To the Mayor and Council
Chatham-Kent
I am writing on behalf of the Carolinian Canada Coalition which has received requests for its support in regard to the tree cutting issue in Chatham-Kent.
The Coalition is an organization devoted to the conservation of healthy ecosystems and natural diversity in all parts of southern Ontario. We focus on woodlands, wetlands and natural heritage systems and the ecological, social and economic services they offer to communities such as Chatham-Kent, including water quality protection; flood, drought, erosion, pollution control; and climate change resilience. Important benefits to community include: health, education, tourism, recreation and outdoor sporting activities.
Chatham-Kent has reduced its woodland and wetland cover to a greater extent than other municipalities in southern Ontario and these services to the region consequently are at high risk. As in other parts of southern Ontario, the Coalition is very concerned about such losses in Chatham-Kent as they will affect the well-being of the people of the region now and in the future.
To support effective conservation on a largely private landscape, we promote best practices to carry out woodland management and timber harvest in a way that supports natural heritage conservation. In previous general discussions the CCC has been inclined to support some form of incentive to landowners for stewarding and providing important ecological services to the community. We intend to consider this matter in more detail in the near future.
We urge Council to take strong measures to conserve the diminishing tree and woodland cover in the municipality and the Carolinian Canada region as a whole.
Gordon Nelson
Chair
For more information contact:
Michelle Kanter
Executive Director
Carolinian Canada Coalition
Greening the Future of Southwestern Ontario