As you read this, Ecojustice lawyers are appearing before a hearing officer to give voice to the endangered piping plovers that nest on the shores of Ontario’s Sauble Beach. Wednesday, October 24 at 8:30 a.m. the final summations will begin at the Quality Inn in Owen Sound.

As many of you might know, it wasn’t all that long ago that Ontario’s piping plover population was thought to be lost forever. But after a nearly 30-year absence, these tiny migratory shore birds re-emerged on the shores of the Great Lakes, including at Sauble Beach, in 2007.

Being one of only a handful of nesting sites for piping plovers in all of Ontario was not enough to deter the Town of South Bruce Peninsula from continuing its practice of raking and bulldozing Sauble Beach in the fall and spring to reduce the beach’s natural vegetation — an activity that runs the risk of sweeping away the plovers’ nests and leaves them exposed to predators.

That’s why last spring, we successfully urged the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry to issue a stop work order that halted planned beach grooming by the Town of South Bruce Peninsula on protected piping plover habitat.

Needless to say, this did not go over well and the Town of South Bruce Peninsula has been pushing back ever since.

Which is why, this week, we’ll be participating in a three-day hearing to ensure the order remains in place and our avian friends are given a fighting chance at survival.

In Ontario, across Canada, and around the world, biodiversity is under unprecedented threat. This is why Ecojustice is committed to tirelessly defending nature and endangered species with every legal tool in our arsenal.

source: letter from Ecojustice