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-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- SUST-MAR SPECIAL BULLETIN: Big sust-mar WELCOME to Yuill Herbert (award-winning Sierra Club activist). Yuill just became our 200th sust-mar subscriber. This is a new world record for sust-mar! -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- Earth Action 81 Prince Street, Charlottetown, PEI C1A 4R3 902-621-0719 slabchuk@isn.net ACTION ALERT: GREENWICH - PEI NATIONAL PARK February 2, 2000 Thanks to everyone across Canada who responded to our last action alert re Greenwich. While we were not successful in obtaining a moratorium on development in this new addition to the PEI National Park, we were successful in bringing national attention to the issue. Parks Canada has reduced the annual visitor limit to 75,000 people (still outrageously high but down from the expected 100,00 to 250,000 people) and authorities now realize that people all over Canada are monitoring development. Sharon Labchuk ACTION REQUIRED Send letters to PEI Premier Pat Binns and federal Minister of Canadian Heritage Sheila Copps. Addresses below. BACKGROUND We now know that protected areas cannot survive as islands in a sea of development. The province of PEI is drafting regulations concerning land use in the 7,000 acre "special planning area" surrounding the new national park addition at Greenwich. Input into this management plan has been solicited largely from local residents who have an obvious self-interest in promoting development. (See the Winter 1999/2000 issue of Wild Earth for an excellent article by George Wuerthner "Selfish Genes, Local Control, and Conservation" about local opposition to conservation proposals). Options contained in the just-released draft management plan spell doom for the park. The option favoured by local residents is for "Eco-Tourism Development" - but the concept of eco-tourism they put forward is hardly recognizable as such. This 7,000 acres is already highly disturbed. There are 500 rural residents, and 283 people live in St. Peters. The area is primarily in agricultural production which means intense pesticide spraying on potato fields. Residential/resort type development would be permitted. Other permitted developments would include B&B's, country inns, arts and crafts shops, tearooms, rental cottages, RV parks, food service, campgrounds, etc. Permitted industrial uses are for agriculture, forestry and fishing. St. Peters Bay, which extends along the length of the special planning area and the park, is filled with commercial mussel aquaculture leases. There is almost no consideration for protecting or expanding habitat for other species. Most of this anticipated development would not be happening were it not for the recreational beach (with new paved road access, showers, fast food stands, parking lot to accommodate tour buses) that Parks Canada has allowed within the park - on one of PEI's last wild shores. It's still not too late to stop the beach development if enough people protest before the park officially opens this July. LIMITED USE BUFFER ZONE NEEDED To maintain ecological integrity, protected areas need to be surrounded by limited use buffer zones. For a tiny park like Greenwich, a substantial buffer zone is critical. Instead of developing land adjacent to the park every effort should be made to protect existing natural areas and to restore other land, as it becomes available, to its natural state. The ecologically unique and mystical sand dunes of Greenwich were added to the national parks system primarily for the purpose of creating local economic development opportunities. PEI politicians at all levels are encouraging and participating in this. The protection of increasingly disappearing wildlands is a concern of many Canadians, and we all have the legal and moral right to object to inappropriate development on land surrounding national parks. You can help defend Greenwich by registering your objections to development in the special planning area with the Premier of PEI. Tourism is PEI's number one industry and politicians are sensitive to any publicity impacting on the carefully constructed image of the Island. Send letters to Sheila Copps to stop the recreational beach development. ADDRESSES Hon. Sheila Copps Minister of Canadian Heritage House of Commons, Ottawa, ON Fax: 819-994-5987 Email: coppss@parl.gc.ca Premier Pat Binns PO Box 2000 Charlottetown, PEI C1A 7N8 Fax: 902-368-4416 Email: pgbinns@gov.pe.ca ***Cc your letters to Premier Binns to: Dr. Herb Dickieson, NDP Leader PO Box 2000 Charlottetown, PEI C1A 7N8 Fax: 902-368-5985 Email: thirdparty@gov.pe.ca Wayne Carew, Liberal Party Leader PO Box 2890 Charlottetown, PEI C1A 8C5 Fax: 902-368-4348 Email: hggallant@gov.pe.ca Earth Action 81 Prince Street Charlottetown, PEI C1A 4R3 Email: slabchuk@isn.net ***************** Sharon Labchuk Earth Action 81 Prince Street Charlottetown, PEI C1A 4R3 phone/fax 902-621-0719 slabchuk@isn.net -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- The preceding message was posted on Sustainable Maritimes (sust-mar) -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- TELL A FRIEND! 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