Ecology Ottawa

News Clippings

Rain shatters records, but doesn't completely solve water woes

By Jason White, 1310 News, July 26, 2018

Local conservation authorities had said this week's forecast rainfall amounts wouldn't be enough to completely end the early-stage drought.

Yesterday alone, some areas received more than a month's worth of rain in a single day, including the Central Experimental Farm, where 92.3 millimetres of rain was recorded. At the Ottawa airport, Wednesday's rainfall totalled 69.4 millimetres.

"A record rainfall for a second day -- the record was 41.1, set in 1969, for a July 25th," said Jill Taylor, 1310 NEWS meteorologist. "No matter how you add it up, a lot of rain for our area."

Napanee conservation area expanding to protect rare eastern loggerhead shrike

By Global News, July 25, 2018

NAPANEE, Ont. – The Nature Conservancy of Canada says it’s expanding a conservation area in eastern Ontario to help protect an endangered songbird rarer than the panda.

The non-profit conservation group has purchased 31 hectares of key eastern loggerhead shrike habitat north of Napanee, Ont.

READ MORE: Bruce Peninsula National Park to be expanded in 1,325-hectare land deal

In 2017, biologists saw five young shrikes fledging from their nest on the property — part of the longest-occupied eastern loggerhead shrike nesting area in the Napanee Plain.

Illegal dumping increases after Gatineau imposes garbage limit

By CBC News Ottawa, July 24, 2018

Some Gatineau residents say people are illegally dumping garbage on the edges of streets and even on other people's properties after the city imposed a garbage pickup limit last week.

Starting July 15, Gatineau households are not allowed to throw out bulky items and construction waste on their regular garbage day — one of the city's new rules designed to divert compostable and recyclable materials from its dump.

The City of Gatineau has received 27 complaints about illegal dumping since the bylaw came into effect. One complaint came from someone who said furniture was placed on their property.

Supercell passed Bourget, Ont., Environment Canada confirms

By CBC News Ottawa, July 24, 2018

Environment Canada has confirmed that a supercell passed over the eastern Ontario village of Bourget on Monday night.

Meteorologist Peter Kimbell examined an image of a large cloud hovering above church spires in Bourget — about 50 kilometres east of Ottawa — and then analyzed Doppler radar to determine the storm system's velocity and to categorize it.

"It's a pretty good, classic photograph of a wall cloud… the rotating part of a supercell thunderstorm," he said. "It's a fairly classic image of one. We don't see these that often, certainly not in eastern Ontario."

Ivison: Wind turbine decision says Doug Ford's Ontario is closed for business

By John Ivison, Ottawa Citizen, July 23, 2018

OTTAWA — Doug Ford is keen to send a message to the world that Ontario is “open for business.”

The platform on which he was elected makes clear that governments don’t create jobs on their own. “What government can do, however, is create the conditions that make it easier to start a business, grow a business or invest in Ontario.”

Unfortunately, governments can also make bone-headed, ideological decisions that close businesses, kill jobs and drive away investment — which is exactly what Ford is doing with the hasty introduction of the Urgent Priorities Act, in particular the White Pines Wind Project Termination Act.

Cohen: Celebrating the rhythms of a Canadian summer

By Andrew Cohen, Ottawa Citizen, July 24, 2018

LAKE TEMAGAMI, Ontario – For days, the fires of Temagami flared. On the evening we arrived, under a slanting, molten sun, the place was otherworldly.

It had not rained hard for weeks. The forest was a tinderbox. There was a smell of smoke in the air and a curtain of haze but no flames, which were far away.

That was Tuesday. On Sunday, just two days before, our neighbours on Outlet Bay reported that the smoke and ash was too hard on the eyes and lungs; at 8 p.m., they fled.

Another friend, Jack Goodman, said he could not recall five consecutive days over 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32.2 Celsius). He has spent more than 70 summers here, and he feels the changes in the natural world. Now he had decamped, too. We would not meet him at the “cut,” where we tie up our boat, traverse a narrow isthmus through the trees, and motor down to his place on the lake’s southwest arm.

Feared funnel cloud just a rain shaft, experts conclude

By Megan Gillis, Ottawa Citizen, July 24, 2018

During Monday night’s deluge, Ottawa weather-watchers spotted what looked like a funnel cloud, which can become a tornado.

Thankfully it was likely just what’s known as a “rain shaft” – a common phenomenon but one that we rarely get to see from just the right perspective.

Gerald Cheng, acting warning preparedness meteorologist at Environment and Climate Change Canada, looked at a local video shared on social media and had some experienced forecasters watch it, too.

“They all seem to think that it’s a rain shaft (a column of rain), rather than a funnel cloud, although it’s understandable why people would think that,” Cheng said.

OC Transpo reduces planned layoffs to 345 when LRT starts

By Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen, July 25, 2018 OC Transpo has managed to cut down the number of planned layoffs, but the top boss says the transit agency is still hitting its worker reduction targets ahead of launching the $2.1-billion LRT system.

“We haven’t upsized the organization,” said John Manconi, general manager of transportation, on Wednesday.

Transpo is cutting 345 staff starting Dec. 1. Layoff notices went out this week. The transit service has roughly 2,400 unionized workers. It has always been Transpo’s plan to reduce the number of staff when the Confederation Line opens, since the transit agency will rely less on crosstown buses in a new LRT-backboned system. Trains will carry more passengers than buses and each train requires only one transit worker.

Talk about eliminating single-use plastics in the Glebe

By Mike Vlasveld, 1310 News, July 24, 2018

Business leaders and residents in the Glebe are meeting to brainstorm ways to end single-use plastics in their neighbourhood.

It's not a change that is expected to happen overnight, but the Glebe Community Association Environmental Committee's Chair of the Taskforce on Reducing Single Use Plastics Andrew Johnson told 1310 NEWS' The Rick Gibbon Show, they're hoping to set some basic goals Tuesday night.

He sees the elimination of straws and plastic bags as low hanging fruit, and thinks those could be two of three single-use plastics identified as targets at the meeting.

How often are Stittsville buses late or cancelled? Data shows reliability can be uneven

By Devyn Barrie, StittsvilleCentral, July 21, 2018

A nosedive in OC Transpo’s reliability of late has Cameron Scobie reconsidering his decision to leave the car at home in favour of the 262 for his daily commute.

“Within the last two months I’d say the service has become entirely unreliable,” Scobie said. Late buses have stopped coming at all during afternoon runs he relies on to get home to his daughter at a reasonable time, he said.

Scobie has taken the 262 since 2014 because he thought it would be cheaper and simpler than driving to work downtown, he said. But now he wonders if it’s really a more convenient option.

'It's just not right': Indigenous coffee company tackles water issues

By CBC News Ottawa, July 23, 2018

A coffee venture in Ottawa is working to provide clean water for Indigenous families across Ontario.

A portion of the proceeds from each bag that Birch Bark Coffee Company sells will help buy water purifiers for Indigenous families who don't have access to clean water.

"I had this dream, this vision of creating a First Nations coffee company," said founder Mark Marsolais-Nahwegahbow.

Reevely: As bad as the Holland Avenue bike detour was on paper, it's worse in real life

By David Reevely, Ottawa Citizen, July 22, 2018

The temporary bike route on Holland Avenue seemed like a bad idea when the city was thinking it up. As it’s turned out in real life, it’s worse.

This is a short stretch of north-south road that passes under Highway 417, and it matters because there’s a good chance somebody will die there.

For two years, the nearby Harmer Avenue footbridge over the highway will be out of action while it’s replaced. It’s the choice route for kids who live south of the highway who go to schools north of the highway, and plenty of other people who cross the 417 for other reasons. The city had a plan to put in a temporary two-way bike lane along Holland while the footbridge is out, which it nixed at Mayor Jim Watson’s request when 100 people signed a petition complaining about losing parking.