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Adventure Traveler Garry Sowerby in his own words:
Thursday, September 2, 2004
Oshawa and Leamington, Ontario
Environmental Initiative #25
General Motors of Canada Limited
and Friends of the Second Marsh, Oshawa, Ontario
Over the last 14 years, I have certainly been here at the Canadian
corporate headquarters of General Motors Corporation many times.
I had always admired the view from the grand windows that look
out over the Second Marsh Wildlife Area and the McLaughlin Bay
Wildlife Reserve behind the building. I have known that it is a
protected area but I had never walked or experienced it.
McLaughlin Bay Wildlife Reserve (MBWR) and the Second Marsh Wildlife
Area together form 372 hectares of tremendous ecological importance.
The area has everything -- swamp, cattail marsh, barrier beaches,
open meadows, ponds and mixed woodlands and wildlife galore.
In 1990, General Motors of Canada Limited
celebrated the construction of their new "green" Canadian
Corporate Headquarters as well as the creation of the McLaughlin
Bay Wildlife Reserve. Named after the automakers' founder, Col.
Sam McLaughlin, the Reserve has become a popular attraction for
lovers of nature and peaceful surroundings.
Home to almost 400 different varieties of plants, trees, shrubs
and wildflowers, as well as a great number of native birds, mammals
and fish, the McLaughlin Bay Wildlife Reserve features a number
of walking trails, viewing platforms for photographers and birdwatchers
as well as the Dogwood Trail, for use by partially-sighted or visually-impaired
visitors. It is open to the public seven days a week, year-round,
free of charge, and is wheel-chair accessible.
One of the goals of the McLaughlin Bay Wildlife Reserve Master
Plan was to create an area where people and wildlife could co-exist
in harmony, and, as I witnessed today, this has been achieved.
Our Mission Green tour was making a stop at General Motors to
salute their stewardship of the MBWR. A group of government officials
and executives had gathered on the back patio. We had a grandiose
view beyond the marsh into the sunshine that glistened on the waters
of Lake Ontario.
I realized what a special place this was, a
great place to go to work. Every lunch break could be an opportunity
to go for a power walk, run or leisurely stroll. What an escape
this place offered from the constant decision-making rigours
and hectic pace of corporate life. The therapeutic benefits of
having this peaceful haven literally at the back door of one’s
workplace were immeasurable.
The City of Oshawa saved the neighboring Second
Marsh from its near fate of becoming a harbour. The City took
over ownership of the land in 1993 and since then, the Friends
of the Second Marsh have planted 40,000 trees there. That’s
the equivalent of removing 200 metric tonnes of CO 2. from the
atmosphere.
Another exclamation point comes to mind when you realize that
open, unspoiled space along the water of this magnitude is found
nowhere else in the Toronto area and, in fact, in no other major
urban centre in Canada.
The Mission Green team planted a tree and,
before laying it into the ground, I thought, I can come back
and watch this tree grow. I don’t have to have an appointment with anyone at GM, I
don’t need to be here for a meeting. I can take 15 minutes
to come off the 401 and find respite any time I want, and simply
gaze at the Mission Green tree. Absolutely anyone can do the same
for that matter.
After the hubbub of our presentation died down, I meandered along
the paths, contemplating the contrast between this sanctuary of
peace for both humans and animals and, not 200 metres, the constant
commotion in the building behind me, the national headquarters
of the largest automanufacturer in the world.
Out here, this is the real thing. Step out the back door into
this completely unspoiled, unmanicured world, this is the great
escape that so quickly puts everything in perspective and gives
you the energy and determination to go back in there and make General
Motors run.
Mission Green salutes General Motors of Canada for their excellence
in the urban stewardship of the McLaughlin Bay Wildlife Reserve
and commends the Friends of the Second Marsh for their proud protection
of the Second Marsh Wildlife Area.
Also saluting Friends of the Second Marsh was the
Mayor of Oshawa, John Gray, Jerry Ouellette,
MPP for Oshawa, and Judi Longfield, MP for Whitby-Oshawa and Colin Carrie, MP
for Oshawa.
http://www.mclaughlinbay.org/inm/McLaughlinBay/en/index1.html
You
are now leaving the mission green website to an external website.
Environmental Initiative #26
Hillman Marsh Conservation Area, Leamington,
Ontario
We were late.
Ken Schmidt, General Manager of the Essex Region
Conservation Authority, and Tom Wilson, Windsor City Councillor
and the Honorable Jerry Pickard, Parliamentary Secretary to the
Minister of Industry, would be waiting for us at the Hillman
Marsh Conservation Area. I hate being late. It creates unnecessary
stress and doesn’t
make a very good first impression on the people who are waiting.
To make matters worse, I’d made a wrong
turn and ended up on a deserted road with no landmarks around
to guide us. I realized we were actually coming alongside the
Hillman Marsh. Wild turkeys ran across the road in front of us.
We were completely and suddenly off the beaten path. It felt
like the Florida Everglades. Marsh grasses and bullrush grew
tall along the road. Strange birds darted overhead and I felt
the stress slide away. We were on the south coast of Canada.
We had covered the most distance in a single day yet on Mission
Green today. We had left one calm refuge, made a hard go on the
401, ate on the run, no bathroom breaks and ended up here near
Leamington, where the tension was now beginning to melt.
The Hillman Marsh Conservation
Area has that effect on people.
Two decades ago, land use pressures had deteriorated the Marsh
to a point where the survival of the wetlands was in question.
The Essex Region had lost 97% of its wetlands, and this just had
to stop.
The Essex Region Conservation Authority took control of the 400-hectare
area and, through a partnership with Ducks Unlimited Canada, put
in place a water level control management strategy that would protect
and restore the wetlands. The now-thriving area is proof positive
of that effort.
The adjacent shorebird habitat is allowed to flood in the winter
and drain in the spring, through a pumping system and dykes. This
system controls unwanted vegetation and sustains food sources for
waterfowl in the spring and fall.
How many times have I driven the 401 between Toronto and Detroit
over the years? To think that it only took a 15-minute detour to
get down here to the Marsh where the symphony of birdsong and the
cacophony of insects were so much more welcome to the ears than
the mind-numbing racket and deafening drone of the multi-lane highway.
We took an hour and sat on a bench. No talking required.
It had been Swamp Day on Mission Green. We had visited two marsh
areas, one remote and off-the-track, the other visible from the
401. One in the backyard of a corporate building, the other tucked
away waiting to be sought out. Both beautiful wetland wildernesses.
And when only 7.5% of the Essex region consists
of natural areas, you understand the full significance and importance
of the work that’s being done here.
Our Mission Green hats off to the Essex Region Conservation Authority
for creating the special world on the south coast of Canada!
http://www.erca.org/ca/hmca/hmca.htm
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mission green website to an external website.
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