Robert Brown

Approximately 28,000 hectares of the Oak Ridges Moraine fall within the ALTO study corridor An approximate rendering of the ALTO High Speed Rail study area (violet shading) and the Oak Ridges Moraine (outlined in black). * One of the largest infrastructure projects in Canadian history may soon cross the Oak Ridges Moraine (ORM). Preliminary analysis indicates that approximately 42.3 kilometres  of the ORM fall within the ALTO high-speed rail corridor study area, representing roughly 28,000...

Ontario’s Environmental Registry of Ontario (ERO) is currently the primary way the public shapes environmentally significant laws, regulations and policies. Under the Environmental Bill of Rights (EBR), ministries are required to post proposals, consult for at least 30 days, consider the comments, and explain how feedback influenced their decisions. On paper, that sounds like a meaningful democratic process. In practice, the system is deeply compromised. The Auditor General’s 2024 performance...

If you’ve ever walked through one of the Red Pine plantations that dot the Oak Ridges Moraine (ORM), you’ve seen the legacy of an earlier crisis. By the early 20th century, large swathes of southern Ontario were logged, razed, over-grazed, and eroded into a near-desolate landscape of sand dunes and frequent local dust storms. On the ORM, conservationists responded with ambitious reforestation campaigns and, eventually, with a new regime that managed our natural assets by watersheds rather...