Scarpface Project to Educate About Niagara Escarpment
July 10th 2010I just learned about a craggy-faced character who might bring fun to the study of geological science, if we help…
Scarpface is the name of a new project intended to get students interested in the Niagara Escarpment. Created by the Niagara Escarpment Biosphere Fund (NEBF), the charitable foundation that works with the Niagara Escarpment Commission, the project aims to engage teachers, elementary and secondary school students in Escarpment studies, in the natural wonders of the Escarpment.
The fun part comes with the introduction of a rocky, colossal superhero character by the name of Scarpface, who embodies the magnificent Niagara Escarpment and has the motto “Don’t mess with the edge.” The first 25 classes to send to the NEBF their projects, essays, and photos on the themes of natural science, geography and culture, will receive a Scarpface character t-shirt for every class member.
“We are very pleased to share this dynamic proposal to excite a new generation of Ontarians in our awe-inspiring natural resources,” says Moreen Miller, chair of the NEBF. ”The Escarpment is vital to Ontario’s air and water quality. The more people are aware of this amazing part of our province the better we can live and work in it sustainably.”
The Scarpface project is competing for a grant of $10,000 from Pepsi Refresh, a community relations initiative to support popular good-works projects.
“All across Canada, people from every walk of life are producing powerful, creative and fun ideas that can create positive change,” says Joey Adler, Pepsi Refresh Project Canadian Advisory Board Member. “Pepsi’s Refresh Project is going to help move ideas from wishful thinking to reality, and that’s an incredibly exciting effort to support.”
In order for NEBF to win their grant and go ahead with the Scarpface Project, people have to vote for it at Pepsi’s Refresh site.
Here are the goals of the Scarpface Project:
• To encourage teachers and students to learn about the Niagara Escarpment
• To engage classes in Escarpment studies and submit their projects online
• Increase awareness of the Escarpment’s importance to our environment
• Distribute Scarpface t-shirts to 25 classes of participants
And here’s a description of the project in educational terms:
The Scarpface–Don’t Mess with the Edge project incorporates education and entertainment to engage Ontario students and teachers in Niagara Escarpment (NE) studies in science, geography and culture. Scarpface is a superhero figure representing the unique environment of the NE. Scarpface will benefit communities by increasing awareness of the significance of the NE. Improved understanding of the NE’s biodiversity (hundreds if not thousands of species of animals and plants) and impact on air and water quality, will encourage people to protect this extraordinary place. Students and teachers will be the focus of a multi-media campaign across the province. The first 25 classes to submit projects to the website receive Scarpface t-shirts for the class. The remaining shirts will be sold for fund raising.
Niagara Escarpment Biosphere Fund
NEBF is a unique private/public fund that will be seen as the model across Canada for its presence as a premier, regional charitable organization, dedicated for use by the people on the landscape it serves. NEBF will be used by those committed to conserving the biodiversity that is the Niagara Escarpment. It is a fund that will be used to promote sustainable communities throughout the length of the Escarpment. It is a fund that will be used to collaborate with other like-minded individuals and organizations in improving the biodiversity and heritage of the Escarpment through research, outreach, and education. The fund will provide support for academic research on the rich natural biodiversity of the Escarpment to make optimal decisions for our future sustainability, both environmentally and within our own communities.
The fund supports the pillars of the UNESCO designation: education, science, and culture, and will establish the ideals and objectives to achieve the goals of the proposed projects and initiatives needed to create healthy and vibrant communities throughout the Niagara Escarpment while expanding people’s knowledge of the uniqueness of this world-renowned biosphere.
The fund will also be used to identify and promote, where possible, land acquisition of even more significant Escarpment properties for trails, public parks, and conservation.
The Biosphere Reserve Coordination project, in conjunction with those who want to see this change for the better, for our farmers, for our communities, for our families, and for our environment, are working toward a brighter tomorrow, today.
Here’s more information about the NEBF or contact Teri Trent, 905 877 6370.
What do you think of this project? Any thoughts on the competition for grants? Do you have a problem with Pepsi running it?
For a look at the rocks of the Niagara Escarpment below the surface, see our amazing feature “Beginner Caves on the Escarpment.”
Dig In and Discover Archaeology at Crawford Lake
July 07th 2010This looks like a pretty cool activity for people of any age:
The past comes alive at Crawford Lake Conservation Area, at the popular Dig In and Discover Archaeology event on July 18 from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. for a great day of discovery and exploration into the past.
Visit with staff in the Turtle Clan Longhouse for a demonstration of traditional fire starting techniques and storytelling. Visitors can explore the Iroquoian village, view fascinating videos, and make a clay pot to take home. You can also participate in a discovery hunt and win a great prize.
Take part in a simulated dig at the Crawford Lake site. Learn how and why archaeologists do what they do and find out more about fascinating artifacts and Ontario’s First Nations.
After visiting the village take a hike through Crawford Lake’s beautiful woodlands and learn more about the history of the area.
Finally, stop by the Giftshop and take home a unique item as a souvenir of this great event. Feel good about your purchases as all funds stay in the park to help support conservation!
Crawford Lake Conservation Area is located on the corner of Conservation Road (formerly Steeles Avenue) and Guelph Line, 5 km south of Hwy 401 or 15 km north of the QEW. Regular park admission fees apply for this special event and kids ages four and under are free! There’s more information online or by calling Crawford Lake at (905) 854-0234.
To learn more about the recreation activities at all of Conservation Halton’s parks, or any of the special events taking place, visit their website and go to the Parks and Recreation section.
Conservation Halton is the community-based environmental agency that protects, restores and manages the natural resources in its watershed. The organization has staff that includes ecologists, land-use planners, engineers, foresters and educators, along with a network of volunteers, who are guided by a board of directors comprised of municipally elected and appointed citizens. Conservation Halton is recognized for its stewardship of creeks, forests and Niagara Escarpment lands through science-based programs and services.
Have you been to Crawford Lake and experienced the native village? What do you think of it?
For more about Crawford Lake, see our feature article “Maple Moon: Sugar Making on the Escarpment 600 Years Ago.” For a free trial issue of Escarpment Views, just contact us.
Appearance on Behind The Story
April 17th 2010If you’re looking for something to watch on TV Sunday night, you might want to go to CTSTV (channel 36 for some people) at 7 pm for Behind The Story. I (Gloria Hildebrandt) am a guest on the show. Hosted by Richard Landau, the program has journalists and commentators discussing the media’s treatment of various issues in the news.
This week the topics are the pharmacies’ threatened service cuts, the Helena Guergis affair, the Roman Catholic Church’s statement about paedophilia and more.
And I get to share some news about the Niagara Escarpment in the U.S.
Help Friends of the Eramosa Karst By Subscribing to Escarpment Views
April 08th 2010We’re pleased to have an partnership with another organization that’s doing great work for the Niagara Escarpment. Friends of the Eramosa Karst (FOTEK) worked hard to protect karst landscape in Stoney Creek, which has become Eramosa Karst Conservation Area. FOTEK is now trying to keep the karst’s vital “feeder lands” from housing development. Hamilton Conservation Authority supports this effort (see our blog post of March 30, 2010) along with many individuals.
Escarpment Views is happy to support FOTEK’s efforts by donating $5 of every new or renewing subscription to them. All you have to do is note FOTEK when you send your payment. For more details about this offer, see Subscribe on our site.
For information about karst in general and the Eramosa Karst in particular, see FOTEK’s site.
Mountains, Caves and Limestone Outcroppings in West Virginia
March 22nd 2010Just back from a short break from magazine work, having gone with Mike to a favourite place of his in West Virginia. We crossed the border at Queenston and Mike took photos of fabulous views of the Niagara Escarpment from the American side. The Gorge, The Whirlpool and the American and Canadian falls are truly spectacular at this time of year, with heavy water flow and no leaves on the trees to obstruct views far across the gorge.
About 12 hours later, in the middle of the night, we arrived at “The Fieldhouse,” a cottage managed by the Potomac Speleological Club, where Mike had to get the indoor plumbing working and start a fire in the old woodstove, although it was actually warm enough outside without having to heat indoors. Spring is here!
Next morning we hiked among herds of grazing sheep and baby lambs which Kelly the border collie was good enough to treat with respect, although she couldn’t help but stare at and stalk them for a few steps. This had the mama sheep calling their wayward babies to their sides. Lambs returned the cries from various places on the hillside, and soon they had all herded up and moved away for safety.
Mike led the way to Smoke Hole Cave, an interesting set of caves with openings to light and air, two of my very favourite things when caving. A historic plaque on the road far below, which we saw later, claims that signs of smoke on the roof of a large cave indicates that native Indians may have used the cave to cure meat. After seeing the steepness of the climb to the cave and the lack of flat ground nearby for camping and preparing the meat, I doubt that the natives would care to carry haunches of deer meat there. The caves would, however, provide comfortable shelter around a central fire, so I can see people using them for that.
After the three-hour hike, we drove around the mountainous country where Mike says it takes one hour to go one mile. Spectacular jagged outcrops like Eagle Rock and Cave Mountain look like parts of our own Niagara Escarpment, although they are in a different geological formation, the Allegheny Mountains. We drove from the bottom, where a tributary of the Potomac River flows to Washington, up to the highest point we could reach by car, where a tent and campfire equipment showed that perhaps fishermen were spending the night.
So, after driving 12 hours in order to take a three-hour hike, we were back on the road, gratefully finding a Starbucks for cappuccino in Ohio, something not to be seen in West Virginia, where a couple seeing our Ontario licence plate, asked where we were from. Turned out they are from Stoney Creek, and were on their way to Myrtle Beach and then Florida. Also turned out that they had seen Escarpment Views, but not the spring issue, so we gave them a copy and returned home. Small world. Big mountains!
Have you gone anywhere interesting lately?
Niagara Escarpment Commission Wants Protection of Mount Nemo
March 01st 2010Here’s some interesting news about Mount Nemo, the area of the Niagara Escarpment that songwriter and musician Sarah Harmer has been helping to work to protect for years. Harmer’s community group Protecting Escarpment Rural Land (PERL) sent us this report.
Niagara Escarpment Commission votes 13 to 1 to send Nelson Quarry re-designation request to Provincial Cabinet
Commissioners of the Niagara Escarpment Commission (NEC) voted nearly unanimously on Feb. 18 to support “the protection of the Mount Nemo Plateau,” an environmentally-sensitive area located on the Niagara Escarpment in Burlington, Ontario. Speaking in favour of the motion were PERL, Burlington Mayor Cam Jackson, and Burlington Ward 3 Councillor John Taylor.
Mayor Jackson had previously moved a Halton Region amendment calling on the McGuinty government to stop a proposed Joint Board hearing and put the rightful designations on this ecological area. That motion carried 18 to1, and was approved by all four of Halton’s Mayors (Burlington, Oakville, Milton and Halton Hills). The Joint Board hearing, so called because it includes both the Ontario Municipal Board and the Environmental Review Tribunal, is scheduled to start in September 2010.
“For over 100 years, Mount Nemo has served as a primary source of aggregate for the Greater Toronto Area; it’s time to let Mother Nature heal herself,” said Mayor Jackson, speaking to the NEC.
“This decision from the Commission is the latest in a long line of support to protect Mount Nemo from future quarries. Now, the Ontario Cabinet should follow suit,” said Dr. Rick Smith, Executive Director of Environmental Defence.
Mount Nemo is under threat from a proposed quarry. The Nelson Aggregates quarry license application falls squarely within one of the most sensitive parts of the Greenbelt, in a headwaters area that contains Provincially Significant Wetlands, Regionally Significant Woodlands and the habitat of the provincially and nationally threatened Jefferson salamander. There are only 27 known locations of this critical indicator species left in all of Canada.
In supporting the motion, Councillor Taylor recited the NEC Staff Report that states, “some lands on the Mount Nemo Plateau do contain Escarpment slopes and related landforms, either existing or proposed to be designated as environmentally sensitive by the municipalities in their official plans which may, after further review, fit the Escarpment Natural Area or Escarpment Protection area designations in the Niagara Escarpment Plan (NEP).” Both the “Natural” and “Protection” area designations prohibit quarries.
PERL legal counsel David Donnelly presented the case for re-designation to the Commissioners.
“Nelson pleaded guilty to the serious offence of altering a watercourse without permit on November 26, 2007 thereby waiving any expectation it may have had to have its new quarry application assessed against a decades old land use designation,” Donnelly told the Commission. “There is precedence for Cabinet to re-designate the proposed quarry site, for example the Milton Outlier, and other areas like North Leslie, Boyd Park and the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve. Mount Nemo should be added to this protected list.”
Conservation Halton, Region of Halton, the City of Burlington and the Niagara Escarpment Commission have all voted against the quarry application, citing serious concerns relating to the loss of provincially significant wetlands and significant woodlands, species at risk (the Jefferson salamander and the Butternut), and changes in flow contribution to downstream watercourses.
“The serious fear is that the millions of dollars that are needed to restore Mount Nemo will be spent on a hearing that should not take place,” said Sarah Harmer, Co-Founder of PERL. “After Mount Nemo’s 100 years of service to the aggregate industry, Premier McGuinty and the Ontario Cabinet must stand with PERL, Burlington, Halton, the Niagara Escarpment Commission, the Conservation Authority, and dozens of local and national environmental groups to act, so that nature can reclaim this exceptional area.”