February 20, 2010 – A recent article in the Lindsay Post, “Sometimes conservation means unlikely partners”, describes cooperation in action between a conservancy group and several Ontario aggregate producers.   

“The work of The Couchiching Conservancy is all about partnerships. Often we acquire or manage lands in partnership with other conservation groups.

We partner with landowners on stewardship projects or to create long-term solutions to protect lands they love. Many of our projects depend on partnerships with local communities.

We also partner with local businesses, through our corporate membership program and by encouraging their involvement in on-the-ground projects. On occasion, that leads to hard questions: how could we work with the quarry companies, for example, that often destroy the natural habitats we are seeking to protect?

Our answer is rooted in the reality of being part of a relatively small community. We all use stone and gravel to support our lifestyle; the pits and quarries have gone through a public process and have clear rules to follow in locating and operating their facilities; and we know that we will often be neighbours on the same landscape for many decades to come. While we certainly avoid the few bad actors that seem to be part of every industry, we accept that most of the companies involved try to minimize the effects of their operations on the environment.

In an area like the Carden limestone plain, where conservancies and quarries are sometimes in competition for the same land base, some degree of conflict is perhaps inevitable. But cooperation is also possible, and over the past two years a great deal of discussion has led to much better understanding of the priorities and needs of other interests by everyone involved.

That cooperation can bring tangible results. At the entrance to Prairie Smoke Nature Reserve, for example, we wanted to develop a small parking area so that visitors would not have to park on the side of Dalrymple Road. Miller Paving, who have operated a nearby quarry for several decades, provided the equipment and materials to install a well-designed gravel parking lot, all at no cost to the Conservancy.

Similarly, Stewart Construction donated materials from their pit just west of Orillia to extend the parking area at Grant's Woods in Orillia. Glenn Stewart has been very generous in helping us to select large rocks that we use to recognize major corporate sponsors, and in providing his machines to deliver and place them. These contributions have saved the Conservancy thousands of dollars, meaning that those dollars can be used for pressing conservation projects.

Last summer Dufferin Aggregates was among our partners in staging the Carden Nature Festival. The company held quarry tours and gave participants a chance to go fossil-hunting during the festival.

We continue to work together with these and other aggregate companies in the region to find common ground.

It would be naïve to think that the rapidly expanding quarry industry in this region and conservation interests would never conflict. But while recognizing that we have different agendas and different priorities, it is in the best interests of the community for us to work together where we can.”