By Monte Sonnenberg, Simcoe Reformer Thursday, January 26, 2017 6:24:45 EST PM Eco-passages provide a safe route between Big Creek Marsh and Long Point Bay as well as letting water flow between the two. Norfolk County and Long Point World Biosphere Reserve Foundation are trying to come to an agreement as to whose responsibility it is to maintain the passageways. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Norfolk County is on its own now that the eco-passages project on the Long Point Causeway is complete. Lee Robinson, Norfolk’s general manager of public works, presented a contract on future maintenance at Monday’s meeting of Norfolk council.[…]

Animex, the British firm that designed and produces wildlife exclusion fencing made from recycled plastics, launched its new Spotlight on Conservation newsletter in October by featuring the work of the Long Point Causeway Improvement Project.  The e-newsletter is distributed to Animex clients and contacts around the world.  What are the challenges you faced? When we first started our mitigation work in 2008, we quickly found out that there were few, if any, projects dealing with reptile road mortality anywhere in North America. As a consequence, we’ve had to do some pioneering, often experimental work to get the job done. We’re[…]

Nearly 5-km of fencing and 9 culverts installed along Long Point Road By Alex Brockman, CBC News Posted: Oct 11, 2016 7:07 AM ET Last Updated: Oct 11, 2016 7:07 AM ET Conservationists in southwestern Ontario credit culverts and fencing with reducing road mortality for reptiles on a deadly stretch of roadway. Long Point Road is the only roadway connecting Long Point, Ont. with mainland Norfolk County. The causeway runs parallel to the Big Creek National Wildlife Area, making a deadly crossing for animals there. Reptiles faced threats from vehicles travelling on the roadway for years, with 250 turtles and snakes crushed[…]

Tuesday, October 11, 2016 By Daniel R. Pearce, Simcoe Reformer SIMCOE – As work on wildlife and ecological protection measures along Long Point causeway finally comes to an end, one key question remains unanswered. Who will take care of the underground passageways that run between the marsh and the bay as well as the low-level fencing that discourage turtles from crossing the road? The citizens group behind the project has raised more than $2.7 million over the past decade for the mesh fencing and construction of 12 culverts that allow safe migration under the roadway for snakes, turtles, and other wildlife. But[…]

By Daniel R. Pearce, Simcoe Reformer Tuesday, July 21, 2015 4:21:14 EDT PM Fish spawning grounds in Long Point marsh will be given a boost once two culverts are built underneath the causeway dividing the wetland from the inner bay, says the head of the project. The passageways will allow the marsh to be “flushed” regularly as storms push water underneath the roadway and it flows back into the bay days later, said Rick Levick, project manager for the Long Point Causeway Improvement Project. “We’re putting (the marsh) back to the way nature designed it,” said Levick. “It’s deteriorating. It’s[…]

Norfolk News By Ben Forrest Simcoe, Jul 17, 2015 — A project aimed at helping sensitive species get across the Long Point Causeway can enter its next phase, pending funding allocations and other approvals. Norfolk council has approved the third phase of the project, which would create aquatic culverts designed to help species get from one side of the causeway to the other, without crossing the road. This phase of the project has an estimated $920,000 price tag but would be paid for entirely with funding from the Long Point World Biosphere Reserve Foundation. The foundation has secured $580,000 from[…]

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[…]