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Save Muskoka Wetlands! Protect Species at Risk!

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South Bracebridge Environmental Protection Group has launched an appeal with the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT) now the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT).  As a division of the same, PROTECT MUSKOKA has pledged to report to you on the status of this fight and to ask for your continued support.  This battle is against the Bracebridge Town Council, whose decision to rezone 443 acres of wetlands and environmentally sensitive lands, is in favour of the development of Muskoka Royale College, a year round private international school and summer camp housing 2000 students and staff by developer George Chen. 

The Bracebridge Town Council failed to ask for proper studies to be done including:

An Economic and Viability study
A Character and Compatibility Study
An Ontario Wetlands Evaluation Systems Study
An Impact Study on Social Services

If we don’t fight the proposal for Muskoka Royale College, these wetlands and forests and even threatened species at risk will be lost to us and to all future generations… lost to 4-storey dormitories, parking lots, offices, roads, maintenance buildings, private sportsplex, private soccer fields, private arena and other facilities. Massive swaths of forest will be hacked down. Marshes and waterways that support wildlife and prevent flooding will be devastated.  This will pave the way for the Highway 118 Western Bypass which is approved by the District of Muskoka and planned to go right through the wetlands (a continuation of the developers main access road also approved by the District in the passing of their Official Plan Amendment)! 

There are 204 documented species on the subject lands:
-20 of which are Species-At-Risk (SAR)
-7 endangered species (Endangered Species Act of Ontario) including: Blanding’s turtles, Eastern Hog-Nosed snakes, Barn Swallows, Bobolinks, Eastern Meadowlarks, Least Bitterns and Bank Swallows.

The decision to allow this development to proceed will cause wetlands to be paved over, which is detrimental to spring run-off absorption. Muskoka has seen an increase in devastating flooding in the last 10 years and our homes, properties and the environment are in serious jeopardy.  Wetlands on this property are part of an aquifer which provides ground source water to them that has been protected for many years by local naturalists.

This development cannot proceed! We need funding for legal counsel, environmental experts and planning professionals to win this fight. We need to make sure that this development is stopped before Bracebridge’s wetlands are irreversibly destroyed.  There are better, more suitable locations.

Please donate what you can - this is an important fight for now and most importantly, for future generations.  This is not the time to destroy our environment.  We know better. Please help us in this mission to protect our wetlands, species-at-risk and their habitat.


For more information please visit www.bracebridgewetlands.ca
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Donations 

  • Catherine Fenn
    • $50 
    • 1 yr
  • Leslie Tempest
    • $100 
    • 1 yr
  • Ian Robinson
    • $1,000 
    • 2 yrs
  • Anonymous
    • $50 
    • 2 yrs
  • Laura Travosi
    • $100 
    • 2 yrs
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Organizer and beneficiary

Protect Muskoka
Organizer
Bracebridge, ON
Protect Muskoka
Beneficiary

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