Ecology Ottawa

News Clippings

Booth Street bridge bike lane fix earns mixed reviews - Ottawa - CBC News

By Laura Osman, CBC News Ottawa, September 8, 2017

Newly released designed of separated bike lanes along the Booth Street bridge intended to make the corridor more cycling friendly show those same lanes cutting through a busy pedestrian area in front of a bus station.

The city released new renderings on Sept. 7 after consultation with a number of cycling advocacy groups and community associations. The pictures show a cycle track that bisects the pedestrian area in front of the bus station on the bridge.

After multi-agency response, report of diapers floating in river turns out to be

By Liz Payne, Ottawa Sun, September 6, 2017

A mistaken report of “hundreds,” even “thousands,” of diapers floating down the Ottawa River Wednesday morning underscored the multi-layered problem of who is responsible for what floats in the river.

The diapers turned out to be naturally occurring foam, a common byproduct of organic matter in the water, something a City of Ottawa stormwater technician determined after heading out in a boat.

Small potatoes, big needs: Ottawa Food Bank blames bad weather for poor yield - Ottawa - CBC News

By CBC News Ottawa, September 8, 2017

The head of the Ottawa Food Bank says their ability to provide fresh produce to people in need has taken a hit this summer after a wet and cold growing season stunted production of staple foods like potatoes and carrots.

The food bank had aimed to grow more than 45,000 kilograms of produce on their 2.4-hectare Stittsville farm, according to executive director Michael Maidment.

But record rainfall early in the season and generally cold weather conspired to reduce their expected yield by 20 to 25 per cent, he said.

"The field was so wet that some of the crops just rotted in the field, they just got too much water," Maidment said Thursday. "A lot of the crops were just affected by lower temperatures and got a later start."

Auto-wa or pedestrian's paradise? City ranks LRT stations by walkability - Ottawa - CBC News

By Trevor Pritchard, CBC News Ottawa, September 6, 2017

Disembarking at the future Tremblay LRT station to run some errands? You'd better have a car handy.

Or, you could just head to Rideau station and perform those tasks on foot.Those are some of the findings of a "walk score" analysis carried out by the City of Ottawa for each of the Confederation Line stations set to open in 2018, as well as the existing O-Train stations. A walk score is a metric designed to illustrate how easy it is to perform everyday tasks from a particular point on foot, rather than by car.The scores are found in the city's annual development report for 2016, which will be presented at planning committee next week.

Cohen: In Maine, what is a town to do when the lobsters leave?

Ottawa Citizen

By Andrew Cohen, Ottawa Citizen, September 5, 2017

VINALHAVEN, Maine – On the islands of coastal Maine, boys and girls mark the end of summer and their departure for the mainland by holding hands at the edge of the town pier and jumping into Penobscot Bay. It is a sweet seasonal ritual.

It is unlikely the kids have noticed that the ocean is warming. When they hit the water, they shriek and laugh, splashing around in the numbing cold. The temperature is 13 C.Yet scientists think global warming in the Gulf of Maine is happening faster than almost anywhere else. Some believe the ocean temperature here is rising at a half a degree a year. The effects are beginning to be seen on Vinalhaven, which sits 20 kilometers off the mid-coast of Maine.

Ottawa’s population continues to increase, with western suburbs seeing largest growth in 2016

Ottawa Citizen

By Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen, September 6, 2017

Ottawa continues to welcome new resident as the population steadily climbs and developers build new homes.

Commercial and industrial space vacancies inched up last year, but developers continued to add more space to the market.

All of the latest statistics are in the City of Ottawa’s 2016 development report, which was published this week. The City of Ottawa’s population at the end of 2016 was 968,580, up by 0.8 per cent from 2015. It was lower than the 975,008 projected in the city’s official plan. The greater Ottawa-Gatineau region had a population of 1,457,464.

Northern lights coming — but it may be too cloudy to enjoy them

Ottawa Citizen

By Tom Spears, Ottawa Citizen, September 6, 2017

The northern lights stand a good chance of putting on a show in Ottawa Wednesday night and/or Thursday night.

Sadly, the weather forecast isn’t good.The forecast calls for a mix of clouds and clear sky, and possibly showers, both nights.

The good news is that while the aurora appears most often in the north, the space weather forecast says it should be visible this time as far south as Lake Erie and northern New York. Here’s the map.

Moodie LRT station remains unchanged despite pushback

Metro Ottawa

By Kieran Delamont, Ottawa Metro News, September 5, 2017

The city’s finance committee received an update on Tuesday regarding the plan to extend the Confederation LRT line to Moodie Drive and heard from residents who continue to push back against early plans for where the station will be located.

Several residents from the Crystal Beach Lakeview Community Association (CBLCA) spoke out against the proposed LRT station, which the city is currently proposing be located just east of Moodie Drive, raising concerns about the ecological impact that the station would have on that side of the road.

(...)Mayor Jim Watson said that they aren’t planning on moving the station further away from the community, which might deter people from taking transit. “I think anyone who is doing any transportation planning recognizes the closer you have the station to the people, the greater use its going to get,” he said. “That’s just common sense.”

Back to School for Drivers and Pedestrians

CTV Ottawa News

By Josh Pringle, CTV News, September 5, 2017

Ottawa Police will be testing motorists and pedestrians on the rules of the road during the first week of the school year.

As tens of thousands of students head back to school today, officers will be conducting School Zone Enforcement blitzes across the capital.

Ottawa Police have several tips for drivers and cyclists: Reduce speeds in school zones and be ready to stop at any time. Watch for pedestrians! Slow down, drive carefully and watch for pedestrians and cyclists. Obey school bus signals!

Moodie LRT station location irks Crystal Beach residents

Ottawa Citizen

By Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen, September 5, 2017

The closest community to the future LRT station at Moodie Drive would rather see the stop built farther away from its residents.

It’s unlikely the city will budge on the proposed location at the northeast corner of Highway 417 and Moodie Drive, but the Crystal Beach/Lakeview community is urging council members to consider building the station on the west side of Moodie Drive instead.

The finance and economic development committee on Tuesday heard from members of the community association who said most residents don’t want the LRT station to negatively affect trails and wildlife areas in the green space off Corkstown Road. They also fear construction would exacerbate flooding along the pathways.

Do you need a water softener if you live in Ottawa?

Ottawa Citizen

By Kelly Egan, Ottawa Citizen, September 5, 2017

We were peppered with questions following the tale of an Ottawa woman slapped with a $6,000 lien on her home to fulfill the contract on a water softener system sold by a door-to-door agent.

Patsy Miller was required to pay out the entire 120-month rental on the system, even though she sold the Barrhaven home after 17 months and no longer had any use for the softener.

She felt deceived by the sales agent, who left the impression the city’s water is loaded with harmful contaminants. This, of course, is false.

The 100-metre diet: Think spring now to take your weedy lawn to foodie heaven

Ottawa Citizen

By Megan Gillis, Ottawa Citizen, September 1, 2017

It was more than a decade ago that newly-minted locavores started buzzing about the 100-mile diet and its benefits for both our health and the earth.

But a growing number of Ottawans like Conrad Melanson are going one better, turning lawns into vegetable gardens for bountiful harvests then year-round meals right outside their front or back doors. They’ve turned DIY into GIY (Grow It Yourself). “This is like the 100-metre diet – not even,” Melanson joked.

He and his wife, Anne-Marie Gervais, had a scruffy lawn that was more weeds than grass when they decided to grow a few herbs.

Now their south-facing 66 by 40 foot Alta Vista backyard also produces beans, peas, lettuce, carrots, tomatoes big and small, sweet and three kinds of hot peppers, chard, kale, garlic, radishes, cucumbers, zucchini and beets. What they can’t eat right away they freeze, pickle and can for winter.