HCBP gets the ‘green’ light after salamander investigation

Antik Dey

The City of Guelph will move forward with the development of the highly contested, yet lucrative Hanlon Creek Business Park (HCBP) after a recent Salamander monitoring program finds no presence of the Jefferson Salamander, an endangered species, in the vicinity. Concerns over the effects of industrial development on the environment have been raised.

According to the Guelph Mercury, between March 11 and April 30, the Natural Resource Solutions Inc. surveyed the 670 hectares of the proposed business park for the presence of the Jefferson salamanders, which is listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.

“Thirteen salamanders were captured and sampled during the monitoring program,” reported the Guelph Mercury on May 11 2010. “In all cases, the DNA analysis found no presence of pure Jefferson salamanders or Jefferson-dominated hybrids.”

Guelph Mayor Karen Farbridge, believes that the HCBP will benefit the city’s economy, because business taxes will help fund public programs like libraries. At the same time, she has expressed her concerns for the environment.

“The HCBP will be home to 10,000 to 12,000 new jobs, helping Guelph accommodate 32,400 new jobs by 2031,” wrote Farbridge in her blog on July 29, 2009. “The HCBP project strikes a balance between meeting our community’s economic needs, the need to protect our natural heritage and ground water.”

This balance between industrial development and protecting the environment, which is proposed by the Mayor and the City, is considered a myth by the HCBP occupation, a group that took a strong stance against the industrial development of the HCBP.

“Mayor Farbridge’s “balance” is essentially sacrificing [the] beautiful land for economic project that is costing the City millions,” said Monica, a member of the HCBP occupation group. “I see no balance here.”

In an open letter published on the HCBP occupation website, the group has raised awareness about protecting the drinking water reserve that is present in the HCBP lands. They explained that the Paris-Galt Moraine is a deposit of soil, sand, and gravel left over from glacial times, which is not only the home to many species, but essential to the recharging of our ground drinking water.

In the same open letter, the group conveyed the larger message of living on this planet and coexisting with other species of animals and plants; where it’s not only the endangered species that require protection but also all species.

“When will we realize that we cannot eat money?” wrote Marcy Goldstein, a HCBP occupation member, in the open letter. “If we follow along the track that the Minister of Natural Resources set out for us, where species are only protected once they are ‘endangered,’ then I fear we will realize this far too late.”

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