Safe passage

As the snow retreats from the fields around the County, drifts still clinging to the fence lines and hedgerows, it seems a good moment to consider what hedgerows do, and what is at risk when we erase them.

An aerial view of Prince Edward County reveals a patchwork of woodland, each not more than a few dozen acres in size. There are larger woodlots, but not many. Venturing north from Wellington, small stands are being clear cut right now to create tillable acres.

The creatures that live in these woods subsist in ever-shrinking habitats. To wander out in the open is to risk being consumed by coyotes or other predators.

For many of the animals that dwell in these woods, hedgerows and fence lines provide lifegiving connections to other lots. To other creatures.

It is not the same as roaming vast tracts of forest, but these thin threads work. Hedgerows enable diversity in the food chain and the gene pool, and present a wider horizon for the young seeking their own territory.

Those who own this land, understandably, seek to maximize its earning potential. One way to do this is to combine small fields into large expanses, enabling larger machines and lower fuel costs. These are reasonable concerns and motivations. But the shortterm bounce in efficiency comes at the expense of the diversity and health of the ecosystem on its edges. Factors likely not assessed on the farm income statement.

It also brings the risk of land erosion. It is in our living memory that vast parts of North America were rendered a dustbowl due to poor farming practises and a lack of wind breaks.

We get a dramatic demonstration of how this works every winter. For years the municipality erected snow fences along the west side of Belleville Road north of Wellington. It’s not clear why the municipality stopped doing this, but it has made this stretch of road a hazard through much of the season. With wide open fields for miles to the west and nothing to impede the winds, snow blows across these fields and falls onto the roadway, where the banks finally form some resistance. Folks who travel this way daily ensure they have a tow rope in their vehicle.

When it’s not snow, the wind picks up soil. Hillier is thin on soil. It really can’t afford to send more to Hallowell or beyond. Are we at risk of a modern-age dustbowl? Perhaps not. But the large landowner north of the village spends a great deal on augmenting his land, formerly with sludge from recycled paper production and currently with compost from the mushroom plant.

So perhaps there is an argument for more, rather than fewer trees. Or a hedgerow.

Every year kilometres of fence lines and hedgerows disappear. Grand fields stretch uninterrupted from one road to the next.

One might expect that economics might kick in at some point to dull the cost benefit of such excavation, but as long as landowners can generate more revenue with few input costs, and their land continues to rise in value, it seems hedgerows are fair game.

So we need a more robust collective response.

This has come in the form of group called the Natural Heritage Conservation Prince Edward County (NHC-PEC). Last week they presented to council their ideas for preserving hedgerows and fence lines through the County’s Official Plan.

Speaking for the group, Elizabeth Blomme and Bill Bonter noted that the County’s draft official plan mentions nothing at all about the value of hedgerows and fence lines. And without any recognition there can be no means to protect these natural bridges.

They pointed to an effort undertaken in 2011 to study the County’s remaining natural areas with a goal to better understand the system, the stresses and opportunities. A stakeholder group was formed, and with resources from the Ministry of Natural Resources and informed by geospatial data, a plan emerged. It identified concrete steps to be taken preserve these linkages and reconnect essential pathways that had been lost. It found that—based on 2001 data (yes, that old)—the County was already at or below several critical natural thresholds— the point at which habitats and biodiversity begin to collapse.

The 2011 plan went nowhere. Yet every year since, more of these natural bridges are dug up and levelled.

Their ask is simple. Restart the 2011 study process and prepare a sustainable natural heritage system in the County before it so broken and isolated they are rendered uninhabitable by the many and varied creatures that depend on these woodlands.

And then implement its findings. It is time we took this responsibility seriously.

rick@wellingtontimes.ca