nature & environment

Ice breaking operations on the Rideau River will begin today between Rideau Falls and Hog’s Back. Blasting will follow starting on March 7.  The City, in partnership with the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority, undertakes ice breaking operations each year to alleviate possible spring flooding in flood-prone areas. ...

The National Capital Commission (NCC) took preventative measures this week and advised residents, farmers and users of the Greenbelt to be extra cautious as there had been, last weekend, an incident involving an attack on a horse in the Woodroffe Avenue area of the Greenbelt. ...

Mayor Jim Watson, Councillor Keith Egli, Chair of the City’s Transportation Committee, and Bill Houldsworth of Tim Hortons, celebrated the efforts of Tim Hortons Cleaning the Capital’s 2014 campaign participants and sponsors at a ceremony at Centrepointe Studio this morning. ...

Did you know Ontario Parks is now taking campsite reservations for summer 2015? The provincial park agency has a five month advance booking window. This means that anyone planning to camp in late June, for example, can book their campsite now. ...

TransCanada’s Energy East pipeline president, Francois Poirier, came to Ottawa today, expecting to be the star attraction for a crowd of over 200 who paid to listen to his speech at the Chateau Laurier. Instead, his talk was interrupted by Ottawa residents upset with TransCanada’s plans to ship 175 million litres of tar sands bitumen through Ottawa every day. ...

_ Canada’s Capital Region _ — Following up on reports about a coyote on south Woodroffe Avenue in the Greenbelt, the National Capital Commission (NCC) advises residents and farmers to increase their safety measures as it relates to animals, livestock and pets and to keep them indoors at night. ...

Local groups deployed a large inflatable elephant outside the hotel where premiers met today in Ottawa. The groups were calling attention to the premiers' refusal to evaluate the controversial Energy East pipeline’s climate pollution footprint. Transporting 1.1 million barrels per day, TransCanada’s 4,400-kilometre Energy East pipeline from Alberta to ports in Quebec and New Brunswick would be the largest tar sands pipeline in North America. ...

As the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) returns to Ottawa for their final community consultation on the controversial Energy East pipeline, Ecology Ottawa is helping to mobilize hundreds of people to attend the hearing and speak out against the project. The OEB held their last hearing in Ottawa last April, where the approximately 200 residents in attendance were overwhelmingly opposed to the proposed pipeline. ...

The 2013 Wildlife Strategy identified the need to update and revise the City’s current wildlife construction protocol, previously approved by the former Region of Ottawa-Carleton, prior to amalgamation. During summer, 2014, City staff consulted with key stakeholders to obtain their feedback on what changes are needed to the protocol. ...

[caption id=“attachment_7744” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”] Photos by Hollie Davies[/caption] It all began with a simple documentary called Food Inc. It’s about corporate farming in the United States, and the idea that agribusiness produces food that is environmentally harmful and abusive of both animals and employees. ...