Based on personal experience…

Based on personal experience with a recovery permit for bobolink and eastern meadow lark , the Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry should have more power to be able to review the permits on a case by case basis , and make changes with or with out the permit holders consent. The permits are issued for a 20 year term, with no provisions for change in property ownership , no provisions to fertilize the habitat area, or provide weed control in the habitat area. The permit holder , hires a biologist to monitor the habitat. The biologist answers directly to the permit holder, not the MNRF. In our situation we purchased a neighboring farm that had a lease in place for a C - permit to create and maintain grass land habitat for bobolink and eastern meadow larks. The permit requires that the hay not be cut until August 1, and the total area is 45 HA in size. We have two main issues with the current permit conditions. Issue 1 , is the volume of very poor quality hay that we harvest on the 45 HA parcel, and the negative health effects it is causing to our beef herd. The second major issue is the permit has not provisions in place that require the permit holder to fertilize the habitat area, or provide proper weed control. The permit simply states , " despite (1), if crop rotation is necessary, the overall benefit area shall be maintained as a hayfield for at least 5 consecutive years out of seven". The habitat area we are dealing with is entering year six as habitat. The permit holder has not spent one cent on fertilizer or weed control since the habitat was established. From our own production records the grass has seen a 40 percent decline in yield since year one to year five. This is due to both lack of nutrient being applied back to the soil, and also due to the composition of the habitat changing over time. Most of the legumes, which were required in the habitat establishment, have been lost due to the natural process of winter kill etc. Another major issue is wild parsnip, listed as a noxious weed in Ontario, is growing , and spreading on the property. The permit holder has refused to allow crop rotation, even though we as the land owner have requested to do so to help with weed control. We as the land owner reached out to the MNRF for help on this situation. The permit holder has contacted MNRF staff and directed them to not discuss any conditions of this permit with us, the land owners. We have also put forward a request to move a portion of the habitat onto our pasture lands. Lands that meet all criteria for MNRF habitat for bobolinks and eastern meadow larks. Sadly we can not even confirm with MNRF staff if this request has been forwarded to MNRF staff due to the permit holders demand not to discuss with us. The entire purpose of this permit was to create and maintain habitat for the long term recovery of bobolinks and eastern meadow larks. Sadly due to wording of the existing permit, and the permit holders refusal to properly maintain the habitat , or allow any changes to the existing permit, are actually causing a loss of more habitat. In an effort to supplement the extremely poor feed we harvest from the habitat area we have resorted to cutting our other hay fields much earlier then before. We now cut , bale, and wrap these fields in early June to create better quality feed, and increase our second cut yields in an effort to over come the poor feed harvested from the August 1st cutting date. This is a practice we did not do before the habitat hay became an issue for us. Normal beef hay production is done as "dry hay", and is harvested during the month of July. Sadly we are destroying habitat directly as an effort to overcome the conditions of the current permit. We have experience severe health issues in our beef herd due to the poor quality August harvested hay. We see weight loss, poor conception rates, poor colostrum, and poor calf health all related to poor quality feed. I will attach hay test results comparing June, and July cut hay vs August cut hay and the drop in protein and relative feed value. We have both spring and fall calving on our beef farm. This year our fall herd experience 25 percent open conception rate. This is completely unacceptable and directly related to the poor quality feed. We have already made plans to abandon our fall calving system as the poor hay simply will not sustain cows with nursing calves. This will mean a 30 percent reduction in our beef herd,,, a direct economic loss to Ontario. Our fall herd graze during the summer months on rented pasture. Sadly we will be giving this pasture up, and a neighboring crop farm has already showed interest in this land. Again a loss of grass land habitat directly as a result of a permit that was meant to protect this very form of habitat. Our request to move a portion or all of the habitat onto pasture land, which would allow us to harvest feed before August 1st has met resistance from the permit holder. A report was done on Amherst Island in 2016 that supported our request of pasture as habitat. There were more nesting pairs of bobolinks found in pasture settings then hay fields. This situation we are in could be easily resolved if the Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry had more authority and power to look at permits such as this and make changes based on current science on a case by case basis. Trying to force a corporation to maintain grass land habitat with such lack of maintenance guide lines was a mistake. If changes are not made and the current habitat area is left as is for the entire 20 year permit term the entire habitat area, and the land itself will be in a sad state. The land will have been depleted of nutrients for 20 years, the weed situation will surely be out of control. Who ever the land owner is when the permit expires will be left with no choice other then to destroy the entire habitat area to try to reclaim the agricultural land. The cost to replenish nutrients and control 20 years of weed neglect will be more then I want to take on. If we can not find a reasonable solution, this property may be offered up for sale. This will mean we will have to reduce our herd further, and take pasture we currently have out and produce feed on this land to maintain our remaining herd.