WELLESLEY FARMERS ARE PART OF THE SOLUTION

That (above) being said the picture in this week's Elmira Independent is a little unfortunate. It and the article "Keeping cattle out of the river in Wellesley" are on pg. 19. The instant I saw the picture I had a flashback to an advertising picture I saw for an Elmira business two decades ago. It was a glossy colour handout advertising high purity solvents from Varnicolor Chemical. Unfortunately if you looked closely at the picture there were numerous environmental infractions caught on it. These included drums stacked three high outdoors with no cover over them as well as standing water on the permeable ground surface.

Looking at the photo by Anne Lofleur of the Grand River Conservation Authority I also see some problems. Now granted the cattle are fenced off from the river which is a good thing. However look how many there are and how close to the river they are. Do you think that during a heavy rain the cattle's business won't flow overland directly into the river? Do you think what they leave behind won't be in the soil and shallow groundwater discharging into the river? Finally think about spring floods when that entire field, which is in the floodplain, is under water. Everything those cattle have left behind in vast quantities will still end up in the river. Yes they aren't eroding the riverbanks and yes there is some filtration by the soil between them and the river. However respectfully there is still a lot to learn when a photo like this is held up to be good stewardship.