‘No opportunity to change back what we have done’
Letters to New Tecumseth Free Press Online
As a resident of Beeton for the last 30 years I have spent a great amount of time walking through and enjoying the lovely forests that are about to be destroyed.
I am deeply saddened to hear we are replacing fresh air, beautiful trees, flowers and a home to an uncountable amount of creatures for what sounds like more soy beans. Because as everyone in New Tecumseth knows, we need more soy beans.
When do we hear of any good environmental news coming out of this area? Forests are being cleared and replaced by subdivisions with maybe one or two small sterile parks.
Forests don’t give us any money or add to our towns’ economic growth in any way unless they’re processed, but they do provide us with something far more valuable that we all take for granted: clean air, filtered water a place for pollinators, other creatures and a chance to clear our head.
There is so much research on the benefits of including more nature in our lives.
– Shinrin Yoku (forest bathing) has been studied extensively in Japan and has been shown to greatly reduce levels of cortisol and increase blood flow to the brain similar to someone in a meditative state.
– Evergreen and broad leaf trees secrete phytoncides that have been proven to increase the amount of Natural Killer Cells in our body, cells that are extremely protective against cancer.
– Other compounds released from trees such as alpha, beta and gamma pineen have been shown to improve cellular communication and increase IQ; and
– Look at any of the work done by Diana Beresford-kroeger.
It’s so upsetting that such poor decisions like this can be made with little or no thought into the consequences involved. Once the decision has been made to destroy a peaceful place such as the one being purposed, there will be no opportunity to change back what we have done, it will be forever lost.
A replanting area is not a replacement. You have just replaced a living breathing complex ecosystem with a tree nursery.
There’s an old Cree saying, “When all the trees have been cut down, when all the animals have been hunted, when all the waters polluted, when all the air is unsafe to breathe, only then will you discover you cannot eat money.”
‘Only if you lived nearby would you miss it if it was gone’
Re: The special permit granted to the Rizzardo interests by the County to clear land on their property north of Beeton, it is too bad that this could happen.
The property in question is a beautiful woodlot located on a raised finger of land overlooking Beeton to the south and the old flat swamp lands to the north and east. It’s a lovely view on most days.
It has been logged at one time or another but now contains many older trees, maple, pine, beech, butternut, ash and the odd oak. The forest floor is covered with trillium, trout lily, leeks and several other flowering plants with an orchid or two if you know where to look. What a great park area it would make if the owners were to donate it to the town.
It seems to be common knowledge that the owners would like to build housing on it as soon as they can. It has been reported that they would strip mine it and send it off as fill somewhere, possibly to fill in a marsh for more development, if they could.
They bought the land, control it and it would seem they want to make as much money as they can from it. In our capitalist society that may make sense to some. Only if you lived nearby would you miss it if it was gone. Along with the deer, coyote, the birds and almost all the wildlife which lives there now.
If you look around Beeton you notice that there is little land where you can walk to and enjoy the peace and quiet of a densely wooded forest. Of course you’d have to trespass to do it. As you would have to now.
Money is the motivator. Where are the philanthropists nowadays? Once the land is cleared of trees, mined and covered with houses the Rizzardo’s will have moved on to their next project. They the richer and us, who remain, the poorer.
It would be great if the Rizzardo’s and the town could come to some agreement where the woods could be town owned parkland and the land south of it, on the north side of the 9th could be developed.
This situation reminds me of our proposed trail through town where the selfish interests of a few would affect the lives of so many of the rest of us if they had their way. And we, the Town, own the old railway lands.
Mike Deakin,
Beeton
‘The planting of a few replacement trees is quite silly’
The process of approval for the tree clearing operation on the Tecumseth Estates, Beeton has once again proven to be flawed. Not only were the adjacent landowners not notified of the application, neither were the people of Beeton. This is a very flawed process and needs to be addressed. I suggest contacting your local municipal, County and provincial representative about this issue. The repercussions could be quite large for all home owners in Beeton.
The application was approved by the NVCA and the County tree department with a few minor provisos. The planting of a few replacement trees is quite silly and does not actually make a difference.
I have watched the planting of trees along the Beeton Creek for 25 years and the hardwoods die very quickly in the droughts in the summer. Is the landowner going to ensure that these trees are watered every couple of days until their root systems are self sustaining? Are the trees going to be more mature or little sticks?
The next issue I have is flood control. Grade 8 geography teaches us that water runs off hard surfaces (pavement as in the continued development of Beeton, frozen farm fields etc.) at a much faster rate than off grassy and treed areas. So Beeton already has a change in place with the western housing development bordering right on Beeton Creek. We have no idea how much that is going to increase the water flowing into the Beeton Creek. Why does this matter? Because all of the water flows under the bridge that carries our sewage force main that takes our sewage to Alliston for treatment. If there is compromise of that bridge resulting in loss of integrity of the sewage pipe, Beeton gets to enjoy sewage backing up into basements and the added cost of shipping by truck the sewage to Alliston. Been there, done that, it was not fun. This was not addressed by any of the studies by consultants or the NVCA. No local people were involved in the process so this issue is only appearing now.
Who is going to monitor the bridge and clear the debris that builds up so quickly on the upstream side of that bridge restricting water flow? Who is going to sandbag to protect the homes along the edge of the creek at Northwood Park? How will this effect you?
So if the trees are gone, then Tecumseth Estates will then have to do storm water management, a very slippery slope leading to heavy machinery moving glacial till laden with silica which we lovely citizens of Beeton get to breath. How does that become agricultural land? It becomes a developer’s playground even though planning for that area is at least 20 years away.
Call your member of council, call the County, call NVCA, ask for answers. Trees are our air that we breath, let us help keep some filters around Beeton.
Carolyn Milne,
Beeton
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