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Friends of the Cawthra Bush & Greater Mississauga Area
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Opening comments - more at end. January 12, 2001 - The Mississauga News - Friday - page 5 Jeffersons added to threatened species list Wall comes down around the salamanders By JOHN STEWART Staff Everything was done to minimize the effects on the Jefferson Salamander when part of a walled garden was recently removed at Cawthra Bush, says a City official. "It was basically all hand work," said John Lohuis, Mississauga's director of parks "We didn't disturb any of the ground cover." Workmen carried electric jackhammers into the bush to do the work Dec. 21 and used a portable generator to cut part of the wall down to a height of three feet. The special precautions were taken on the advice of experts from Credit Valley Conservation and the Ministry of Natural Resources. The Jefferson Salamander, a rare amphibian, was recently added to the list of threatened species by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. The salamander colony found on Cawthra Bush is believed to be the most easterly location of the species in the country. Failed mayoral candidate Donald Barber, who originally discovered the salamanders on the site, said in a deputation to council prior to Christmas that the City's actions to remove part of the wall could threaten them. Since a portion of the walled garden on the former Cawthra Elliott Estate is located near the breeding grounds of the salamanders, Barber didn't want any work done. He claimed the official designation of the salamanders as "threatened" - one step below "endangered" - means the City must revise its plans to remove a portion of the wall. Provincial guidelines for dealing with rare species state that officials must demonstrate that the ha on which they rely is not being aged in any work they propose in area. Council approved a staff recommendation to take down a portion the former walled garden, which was built in the 1920's from brick from the former Cawthra manor at College and St. George St. in Toronto. "It's a safety issue," noted Ward 9 Councillor Pat Saito, member of the heritage committee that made the initial recommendation. Insurers for the City have indicated the wall is in imminent danger collapsing and is a liability risk because of potential injury to visitors to the bush on Cawthra Rd., south of the Queen Elizabeth Way. Lohuis said there should be no impact on the salamanders, which are in hibernation in the frozen earth over the winter. The wall was reduced to a height of about three feet and will be capped to discourage further deterioration. The remnants of the walled garden could be incorporated and recognized in some way in the master plan being developed for the heritage property. "It could become a sort of sitting area," Lohuis said. All plans will be vetted with the City's heritage committee before any decision is made. Although there have been proposals to replicate the original gardens, which included three large arched doorways and an attached potting shed and well, it is not possible because of the shade conditions which now predominate in the woodlot. Although the City has committed to consult with the public before any changes are made at Cawthra Bush, Barber charged the municipality had again gone ahead with no notice to residents. "It's 1994 all over again," he said in reference to the removal of hundreds of trees in the woodlot, which took many in the community by surprise. It was the removal of those trees
which led to the formation of the Friends of Cawthra Bush, the watchdog
group which Barber founded and still leads.
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