WISHFUL THINKING TRYING TO "BALANCE" HUMAN NEEDS WITH THOSE OF OTHER SPECIES

Last Monday's Waterloo Region Record has an article titled "Region updating "significant species" list. An employee of a local environmental consulting firm, Natural Resource Solutions, is spearheading the Region of Waterloo's project to update species lists particularly at this time for plants and birds. The person in charge was quite straightforward in that while lists of species whether native, rare or significant are important to land managers, in the long run what is most important to other species than ourselves is more available habitat. Good luck with that happening overall as we the human species continue to proliferate at an alarming pace throughout the world. .................................................................................................................................. The newspaper article suggests that there are a couple of different conservation methods employed such as looking at "umbrella" species i.e. a particular target species that might indicate a general healthy environment. Another method is simply having better overall land use practices on the landscape. Examples given are environmentally friendly agriculture or less greenfield development. I would suggest that here in Elmira not allowing chemical companies especially but also manufacturers in general to build and operate beside surface water bodies such as creeks or streams. University of Waterloo assistant professor Michael Drescher optimistically advises that valuable natural areas are not just totally remote spaces. There are valuable areas that are not pristine and that are close to home. All efforts to reduce human impact and conserve land are worthwhile.