The proposed Windsor national urban park is growing.
Federal Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin was in Windsor on Monday announcing that 19 hectares of former Windsor Raceway lands have been acquired and added to the proposed Ojibway National Urban Park, bringing the total to 444 hectares.
The Ontario Conservation Accelerator purchased the largely naturalized parcel adjacent to the Ojibway Prairie Complex, protecting it for inclusion in the proposed urban park.
The OCA is a non-profit conservation organization created to speed up conservation projects across Ontario by helping remove barriers, securing funding and bringing partners together.
OCA managing director Kristyn Ferguson says the land was acquired for $10 million and local support played a major role in securing the property.
“Parks Canada brought forward actually the majority of the funding to purchase the property, but we were also working with the local community to fundraise,” Ferguson said.
“Friends Of Ojibway Prairie did a ton of community fundraising and brought forward significant money, and then we use some of the donations from OCA donors also to get the all the funds together to get this one across the finish line.”
Ferguson says when partners entered the site back in April, the first challenge on the newly protected parcel wasn’t restoring habitat, it was removing what had been left behind.
“They found 1,800 kilograms of garbage which they worked together to pull out of the site, which is really the first step towards that restoration where we can now start to think about what else does the site need to bring it back to that thriving ecological condition so all the species at risk can continue to use it for generations to come,” she said.
She says early inspections revealed encouraging signs about the property’s future.
“Now we can see where tallgrass prairie is starting to try to come back. We identified a number of native tallgrass Prairie species, which is giving the clues as to what the site wants to be and what we can return it to, to kind of get it back to its full glory,” she said.
Ferguson said OCA does not intend to be the long-term owner.
She added that discussions are underway with partner organizations about eventually transferring ownership to a charitable entity better positioned to manage the land over the long term.
Minister Dabrusin said the proposed park is in the final stages of designation, but declined to provide a firm timeline, saying the schedule depends on decisions made jointly by First Nations, municipal, provincial and federal partners.