To Whom It May Concern, It…

To Whom It May Concern,

It was with great shock and sadness I see the proposed changes to the Conservation Authority funding. The pandemic has demonstrated to all of us in Ottawa, and across Canada, the great need and importance for public outdoor spaces for their mental health benefits, and not least their continued vital importance for many species of plants and animals. I am an avid user of the Conservation spaces around Ottawa, particularly the Mill of Kintail, which has facilities of critical importance to maintain the wild space that it protects. Without adequate trail maintenance, education for the public, washroom facilities, or public exhibits, the space will become vulnerable to degradation, as has happened already with many of the outdoor trails around Ottawa that lack infrastructure (an excellent case study of this is the Carp Barrens trail which has no infrastructure and has suffered immensely during the pandemic as crowds descended upon the trail and destroyed surrounding rare plant and animal life.) I have never seen the Mill of Kintail parking lot empty, but trails are always well utilized with minimum harm to the surrounding area due to their maintenance, and the excellent information provided by resources available around the trails. This space is what successful conservation through community action looks like - and your proposal, frankly, suggests to gut this success. I am immensely disappointed.

The proposed changes to the funding for conservation spaces signal to local communities that you do not consider the mental well-being of community members, or the continued conservation of species and historical artifacts in these places a priority, and this is simply unacceptable. I hope very much that this brief comment along with the voices of others from the community signals that something has gone wrong with this proposal, and it is fundamentally reconsidered.

Kind Regards,
Kasia Majewski.