RESTORE COOTES

Research demonstrates "viability, necessity" of closing Cootes Mac student says using road jeopardizes ongoing survival of turtle populations BY CRAIG CAMPBELL Wednesday, July 9, 2003 Dundas Star News ______________ Drivers would accept the closure of Cootes Drive, a main access into Dundas, because the road poses a serious threat to an endangered turtle species, says a third-year McMaster student. And Julia Croome, an arts and science student who investigated the effect of the road on surrounding turtle populations and the possibility of closing the road for environmental reasons, believes much more research must be done on the road before the construction of a 565-space parking lot that would only increase traffic on the road. She said a detailed traffic study of Cootes Drive would be very useful. "It doesn't appear that in-depth environmental studies were made before the road was built in '42, and I'd be interested in whether any are being made ab...

Back when Cootes Drive was constructed, it was cutting edge. 60 years later we need to re-examine the need for the road and look toward what might be rescued from beneath the asphalt. COOTES: Drive Through Paradise? By Randy Kay (Transportation for Liveable Communities) published in PIRGSPECTIVES Spring 2003 (OPIRG McMaster zine) McMaster students, staff and faculty looking for an escape to nature are fortunate to be able to access Cootes Paradise, an 840 ha wildlife sanctuary containing a 250 ha coastal marsh, just a few steps from campus buildings on the North side of campus. Narrow footpaths follow the contour of a class A wetland. Patient bird-watchers are rewarded with a stunning array of species including (at the large end of the spectrum) swans, blue herons, osprey and wood ducks and on down to the small chatty red- winged blackbirds and marsh wrens. So why is there a road running through it? Cootes Drive was constructed in 1936. It i...