Northern Ontario environmentalists recognized for fighting a gravel quarry that could threaten turtle habitat

An environmental organization called the Wilderness Committee has recognized three environmental activists from the north shore of Lake Huron, west of Sudbury, for their opposition to a proposed quarry in the area.

Rhonda Kirby, Tom Kirby and Jenifer Brousseau each received the Eugene Rogers Environmental Award for their fight against a proposed quarry from Darien Aggregates, which they say infringes on the habitat of Blanding's turtles.

Blanding's turtles, which have a bright yellow throat and chin, are recognized as a threatened species in Ontario, and are protected under the Endangered Species Act.

"It is illegal, against the law to harm or disturb either the individuals of the species or their critical habitat," said Katie Krelove, the Wilderness Committee's Ontario campaigner.

A 2019 study from Laurentian University researchers determined that the area for the proposed quarry, located outside Blind River, along the edge of Lauzon Lake, had among the "highest reported densities for the species" in Ontario.

During their field research, scientists found 56 Blanding's turtles in the area, for a density of 1.8 turtles per hectare.

"We identified 15 nesting sites and 12 wetlands that housed overwintering turtles, both considered by government to be critical habitats with lowest tolerance to destruction," the study said.

Rhonda Kirby said she was first made aware of the proposed quarry in 2016, when she noticed a lot of engineering trucks in the area, not far from her property.

"The more we learned, the more alarmed we became at the magnitude of the project," she said.

Since that time, she and her husband Tom have been trying to stop development at the site, working with an organization called the Reform Gravel Mining Coalition, which has pushed for a moratorium on new quarries across Ontario.

But Kirby has called the fight to stop the quarry a "lopsided process," and believes it will eventually be built.

"I look at it in terms of we may have lost the battle, but it's all part of the bigger picture of the war," she said.

Jenifer Brousseau, from nearby Serpent River First Nation, joined the battle against the proposed quarry more recently.

"It was just kind of a no-brainer to get involved in this, especially when I went up to the site to see where this quarry is going," she said.

Brousseau hosts a show on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) called Wild Archeology, and is working on a documentary about Darien Aggregates' proposed quarry, and about two brothers from her community who are fighting it.

Brousseau argues that there are already enough gravel pits in the province to meet current needs, without having to develop other areas.

According to the Ontario Aggregate Resources Corporation, in 2019, there were 3,164 licences for gravel pits and quarries on private land in the province. There were an additional 2,491 aggregate permits on Crown land that year.

"If you look at a map at what that looks like, you can't even connect the dots because the dots are so close," Brousseau said.

Limited gravel supply?

Heather Melcher is the vice-president of environmental permitting and planning for an engineering firm called Consor, which works with aggregate producers in Ontario.

Melcher refers to a 2024 study from Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources which shows a decline of licensed gravel reserves located close to the Toronto area, where the need for aggregate is the greatest.

"Not all aggregate is created equal," Melcher said. 

"There are different qualities of aggregate needed for different types of development. And close-to-market, high quality sources of aggregate are really drying up."

In an email to CBC News, Ontario's Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks said it has advised Darien Aggregates that the company needs to plan its proposed quarry to "avoid impacts on species at risk and their habitat, or to seek authorization under the Endangered Species Act."

Melcher said there are several steps an aggregate producer can take to adhere to the law.

One is to see if they can change the footprint of a proposed pit or quarry so it doesn't directly affect a species' habitat.

"If it's still determined that there is going to be an impact to the species or its habitat, then it moves directly into what we call an overall benefit permit," Melcher said.

Under the Aggregate Resources Act, Melcher said producers are required to have a rehabilitation plan in place to return the site to its original state after the quarry has reached its end of its life. 

Melcher said it's rare that a project is cancelled altogether.

"What consultants like myself do is really work with the proponent and the MECP [Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks] to come up with a plan that works for everybody and works for the species," she said.