As someone who has worked in…

As someone who has worked in the Science and Monitoring departments of 4 different conservation authorities in southern Ontario, I would like to provide some input on the proposed consolidation from the science and monitoring perspective. I am opposed to the consolidation of conservation authorities because doing so will make community engagement much more difficult, will reduce the efficiency of local watershed monitoring, and will take far too much time and money which will result in gaps in long-term monitoring data. This will and already has had an impact on job security in this field.

I do agree with the value of having a governing agency such as the OPCA. This agency could help bridge gaps in our data by providing frameworks and protocols that should be used by CAs to improve the comparability of our data. I hope that the OPCA will build a good foundation and relationship with Ontario’s CAs in a way that allows us to collaborate on these protocols and frameworks.

The consolidation of CAs however is problematic. This will create watershed boundaries that are far too large to manage efficiently when most CAs are barely able to complete their current monitoring programs with the amount of funding given. A more suitable approach would be to reallocate funding in a way that allows CAs enough time to complete their monitoring, data management and coordination with other CAs in a timely fashion via better staffing. The amount of time and money that it will take to rebrand all CAs and to ensure that they are using the same protocols and technologies is also problematic. There isn’t room in our budgets to secure new equipment and technology as needed and there definitely isn’t enough in our budget to change signage and branding. Our smaller CAs make it easier to foster good relationships with the community. People see us as organizations that are striving to make things better and as easy avenues to get involved. In discussing the proposed changes with people, it has become clear that the consolidation gives people the notion that things are becoming very corporate and that we will no longer be doing work on behalf of the environment and the community, but that we will now be working for developers. This will make people less receptive to our management strategies and even to the permitting process.

DO NOT consolidate conservation authorities but rather use the implementation of the OPCA as a platform through which collaboration and improvements can take place. Open the dialogue and help us work together, it will save everyone time and money and CAs have been meeting to try to collaborate on protocols and processes for years. I have seen this first hand since the MECP has stepped back from their involvement in the OBBN program.