The environmental impacts of the proposed quarry would be profound. There will be a giant hole in the ground, extending well below the water table, and covering 800 acres. This will create an ecological blank slate, devoid of life. The food crops will be gone along with the trees, the birds, the insects, the reptiles, the amphibians and the myriad teeming microorganisms that live in soil and contribute to its health. Further, it is essential to note that this is not temporary ecological destruction. It will take thousands of years for thriving ecological communities to re-establish.  

The proposed quarry would remove habitat – in perpetuity – for two provincially threatened birds: bobolinks and meadowlarks. And, potentially, the noise and dust produced by the quarry operation will inhibit breeding of these open-country birds beyond the quarry boundaries.

The negative environmental effects of an 800-acre quarry will not only eliminate all ground-based life and potentially impair aquatic life in the nearby Credit River, it will also impact the insects that feed bats and birds. Flying insects in Ontario have declined significantly in recent decades and this diminished food source is responsible, in part, for the decline of the animals that feed on them. An 800-acre quarry will generate no insect life at all. The threatened barn swallow and the endangered little brown myotis (bat) - both seen below - forage widely and no doubt include the air above the proposed quarry site in their circuits. Chimney swifts have been found nesting in Cataract. This species, utterly dependent on aerial insects, is endangered in Ontario.

A bird's eye view illustrates the disturbing extent of existing quarries in Caledon.  Caledon has experienced more than its fair share of environmental degradation due to these operations. It is time to ensure that the remaining agricultural and natural countryside in Caledon is spared from further destruction. We need to be especially vigilant in this part of the province because of the need for the residents of the burgeoning GTA to re-connect with nature, to hike, to bike, to fish, to bird, or simply to experience nearby vistas free of urban development. This quarry proposal will diminish those opportunities and degrade nature. In this era of biodiversity loss, a new quarry in Caledon very bad idea.   (commentary - edited - generously provided by Don Scallen)

BROOK TROUT

• native fish species that thrives in cold water
• sentinel species that signal clean, cold waters and healthy natural ecosystems
• Credit River near Cataract is one of last spawning grounds for wild Brook trout in southern Ontario

Impact of a below water table quarry: turbid warm water pumped into the river, destroying the spawning grounds forever