FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                       

August 15, 2019
 

MASSE ANNOUNCES TOWNHALL ON A NATIONAL URBAN PARK
Best way to protect Ojibway Shores and the surrounding parks and preserves
 

(Windsor)- Today, Brian Masse M.P. (Windsor West), NDP Innovation, Science, Economic Development and Auto Critic, announced he is holding a town hall about establishing a National Urban Park which will protect Ojibway Shores and the adjacent parks and preserves permanently.

 

Ojibway Shores is a vital 33-acre greenspace and the last remaining, undeveloped natural shoreline in Windsor-Detroit. It is home to hundreds of endangered species that rely on migration through surrounding local parks for survival.  This includes Ojibway Park, Ojibway Prairie Preserve, Spring Garden Natural Area, Black Oak Heritage Park, and the Tallgrass Prairie Park.

 

Standing beside a billboard with an image of Ojibway Shores along with the words “Protect our future. Save Ojibway Shores. Time for a National Urban Park,” Masse declared “The community needs to know about why these lands have to be protected and that the most comprehensive and permanent way is by creating a National Urban Park. At the town hall we will have experts and advocates who have helped establish parks in other areas of the country and even in the United States.”

 

Participants in the town hall will include representatives from Caldwell First Nation, representatives from the Wildlands League, one of the Canada’s pre-eminent conservation organizations which was initially founded to preserve Algonquin Provincial Park, representatives from Friends of the Rouge Watershed which were involved in the creation of the Rouge Urban National Park, John Hartig, former director of the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge, the only international wildlife refuge in North America managed jointly by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the Canadian Wildlife Service, along with experts in ornithology, reptiles and the history of the area. The National Urban Park Town Hall will be held on Tuesday August 27 between 6 and 8 PM at the South Windsor Arena (Capri Pizza Complex).
 
“This group of natural properties would protect the entire area for these endangered species that rely on all of this space for their survival for the long-term, preserve this essential part of our natural heritage and help to partly mitigate the effects of climate change,” Masse stated.

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