Ecology Ottawa

News Clippings

Permafrost landslides are eating great swathes of Arctic landscape

By Quirks and Quarks, CBC, April 6, 2019

A Canadian permafrost researcher has discovered that vast swaths of Canadian Arctic landscape are melting and sliding away as temperatures rise in the Arctic.

Antoni Lewkowicz, a professor of geography at the University of Ottawa, led a team that found a massive increase in a particular kind of landslide called "retrogressive thaw slumps," on Banks Island, the westernmost island in the Arctic.

(...)The team used Google Earth Engine Timelapse to count the increase in the number of these slumps from 1984 to to 2016.  This tool provides a way to look at sequences of Landsat satellite images to provide a time-lapse picture of landscape changes.  Initially the work began as a student assignment until they realized how significant the changes were.

Today's letters: The leaky tunnel and other LRT problems in Ottawa

By Sinclair Campbell and others, Ottawa Citizen Letters to the Editor, April 5, 2019

Two mistakes on the LRT project

Re: Waterproofing ‘non-conformance’ flagged during inspections of LRT tunnel in 2018, April 3.

Our esteemed Mayor has made only two mistakes dealing with the new LRT Stage 2 project. The first involves spending big money on “art” to decorate the LRT station walls. Instead, he could save taxpayers money by arranging photos of the citywide pot holes. The second issue is hiring (instead of screening out) a firm that did not technical qualifications.

(...)Go back to the drawing board on the LRT tunnel

Water is likely to leak into the LRT tunnel and, your article states, “there’s not much the City of Ottawa can do about it.” The tunnel was always a bad idea conceptually and now it seems will be even worse in practice. So let’s rescue the art and bury the tunnel. Go back to the drawing board and think about why we thought we needed a tunnel in the first place. Was it because cars were cluttering up our streets downtown? Instead of taking steps to limit private vehicles in the city centre as so many cities across the world have done, we decided a tunnel was in order.

Residents can get grants to replace trees destroyed in last year's tornadoes

Via Tree Canada, Ottawa Start, April 6, 2019

Tree Canada, Canada’s leading national tree charity, is supporting Ottawa-Gatineau residents replace trees lost from last September’s devasting tornadoes through its Operation ReLeaf Ottawa-Gatineau Tornadoes program, an ambitious greening initiative which provides funding to affected residents to re-plant trees on their property.

Applications for the grant program are now open with up to $300 in funding available for each applicant.

(...)In cooperation with the City of Ottawa, Ecology Ottawa, the Ville de Gatineau and le Conseil régional de l’environnement et du développement durable de l’Outaouais (CREDDO), Tree Canada is aiming to inform people on planting and maintenance techniques to allow the new trees to thrive.

Neighbours mourn loss of maple tree that developer had agreed to preserve

By Blair Crawford, Ottawa Citizen, April 5, 2019

Neighbours of an infill building property on Connaught Avenue are angry that a towering maple tree was cut down this week despite the developer’s assurance that the tree would be saved.

The tree, roughly 70 years old and with a trunk nearly a metre across at its widest, came down Wednesday at 859 Connaught Ave., which runs off Carling Avenue opposite Lincoln Fields Mall.

Response was immediate and furious.

Ottawa committee will debate climate change emergency on April 16

By Anna Desmarais (CFRA), CTV News Ottawa, April 4, 2019

Councillor Shawn Menard confirmed to 580 CFRA that he will introduce a motion calling for a formal climate emergency declaration that will be debated and voted on at the environment committee's next meeting.

The motion, if adopted first by the committee and then by city council, would force city council to adopt a series of recomendations on how to prevent and mitigate climate change.

(...)A climate rally organized in part by Ecology Ottawa is expected to take place before the environment committee meeting on April 16.

Robb Barnes, president of Ecology Ottawa, said the rally is supposed to encourage city councillors to support Menard's motion.

"We are trying to get city council fired up about this," Barnes said. " We can make a better city by responding to the climate crisis."

Lansdowne rethink could include new north stands, canal access

By Joanne Chianello, CBC News Ottawa, April 3, 2019

Refurbishing the north-side stands at TD Place and improving access to the Rideau Canal could be part of a major rethink of Lansdowne Park following news of its disappointing financial results five years after its redevelopment, councillors heard Tuesday.

(...)"It's clear that the current vision for Lansdowne — a place of big events and bigger festivals — has failed, neither bringing sustained financial benefits nor fostering a consistent, active and animated urban environment," said Menard in a statement.

Recently, an electronics shop and trendy espresso chain left Lansdowne.

Among other things, Menard wants the Lansdowne site to be more pedestrian-friendly, with less surface parking.

Snow clearing changes still 4 winters away

By Kate Porter, CBC News Ottawa, April 4, 2019

Ottawa residents will have to wait four winters to see the results of a wide-ranging review of the standards city crews use to determine how quickly and how thoroughly they clean up after a big snow storm.

On Wednesday, Ottawa's transportation committee set in motion a major review of its winter maintenance standards, which haven't been updated since 2003.

• Icy sidewalks a slippery subject as city sets roads budget
• EXPLAINER | Feeling like your street's the last to be plowed? Here's why

The report and its recommendations won't be tabled until the fall of 2021, in time for 2022 budget deliberations. That means any changes implemented as a result won't come until the winter of 2022-23, after the next municipal election, according to public works general manager Kevin Wylie.

Today's letters: Climate change or hot air from Ottawa MP?

By Louise Bourgault and Alan Watkinson, Ottawa Citizen Letters to the Editor, April 3, 2019

Climate change more important than MP’s speechifying

Re: Conservative finance critic Poilievre begins ‘marathon speech’ in attempt to force more SNC-Lavalin testimony, April 2.

Half the first page of the NP2 section is a photo of Conservative Pierre Poilievre, MP for Carleton, wasting taxpayer money by preventing serious discussion of the nation’s budget. The news that should concern all Canadians immediately is the fact that our county is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world. That is found in a tiny column on page 3 of the section. Your priorities are showing.

(...)Can government be trusted on the environment?

Re: Canada’s failure to fight climate change ‘disturbing,’ environment watchdog says, April 2.

Does anybody in this time of “SNC truths,” find it a tad coincidental that Environment Canada’s published report on climate change calamity is released the same week the unpopular carbon tax is enacted on bad-boy provinces?

City of Ottawa believes it will have keys to LRT before Canada Day

By Chris Kurys, 1310 News, April 2, 2019

The Rideau Transit Group has still not provided a completion date for Phase 1 of light rail transit in Ottawa, but the city believes it will get the keys before July 1.

The group is building the 12.5 km system that has been delayed by more than a year.

City of Ottawa General Manager of Transportation John Manconi delivered an update on LRT to the Finance and Economic Development Committee on Tuesday morning.

‘Secrets of Stittsville’ Jane’s Walk taking place May 4

By Lesley McKay, StittsvilleCentral, April 2, 2019

Councillor Glen Gower will be leading his 4th annual Jane’s Walk – a personal passion of his. This year, he will be sharing Stittsville’s Secrets with you. Village Square Park, at Stittsville Main and Abbott Streets, is the starting point for the walk taking place on May 4 from 9:30 – 11:00 a.m.

This year, Gower promises that you “will discover some of the secrets of Stittsville Main Street and explore the past, present and future of the area. A bank vault, a ball diamond, a community garden, a wheelwright’s stone, the lost railway, the great fire, and more. Stroll down our main street, open your eyes, and see what you can discover”.

Denley: Why wait decades to shape a better Ottawa?

By Randall Denley, Ottawa Citizen, April 2, 2019

I don’t envy city councillors and staff trying to interest the public in the city’s latest Official Plan process. Any pitch that inevitably includes the words “official,” “plan” and “process” is a tough sell.

As part of the exercise, staff and their consultants have attempted to divine what forces will shape the city in the future. That’s the subject of a 54-page report called Ottawa Next, Beyond 2036. Should that constitute insufficient reading, there are an additional nine reports on different aspects of the challenges growth brings.

(...)The city’s Official Plan will be the first full and fresh look at our growth ambitions in more than 20 years. Previous plans have largely been tweaks. What better time to ask ourselves if some of our widely held assumptions still make sense?

For example, rather than push suburban development out toward the horizon, are we willing to contemplate developing part of the Greenbelt to make our city more efficient, compact and urban? In the same vein, should the Central Experimental Farm remain sacrosanct? With all due respect to soil research, this is the logical location for the sort of major botanical garden that graces many other cities.

Embattled Parliament Hill elm tree's fate sealed after last-minute Liberal vote kiboshes stay of execution

By Marie Danielle Smith, Ottawa Citizen, April 2, 2019

OTTAWA — After hearing witness testimony at an emergency meeting of a House of Commons committee Tuesday, Liberal MPs — bolstered by the last-minute arrival of one of their members — struck down an opposition motion to delay the removal of a beloved elm tree on Parliament Hill.

While other House of Commons committees have been busy with ostensibly weightier matters, the Procedure and House Affairs Committee has been preoccupied with the fate of a centenarian American elm which stands just east of Centre Block in the middle of what has become a construction zone a construction zone. Now, despite pleadings from local environmental groups and community associations, it will be felled as soon as mid-April, as part of preparatory work for the decade-long project to renovate Parliament.