By signing this petition, you will be asking the Future Windsor West Member of Ontario's Parliament to make a Green Pledge to Protect the Ojibway Tallgrass Prairie Complex, Canada's premier hotspot of biodiversity from proposed and potential development which will compromise this beautiful natural area--Threats include the Big Box shopping proposal, (47 acres across from the Provincial Nature Reserve), the new Regional Megahospital (candidate site 60 acres adjacent to Ojibway Park), and a shipping port and related facilities on the Detroit River proposed for 32 acre OJibway Shores, the last wooded shoreline. You will be saving what precious little natural land is left. These developments will destroy and fragment remaining natural areas and corridors, and bring heavy traffic, increased speed (as well as noise ie.sirens) through the critical habitats of dozens of threatened and endangered species. Currently 1 in 5 species (reptiles) killed on local roads is a Species at Risk. You will be protecting Eastern Foxsnake, Butler's Gartersnake, Eastern Massasauga, Blandings Turtle, Eastern Musk Turtle, Northern Map Turtle, Snapping Turtle, (turtles wander and cross roads between local ponds), as well as Grey fox, Cougar and 16 species at risk birds, including Eastern Meadowlark, Bank Swallow, Wood Thrush and Acadian Warbler,and threatened plants, including Dense Blazing Star and Willowleaf Aster (among other rarities) from population losses and possible extinction. You will be supporting a Green Platform (such as the Ojibway National Urban Park proposal or equivalent protection) in the Windsor/LaSalle region, preserving the remaining linkages, and pockets of tallgrass prairie and Carolinian woods in a county with the least protected green space in Canada . Ojibway Shores along with the unprotected woods near the river provide natural defences against increasing pollution from Detroit (US STEEL, coal-fired plants, and Marathon Oil Sands refining ) and the Ohio Valley. You will be offering the Children of the Tomorrow a green and healthy future world full of amazing creatures. Thank You!
