Paving green space





	Riskier drinking water
	Paving green space
	Air and noise pollution
	Recreational impacts
	Economic damage












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Paving green space

We all know that the areas around Lake Simcoe and the Nottawasaga River are growing. Our small cities are turning into medium-sized cities, and our old small towns are turning into new small cities while prime farmland and green space vanishes. Everywhere we look, there is more traffic, more roads, more poorly planned growth. Unless we grow in a smarter way, Toronto 's sprawl will keep moving north where it will meet the poorly planned development on green space in the Lake Simcoe area.

Already, parts of the Lake Simcoe area have some protection through the Greenbelt Act of 2005 that covers parts of Ontario to the south and east of

the lake. But Simcoe County is almost entirely excluded from these laws - which are very similar to how the Niagara Escarpment was created - as woods, wetlands and working farms turn into pavement. Lake Simcoe and the Nottawasaga River watersheds are too important for our natural heritage to be sacrificed to willy-nilly development. They need a common approach that recognizes the interrelationship of all the communities that surround them - and the prosperity and quality of life that results.

The Lake Simcoe area is home to about 65 endangered species covering everything from butterflies to salamanders (amphibians). With hundreds of wetlands, many forested areas and prime agricultural land, the more land that's paved the less healthy the entire area becomes. Many species depend on each other for survival; as one species vanishes, others will follow.

Paving green space also affects people . It puts safe drinking water at greater risk, and removes the trees, wetlands and natural greenery that keep water safe and clean. Paving green space for urban development means more cars and trucks on the road. And that means more smog for all of us to breathe on hot summer days.

CopyRight@Campaign Lake Simcoe, coordinated by Environmental Defence
317 Adelaide Street West, Suite 705 Toronto , ON M5V 1P9
Tel: 416-323-9521 Fax: 416-323-9301