeway.

Our monitoring program found that reptile road mortality had been reduced by more than 50 per cent between 2008 and 2010. As well, road kill of species at risk turtles and snakes, our priority, was reduced by over 60 per cent. That reduced mortality has continued for the past two years as a result of our on-going fencing maintenance and notable changes in driver behaviour.

Just the other day as I was driving across the causeway, I noticed a vehicle stopped at the side of the road and two people standing in front of it. As I got closer, I could see they were trying to figure out how to help an enormous, moss-covered snapping turtle make it safely across the last three feet of pavement on its way to wherever it spends the winter in the Big Creek Marsh.

However, the success of our fencing in keeping animals off the road has the negative effect of disrupting their traditional movements between the marsh and Long Point bay. We alleviate this problem in the fall, after the traffic diminishes, by opening gaps in the fencing to allow the animals to move to overwintering locations in the marsh or the bay. That’s why that snapper was on the road the other day.

But this is a stopgap measure. The real solution is the installation of ecopassages that will allow animals to pass safely under the road on a year-road basis. Together, the barrier fencing and ecopassages create a wildlife protection system that is more and more commonplace on roads with significant wildlife road mortality. For example, the Ministry of Transportation has installed dozens of these passages and miles of barrier fencing along the newly-completed sections of Highway 69.

For more details on the project and how the ecopassages will be built, I would refer members of Council to the brochure we have provided. I have additional copies for people attending here this evening.

For more than two years, we have been working with County staff and its team of consulting engineers to complete an Environmental Assessment and secure all of the other permits and approvals required for the installation of three such ecopassages along the Causeway.
This work has also included the actual design and engineering for the ecopassages, several studies required by various government agencies and the preparation of the tender documents for both the environmental assessment and the construction contracts.

Our group has paid for all of the costs associated with this work with funds we have raised from Environment Canada’s habitat stewardship program, Ontario’s Species at Risk Stewardship Fund, Shell Canada’s Environmental Foundation and the US Fish and Wildlife Commission. To date, we have spent about $180,000 and anticipate spending another $26,000 on the supervision and inspection of the construction work.

Unfortunately, the costs associated with all this work have been much higher than expected or completely unanticipated. For instance, we have had to spend over $20,000 to deal with comments on the Environmental Assessment from the Friends of the Causeway Association and MNR’s Aylmer District and another $24,000 on studies required by various government agencies. We have even had to prepare a second EA submission for the federal government because federal funding is supporting the project.

All told, we will have spent more than $156,000 just on the approval process alone.
As a result, we do not have all of the funding required to cover the entire $238,000 cost of the proposed construction contract. That is why county staff has recommended that Norfolk County contribute $58,000 towards the cost of construction.

As you know, our group has always intended to raise enough funds so that Norfolk county taxpayers would not have to contribute to the project. To that end, we have been able to secure more than $891,000 in funding over the past five years to support our work on the causeway. Norfolk taxpayers have not had to contribute to any of the work completed to date.
For our part, we are able to contribute $187,000 towards the construction of the ecopassages and another $18,000 to install fencing to link the passages to the existing fencing.

I am here this evening to ask that Council approve the $58,000 contribution by the County so that it may, in turn, award the construction contract to Anders Contracting, a Waterford company that has done many projects for the county.

It is absolutely critical that Council give the approvals this evening so that construction may proceed before the onset of winter. We cannot delay construction until next spring because much of the funding we have raised for this project must be spent before March 31, 2013.

I would ask Council to consider the $58,000 as an investment as well as expenditure. Much of the work we have done on the Environmental Assessment and various approvals and studies could be useful if the County undertakes future work to upgrade the Causeway.
For example, we were required to spend about $4,000 on two studies that found, perhaps to no one’s surprise, that the Causeway has no archeological or cultural heritage significance because it is simply an 80 year-old man-made road.

More seriously, I would also note that the three culverts will become County assets and are valued at nearly $240,000 including the cost of installation.

As the committee has permitted a representative of the FOCAS group to speak against the ecopassage project, I have a few comments. Firstly, I would advise Council that the Ministry of the Environment turned down a request by FOCAS to “bump up” the EA to a much more complex and costly schedule c process. To have done so would have been a colossal waste of time and taxpayers’ money.

I would also note that the MOE also did not accept FOCAS’ alternatives to the ecopassages or any of its other claims such as the ecopassages causing the draining of the big creek marsh.
Instead, the MOE approved this project based on the scientific credibility of what was proposed by the experts we consulted in preparing the EA document.

In closing, I would like to thank Norfolk County for the moral and in-kind support it has provided to this project over the past six years. In particular, I would like to thank John Hamilton, the County’s former manager of engineering who has just retired, and his staff, for their work on what has turned out to be a long and challenging process. I would also mention Bill Cridland, the County roads manager, and his staff for their support of our work.

Mr. Chairman, I would be pleased to answer any questions from the chairman or members of council.