The Long Point Causeway Improvement Project is a community-based effort to reduce the negative ecological impacts of the 3.5 kilometre-long causeway that links the Long Point Peninsula on Lake Erie with mainland southern Ontario. These include high levels of wildlife road mortality, particularly of Species At Risk turtles and snakes, and disruption of the natural hydrological functions of the Big Creek Marsh, one of the largest remaining coastal wetlands on the Canadian side of the Great Lakes. The Project began in October 2006 and has been managed by a Steering Committee which includes representatives from Bird Studies Canada, the Nature[…]
News
$120G for Long Point ecopassages
by Monte Sonnenburg, Simcoe Reformer LONG POINT, Dec.10, 2014 – The odds keep improving for wildlife in the Port Rowan area that insists on commuting between Long Point Bay and the Big Creek Marsh. Organizers of the Long Point Causeway Improvement Project (LPCIP) hoped to have six “ecopassages” in place beneath the roadway by next spring. Instead, there will be eight, leaving the group four short of its intended target of 12. Three concrete passageways were scheduled to go under the 3.6-kilometre causeway this fall. Thanks to $120,000 in last-minute funding from the federal government’s National Conservation Plan, LPCIP and[…]
Two more wildlife culverts for Long Point Causeway
Port Rowan, Nov. 20, 2014. Two additional wildlife culverts will be installed under the Long Point Causeway this winter thanks to $120,000 in funding from the new National Conservation Plan launched by the federal government earlier this year. These culverts will provide safe passage for wildlife and potential aquatic connections between the Big Creek Marsh and Long Point Bay. “This new federal funding recognizes that wetland restoration is also an important ecological goal of the Long Point Causeway Improvement Project (LPCIP), in addition to the reduction reptile road mortality”, said Paula Jongerden, chair of the LPCIP steering Committee. Jongerden noted[…]
More wildlife culverts for Long Point Causeway
Port Rowan, Sept. 24, 2014 – The Long Point Causeway Improvement Project (LPCIP) will be installing three more wildlife culverts this fall to reduce road mortality of Species at Risk turtles and snakes under the 3.6 km. roadway. Since the Project began in 2008, road kill of reptiles on the Causeway has been reduced by more than 50 per cent. The LPCIP will be paying all of the $307,000 in costs related to this construction project thanks to funding from Environment Canada’s Habitat Stewardship Program for Species at Risk and Ontario’s Species at Risk Stewardship Fund. “We’ve received tremendous support[…]
More wildlife culverts on the way
Road kill rates ‘way down’ as endangered species cross in safety By Katie Starr, Norfolk News Turtles, snakes and other endangered species will continue to be able to safely cross the Long Point Causeway as phase two of the wildlife culvert project moves ahead. Construction of three new culverts is due to begin this month and will end in November, said Rick Levick, co-ordinator of the Long Point Causeway Improvement Project Steering Committee. Levick was at council recently to discuss the second phase of the project, which seeks to reduce roadkill rates on the Causeway by getting animals to cross[…]
A lesson on ecopassages
Rick Levick, coordinator with the Long Point Causeway Improvement Project stands with one of the displays at an open house held at the Port Rowan Community Centre on Thursday. (SARAH DOKTOR Simcoe Reformer) By Sarah Doktor, Simcoe Reformer Thursday, December 19, 2013 5:13:02 EST PM The Long Point Causeway Improvement Project held an open house at the Port Rowan Community Centre as part of their environmental assessment process and to inform the public of their plans to install up to nine more wildlife culverts. “They can ask questions and find out what we’ve done so far. Learn about what we’ve[…]
Slow and steady saves the turtles
Photo by Katie Starr Author Jan Everett has written a children’s book about turtles traversing the Long Point Causeway. By Katie Starr, Norfolk News It started with a birthday present. After giving her baseball fanatic husband John tickets to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field the year before, Jan Everett knew the pressure was on for birthday number 61. “So I decided to write him a book,” Everett said at her book signing in Simcoe last weekend. “It was something I had just giggled about doing before, but the words and illustrations just came to me.” Everett’s gift wasn’t just[…]
Nine more ecopassages proposed for Causeway
By Pat Finney, Port Rowan Good News November 18, 2013 – The vision of further reducing reptile and amphibian mortality on the Long Point Causeway road and increasing the historic movement of water between Big Creek Marsh and the Inner Bay of Long Point, is one important step closer to becoming reality. At a Council-in-Committee meeting on November 5, Council agreed a) to be the proponent of the next phase of the project to install as many as nine more ecopassages: two aquatic or ‘wet’ ecopassages and seven more dry ecopassages, potentially bringing the overall total to 12 b) to[…]
“Never Give Up” book for sale
The Long Point World Biosphere Reserve Foundation has teamed up with local children’s author Jan Everett to offer a revised edition of her popular “Never Give Up” book about little Johnny helping turtles cross a dangerous road. The book is based on the true story of her husband John’s efforts to rescue turtles crossing the Long Point Causeway, once rated the fourth deadliest road for turtles in North America. Johnny’s story also reflects the work of local citizens since 2006 to reduce road mortality of turtles, snakes and frogs on the Causeway that is located in the Biosphere Reserve. The[…]
More help for turtles, frogs at Long Point
Simcoe Reformer, July 18, 2013 Construction is expected to start next year on more eco-passages to take turtles, snakes, and frogs safely under the Long Point Causeway. A group of concerned citizens, which installed three tunnels under the roadway last fall, announced Wednesday they have received another $211,500 in provincial funds. Combined with $223,000 in federal grants from earlier this year, the Long Point Causeway Improvement Project says it has enough money to build at least four, and possibly six, new passages. LPCIP co-ordinator Rick Levick said the group’s next step will be to approach the county, which owns the[…]