Download Resolution to be voted on by members at the Annual General

Resolution to be voted on by members at the Annual General Meeting of Ontario Nature,
May 29, 2010
Priority Resolution on: Protecting Bird Migration Areas
WHEREAS many members of Ontario Nature have advocated for Renewable Energy projects
that are Economic, Efficient, Equitable, and Environmentally Sound for over 30 years;
WHEREAS the aims of the Ontario Government's policies to address climate change through the
Green Energy and Green Economy Act and through its Climate Change Action Plan are laudable,
though more action and refinements are required to ensure that wildlife is properly protected;
WHEREAS most proposed wind farm sites in Ontario are concentrated along the Great Lakes
shorelines often precisely where migrating birds are forced to congregate;
WHEREAS the proposed wind farms and individual turbines, without thorough studies, may be
inappropriately sited near areas particularly important to bird migration, including Provincial
Parks, National Parks and Important Bird Areas, and thereby cause significant bird mortality and
damage to bird populations;
WHEREAS there is a proposal to site a wind farm at Ostrander Point, Prince Edward County, an
internationally recognized Important Bird Area (IBA), where credible radar data show that
hundreds of thousands of birds move through the area at an altitude that puts them in danger of
collision with turbine blades;
WHEREAS Environment Canada, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Nature Canada, Ontario Nature
and the Audubon Society advise that turbines be excluded from Important Bird Areas and other
sites important to bird migration and breeding;
WHEREAS the Ontario government has responsibility for wildlife protection, for example,
under the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act and the Endangered Species Act, 2007;
WHEREAS more than half of the bird species that migrate through Ontario to Canada’s northern
forests have declined in numbers according to Canadian and US bird counts and Breeding Bird
Surveys; and
WHEREAS in Michigan, the Michigan Great Lakes Wind Council has recommended to the
governor a buffer that would prohibit the development of wind farms within 5 miles around
global and continental IBAs.
Now Therefore Be it resolved that Ontario Nature - Federation of Ontario Naturalists
(1) calls upon the government of Ontario to place an immediate moratorium on wind farm
development within 5 km of IBAs and other areas of significant bird concentrations, until
thorough, multi-year radar studies of bird migration are conducted at proposed
development sites; and
(2) urges the government to protect these sites from wind farm development if studies
determine that they have significant bird migration concentrations or are situated within
major migratory pathways..
Moved by: Myrna Wood, Prince Edward County Field Naturalists
Seconded by: Chris Grooms, Kingston Field Naturalists
Sponsored by: Prince Edward County Field Naturalists and Kingston Field
Naturalists.