By DAVE DALE THE NUGGET

Posted 7 days ago

Powassan is setting aside several acres of municipal land for bobolinks to breed so it can move forward with an economic development initiative offering jobs and expanded tax base during hard times.

The songbirds which raid rice and grain fields in Argentina and are considered tasty in Jamaica are protected as species at risk in Ontario. Farmers across the province are dealing with the protective legislation because the cousins to blackbirds and orioles nest in long grass or hayfields, causing delays and adding expense to agricultural practices.

Mayor Peter McIsaac said Ontario's Endangered Species Act came into play after bobolink nests were found in the long grass on municipal property off Fairview Lane.

We did run into a snag," McIsaac said, referring to what happened during the environmental review required for a new industrial park they're trying to develop. Public meetings offering more details about the business proposals are expected early in the new year.

He said it added some extra time to the process and there were fears the community might lose the businesses interested in the area if it was stalled too long.

These are jobs and economic growth the Municipality of Powassan cannot afford to lose," McIsaac said, adding he also absolutely understands" the need to protect the environment and species that need help surviving.

But he said this is an issue that could use further review because there's no lack of space in this region for the songbirds.

The birds are very common here and in the surrounding area," he said, noting there are thousands of acres of unused farmland where they nest every year.

He said site plan controls, rather than freezing development on alternative municipal property, would make more sense.

It's a simple fix," McIsaac said, giving nesting birds a chance while development is taking shape and the bobolinks can easily nest in the next field over the following year.

East Ferris Mayor Bill Vrebosch, who is chairman of the Rural Ontario Municipal Association, said the problem is getting out of hand because farmers are being asked to pay into a pot for million-dollar studies to deal with bobolinks when they have more vital financial priorities.

Vrebosch said he's been told the birds are poisoned as a nuisance while spending winters in Argentina and they're considered good eating when flying through Jamaica, but we're trying to save them?"

The president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture wrote an op-ed piece in the Barrie Examiner about the issue last year.

Bette Jean Crews said only a small group of naturalists consider the bobolink as threatened, stating that the International Union for the Conservation of Nature considers the bird native to 46 jurisdictions between Canada and the tip of South America.

If the global community does not consider bobolink imperiled globally, if it is not an indigenous species in Ontario and if it ranges across forty-six jurisdictions spanning North, Central and South America, then why does Ontario list it as a threatened species at the possible expense of Ontario farmers?" Crews wrote.

The Ministry of Natural Resources fact sheet on bobolinks states that a recovery plan and specifies-specific habitat regulation are presently being developed.

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