BIODIVERSITY AWARD
The Biodiversity Award honours OSSGA members for their contribution to sustaining biodiversity through species protection, habitat improvement and sustainable land use activities. They are also recognized for conserving biodiversity in a way that goes well beyond regulatory standard practices and typical activities undertaken by the industry. Ontario’s Biodiversity Strategy, 2011 was central to the development of the award criteria. Each eligible project must demonstrate support for one or more of the following strategic directions: engaging people, reducing threats, enhancing resilience, and improving knowledge.
Miller Aggregates - A Colas Company
Village of Braeside
Above and Beyond
Braeside Quarry has gone above and beyond to preserve a 26-hectare alvar forest as part of its expansion plans. In doing so, the Miller Group has secured the future of a rare forest that is rich in biodiversity and home to the world’s largest population of Ram’s Head Lady’s Slipper, a native rare orchid.
Several monitoring plans have been designed to assess the edge of the protected area, habitat condition and keystone species (Ram’s Head Lady’s Slipper and Neglected Milk-Vetch). This involves taking photos along the edge of the protected area at pre-determined GPS points and reviewing them every five years to identify if the forest has been impacted by quarry operations, weather or invasive species. These findings are compiled into a Monitoring Progress Report that is produced four, eight, and 10 years following the initiative’s start in 2016. At last check, no visible changes had occurred and both keystone species have retained significant populations
Strategic Objectives
The alvar forest preservation aligns with all four of the strategic objectives outlined in Ontario’s 2011 Biodiversity Strategy. It engages people by conveying the importance of the alvar forest’s diversity through community communications, speaking engagements, articles and tours. It also reduces threats through consistent monitoring, enhances resilience by going above minimum expansion protection measures, and improves knowledge by participating in monitoring and preservation efforts that will be studied for years to come.
Braeside Quarry plans to continue monitoring the forest and to share strategies with the industry. The team is also eager to support colleges, universities, botanists and other groups interested in researching the alvar forest.