BarrieToday welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected] or via the website. Please include your full name, daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). The following letter, from Pollinate Barrie members Ashley Hammell and Kelly Patterson McGrath, is in reference to 'City says sports field to be smaller, closer to Lakeshore Dr.,' published June 18.
Before it was used for sheep grazing when Barrie was founded, the land that is now Allandale Station Park was almost certainly tallgrass prairie or oak savanna.
These two ecosystems happen to be some of the most endangered in North America – more under threat of eradication than the rainforest.
If we re-imagined Allandale Station Park, followed through on council's (and Al McNair's) plan from two years ago, and brought the land back to its origins, what would happen?
Restoring the land to functional prairie or oak savanna would have incredible benefits.
Sustainable ecotourism: Tallgrass prairies are absolutely stunning and it would be a matter of months until Kempenfelt Bay sunsets through native sunflower and bee balm blooms were all over social media. The tightly co-evolved relationships between important and charismatic pollinators and birds and these habitats would make them a magnet for bees and butterflies, and an even more important landing space for migratory birds (and the people who chase them!).
Other oak savannas and prairies at High Park and Alderville are sites of guided tours, birding excursions, bio-blitzes and educational opportunities, and the Allandale site’s position so close to the GO station would make it the most accessible of all these priceless habitats.
Getting certified as a Greenstep Sustainable Tourism Destination would bring people (and their money) to our local businesses – and it would bolster our Bird-Friendly and Bee-Friendly certifications, too.
In five years, we could be hosting the Barrie Bee and Butterfly Festival at the General John Hayter Southshore Community Centre, building cultural capital and business opportunities on top of the ecological goldmine we’re currently planning to place artificial turf. Squandering such a clear opportunity, at a time when the world is focused on the impacts of climate change and hungry for ways to help, is shortsighted.
Climate-action benefits: Our city struggles with rainwater diversion, drainage problems, and engaging in meaningful carbon capture activities. Planting tallgrass prairie or oak savanna would significantly improve all of those. The root systems of native prairie plants can be up to five metres deep, and they’re built entirely out of climate-warming carbon sucked out of the air.
Those same roots make healthy, porous soil that can absorb thousands of litres of water into the ground – and can easily survive drought and heat events. That provides us with a healthier lake for us and all the other life that depends on it.
It’s not every day we get the chance to be ambitious and save money, build a legacy for the future and benefit the present, and be forward-thinking and respectful of the past.
Barrie could be seen to be doing right by our planet, our citizens, our First Nations and our children, by taking this opportunity and building a sustainable legacy on our waterfront – and in doing so, could lead other towns to be similarly bold and innovative.
And the health benefits to our citizens would be palpable at a time when we are increasingly divorced from nature. This has the opportunity to bring our community together, and benefit our entire community, far more than a plastic field ever could.
The hard work the land is doing now – supporting biodiversity, sequestering carbon, filtering rainwater, feeding and housing the birds and bees we love – deserves our respect as much as the Cadets and sports groups do.
Where else can we put a field like this?
Let’s answer that question and invest in our city for the long term — with money well spent on preserving ecosystems that are precious.
Ashley Hammell
Kelly Patterson McGrath
Pollinate Barrie
