Civics and Municipal Policy
Law and policy are often very difficult to understand for those of us who are not professionally trained on the subjects. However, it is precisely these laws and policies that influence the recognized Rights of Nature, how humans legally influence the environment and the precautions that we must execute when developing land. We the people, have the power to influence law and to hold our law makers accountable for the legacy we leave for future generations. It is for this reason that The Land Between Charity is developing a Civics portfolio! Below we have started to build resources to make it easier to understand the role of policy in protecting the environment, in finding balanced solutions between develpment and conservation, and how you can influence policy and municipal reviews!
Planning & Legislation
Land use planning influences how we live, shapes our communities and determines how our resources are used today as well as how our neighborhoods and landscapes will look and function in the future. Conscientious planning attempts to balance the interests of social, economic and environmental concerns as well as the concerns of individual property owners with the aspirations of the larger community.
Municipal Bylaw Bibliogrpahy
Municipalities have different capacities and also different views, and processes. However all municipalities are responsible agents in protecting our waters and wildlife habitats and finding sustainable solutions to ensure the holistic wellbeing of current communities and future generations. We have been researching and surveying municipalities to list bylaws, highlight best practices and case studies and share innovative approaches and solutions.
Our fight to save Grace the 125+ year old turtle in Halibutron
Turtles, wildlife and nature are in jeopardy when municipalities don’t have necessary controls in place. Without standard site plan alteration bylaws for previously recognized areas such as wetlands, our municipalities don’t have the tools to manage or conserve environmentally sensitive and important areas. This also means that they don’t have adequate processes to review activities and find adaptive solutions either.
This is what happened in Dysart et al. when a property owner on Gelert Road was filling in a wetland where the 125+ year old snapping turtle named Grace could have been hibernating! To save Grace we started a campaign to stop the filling and ask for accountability from the township!
Planning for our Shorelands
Shorelands are fragile yet incredibly important areas for wildlife and the health of our lakes. To help preserve the integirty of the thousands of beautiful lakes within the region The Land Between has partnered with Watersheds Canada and the Federation of Ontario Cottagers' Association! Together have, and are continuing to, investigate the best practices for shoreland property management and are developing guidebooks and planning tools to help property owners keep their lakes healthy!