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Trees,
Parks & Natural Areas
Introduction - Why Is This
Topic Of Interest?
Where Do These
Issues Come From?
Did You Know?
Trees, Parks & Natural
Areas Indicators
Introduction - Why Is This Topic Of Interest?
Natural areas are
critical to human and environmental well being.
They provide oxygen, reduce global warming,
filter pollutants out of air and water, enrich
biodiversity by providing specialized habitats
for plants and animals and provide educational
and recreational opportunities for residents.
Everything from street trees, neighbourhood
parks and schoolyards, to wetlands and rivers
can be considered a locally significant,
environmental feature. A green space doesn't
necessarily require scientific designation to be
of value to the community.
Where
Do These Issues Come From?
It’s a fact, London is growing and as part of
the outward expansion of urban growth there is
increased pressure placed on agricultural
and natural areas. The damage that
development can cause to air and water quality
as well as to biodiversity is very real. More
and more communities, governments, urban
designers, land use planners and developers are
promoting smart growth strategies, such as
ecosystem based planning, to manage development.
Ecosystem based planning means that before
development plans are made, local governments –
with input from the community – first identify,
map, prioritize and plan the protection,
restoration or enhancement of key environmental
features. These include woodlands and green
corridors connecting them. Only after these
natural core and corridor areas are identified
and protected as part of a Natural Heritage
System in municipal official plans should
development planning begin.
London is fulfilling this commitment by ensuring that unique areas of our
natural heritage are protected in the Official
Plan. During the City of London VISION 96
process, as background to the review of the
environmental policies, a number of ecosystem
based plans called subwatershed
studies were prepared which identified
vegetation patches within the annexed area of
the city. Those that had been
adequately studied and deemed to be significant
were designated in the Official Plan Schedule A
as Open Space and according to their more
specific nature or significance on Schedule B,
such as wetlands, woodlots, and ESAs.
The following indicators provide information on
trends in the development of the Natural
Heritage System in the City of London. It should
be noted that most of these measures do not
stand alone in determining how a particular
activity or policy has fared. Many measures will
have multiple implications or linkages which
should be taken into consideration.
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Did You Know?
- Since
European settlement, about 70 per cent of
Ontario's wetlands south of the Canadian
Shield have been lost to development.
- The
Quebec-Windsor corridor is home to intense
urbanization and home to almost half of
Canada’s known threatened or endangered
species.
- In
2005, London’s 150th anniversary, the City of
London coordinated the planting of
approximately 7,600 new trees in over 30
naturalization projects.
- Since European
settlement, upland forests have suffered the
most significant decline of any major southern
Ontario ecosystem.
- The
average Canadian uses up four trees every year
in paper products. Plant four trees this year
to replace them!
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