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.

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

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.

Sun Media
The London Free Press
August 14, 2009

SIMCOE -- The willow and cottonwood trees along the causeway to Long Point will not be cut down, says the latest policy statement from the Long Point Causeway Improvement Project committee.

Co-ordinator Rick Levick said the committee wants to be "loud and clear." The initial project called for cutting down some of the trees for a wider roadway and other safety improvements to the 3.5-kilometre road. But the group has responded to public concern about the plan.

Posted By ASHLEY HOUSE, Simcoe Reformer

The willow and cottonwood trees along the causeway out to Long Point will not be cut down, says the latest policy statement from the Long Point Causeway Improvement Project steering committee.

Rick Levick, co-ordinator of the project, said the committee wants to be "loud and clear" on the subject. The initial project did call for the cutting down of some of the picturesque trees to allot for a wider roadway and other safety improvements to the 3.5 km of road. But the group has responded to the public's concerns.

"The (LPCIP) is committed to working with the community and Norfolk County to define a vision and comprehensive landscape plan that includes the retention of existing trees," the policy reads.

If you’re puzzled by the conflicting information you’re hearing about the proposed improvements to the Long Point Causeway, please attend our Open House at the Port Rowan Community Centre on Saturday, August 8 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event will feature:

• Presentations on improvements being proposed and question and answer sessions at 10:30 a.m. and again at 12:30 p.m.
• Representatives of the 16 organizations involved
• Displays and information on supporting organizations
• Our new landscape design and artist’s concepts of how the improved Causeway could look in the future
• Free refreshments

Please note that no donations or membership fees required. All are welcome.

We are committed to community involvement in this effort to restore the Big Creek Marsh-Inner Bay ecosystem, reduce wildlife road kill, improve public safety and make the Causeway a vital asset to our community. We welcome your comments, questions and ideas.

Steering Committee*
Long Point Causeway Improvement Project

Posted By Monte Sonnenberg, SIMCOE REFORMER

The committee that hopes to rebuild the Long Point causeway is committed to sparing as many trees along the road as possible.

Rick Levick, spokesperson for the Long Point Causeway Improvement Project, said yesterday that the message from the community on this count has been heard "loud and clear."

"We've heard from the community that this is an issue," Levick said. "We're going to see what we can do to ensure no trees are removed."

When the causeway project was first proposed, the people behind it spoke of removing trees that impede bike paths and pedestrian walkways and trees that got in the way of viewing areas for bird watchers. They also spoke about replacing existing trees with native Carolinian species.

By Keith Ashley, Simcoe Reformer

In the early 1940s my father and grandfather took on the task of building a cottage on Woodstock Avenue in Long Point.

It was just a summer cottage and provided our family with a place to go from early May to Thanksgiving each year. Those were wonderful times and the memories from that era certainly will last me a lifetime.

The old 1937 Ford my dad had never failed and many a time when the wind was from the east, Dad had to pull my grandfather's newer vehicle down the flooded causeway to the main road at the Point. While the old road was there pulling grandfather through the water was something my brothers and sister remember well.

Posted By ASHLEY HOUSE, Simcoe Reformer

The Long Point region is a hot spot of rare and at risk species worth protecting.

A financial boost from the province will help protect those at risk.

The Ministry of Natural Resources is funnelling thousands of dollars into local projects that protect and recover threatened species through the Species at Risk Stewardship Fund. Among local projects that received funding is the studying of the least bittern bird, found on large coastal wetlands such as the north shore of Lake Erie.

Simcoe Reformer, June 4, 2009

More fencing will go up this summer along the stretch of road that takes motorists from the mainland to Long Point as environmentalists continue their efforts to save the lives of turtles in the adjoining marsh.In a letter to Norfolk council, group of environmentalists trying to reduce the number of roadkill on the Long Point causeway says it is expecting to receive federal and provincial dollars to continue work from last summer.

"We expect confirmation of this funding very soon," the letter from the Long Point Causeway Improvement Project said.