"This is disturbing on so *many* levels."

For thirty-five years, I've run the Niagara Escarpment's irregular topography between New Mountain Road and Glover Mountain Road. (Hence the fixation-with-location found in this entry.) So daily, I'm on the Bruce Trail. Ditto for the winding Battlefield Park path that runs from the middle of the area's greensward up to the railway tracks -roughly paralleling Battlefield Creek- where the Escarpment takes over the show. I snap a fair number of photographs, I pick up my share of rubbish to be disposed of, I gulp down the fresh air. Life is good.

Life was good. Past-tense. Because almost three weeks ago now, something began happening in the section south of 'the woods', the portion of Battlefield Park to the west of the creek and just north of the tracks. On April 26th, I documented these happenings online, in the previously-posted 'Album #1'. In one of my private blogs, I noted that activity had been going on roughly a week at that point...though I had only chosen to chronicle it visually on that Monday. Here's an example of what I found early that spring morning:

I was more than a little surprised. I'd never seen 'maintenance' of the area before. Minor trail work? Yes. Arboreal husbandry? No.

(And here I need to register what I believe is a common misperception: that this chunk of land...one that I guesstimated at about 5,000 sq/m...was/is part of Battlefield Park. It's not. But more on that shortly.)

Taking a good look around, I began wondering if this wasn't 'maintenance', but vandalism of some bizarrely earnest variety.

So when I returned home, after I'd created the online album, I sent off an email to the Stoney Creek News. Asking if they knew anything about what was going on at Battlefield Park.

Here's a confession: I'm known for being strident, for being 'opinionated'; my unofficial nickname amongst friends is 'The Unsettler'. Not because I necessarily piss people off, but because I tend to get them to consider things in a situation (normally we're talking about personal things in a private situations) they really don't tend to want to consider. 'Comfort zones' and all that. But alongside this, there's my belief in 'Rendering unto Caesar'. In leaving things in the capable hands of those who are...well, capable. I made the local paper aware of the situation, I expected there to be some kind of reaction, therefore, it was 'hands-off' time. Otherwise, I'd have written one of my oft-published Letters to The Editor, gotten the mystery some attention, provoked some dialogue, yadda, yadda, mystery-solved yadda.

Well.

More than two weeks passed. As memory serves, more work finessing the felled detritus was executed. (Yeah; I'm using a particular range of vocabulary for good reason. I'm like that, you see.) During this time, my contact at the Stoney Creek News let me know that City Hall personnel had informed her that a) the land in question is not part of Battlefield Park, b) Battlefield Museum Administration staff have no information regarding what's going on, and c) it remained a mostly-ignored mystery. (In hindsight, this is where I should have told Casear to go play in traffic and taken the bull by the horns myself...but I'm going to plead 'otherwise indisposed' on this occasion.)

Which brings us to this week, to this past Wednesday, to May 12th. And this album...and the associated videos.

I'd been making my way south to the Escarpment, and was nearing the exit of 'the forest'. I could hear a rumbling in the distance. And it wasn't the kind of rumbling that transport trucks heading up Centennial fill the air with. Sure enough, when I got to the trail's exit from cover, I came upon this:

I took scads of photos. A handful of videos. And once more, I dutifully contacted the Stoney Creek News. (Even as my bewilderment and frustration and ire continued to rise.)

By the next morning, May 13th, it was all over. Done. Finito. So in less than twenty-four hours, it went from this:

...to this:

(Here's a tip: play both at the same time. Or, pause them at identical points in the playback. The contrast is...astounding.)

I stopped in at the Battlefield Administration offices; another edition of the Stoney Creek News was hitting the stands and this situation still hadn't gotten clarified to any degree at all...and all this devastation had been wrought. So I went inside.

Nothing had changed. Yes, people had made them aware of the mystery. No, they didn't know anything about it. And yes, they'd appreciate it if I let them know if I found out anything...

...because I'd finally reached the point where I was willing to put Caesar in the 'Time-out' chair and get to the bottom of the situation.

Was I successful?

Yes...and no.

Thanks to some cooperation, some luck, and a little persistence, I found out who the landowner was. I found out how big the piece of land was. I found out that the Ontario government might be getting involved, due to a possibility that the Endangered Species Act might have been contravened. I found out that no permits had been issued for this property, and no applications had been filed with Planning and Development, period. I found out that (apparently) the police were called on April 26th about an incident having to do with an on-site worker equipped with a chainsaw and some 'kids' who (apparently) ran afoul of this person. Mostly, I found out that more than anything else, nobody knew what was going on. At all.

As I mentioned in my last post, new information continues to trickle in. From various fronts. Regardless, nobody has any firm grip on the situation. Conjecture? Sure. Assumptions? Of course. But actual knowledge, understanding, or an explanation? Nope. In fact, the more stuff that's thrown around, the more confusing it all gets. And disturbing, too. Regardless of what the owner's plans are. In fact, to a certain extent, I don't care what they. Because to me, there are at least two far more elemental issues that take precedence over what I am reluctant, yet compelled, to still label a 'raping of the land'.

1) It seems that if you own a piece of land most anywhere, you can basically do what you want, insofar as clearing it. (Endangered species and the size of the trees being cut down notwithstanding. Oh, and I'm not talking about land with buildings on it that are to be demolished.) Except that...

Except that if you own a piece of land that a) abuts a National Historical Site, b) is essentially adjacent to a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve location, c) is affected by the Niagara Escarpment Commission's mandate to properly administer and protect, and d) has for at least the last forty years been used by the public, a public that has assumed (reasonably so) that the land is actually part and parcel of a fixture of the area, a park that the very identity of the town is predicated on, Battlefield Park...don't you think that maybe a little more thought should go into clear-cutting this piece of land?

2) This is a simple question of respect. Whatever the intent of the landowner is, they (seemingly) decided that their interests took precedence over any sort of consideration, any semblance of manners, of 'good neighbour' policy, the kind of behaviour that kind community members expect from others, and should be willing to extend themselves to deliver.

Why wasn't the Battlefield Administration office notified? Doesn't that seem like common sense that you'd tell the people whose property yours adjoins, that you're going to be making some major -read that as 'structural'- changes, before you get started on anything? If you had a backyard that was open to your neighbours', and you were going to cut down a sizable number of trees (work that in itself didn't require a permit from the city), don't you think it would be reasonable to let them know what was going on before you began? To let them know something...?

I pick up my share of rubbish on my daily treks. And I'm constantly amazed at the mindset of the person who feels absolutely no compunction at all over dropping their trash in the middle of everywhere. It's not the discarded candy wrapper or cardboard coffee container or empty water bottle or cigarette package that mystifies...it's the attitude that allows for it to be dropped; a distinct lack of respect all 'round. And the way I'm looking at this clear-cutting situation, regardless of what the ultimate plans are, that's what the core issue is: a distinct lack of respect.

In fact, disrespect.

They've disrespected the notion of being a good neighbour to Battlefield Park, to the Bruce Trail Association, to the Niagara Escarpment Commission, to the people of Stoney Creek by not giving due notice of their intentions.

They've disrespected the notion of being a good host to the people who hike and wander through there, who have (admittedly out of ignorance) assumed that everything 'back there' is part of their Battlefield Park.

They've disrespected the notion of being responsible stewards of the land...even taking into consideration that they may very well have some firm intent in mind, some lofty project that 'deserves' to be considered...by bulldozing what was their's to protect.

By proceeding in the way they have...under the radar, with nobody anywhere being informed at all concerning this, least of all any of the people who should have been informed...they've managed to not only disappoint and infuriate people, to disrespect on a wholesale level...they've executed a level of arrogance usually only observed in politics.

It's now Saturday afternoon. I've just gotten back from taking someone else 'in the know' up to the area to see it all for themselves. Their reaction was pretty much as expected; they were aghast, furious...and bewildered, practically sputtering, trying to figure out the $64,000 Question: 'What on earth are they doing?!?'

As I have replied previously, 'I have no idea.' There's no access to the place; they got the excavator across from the other side of Centennial only because there is a sufficiently-wide pathway under the overpass. There will never be any access provided from Battlefield Park, and to the south are both railway tracks and the Niagara Escarpment.

'An extension of the housing sub-division west of Centennial, maybe?' Impossible; the chances of any sort of planning commission even considering such a harebrained proposal are slim and none...and Slim just left town. Think about it; it took decades of effort to get an arguably sensible idea such as the Red Hill Valley Expressway from conception to completion...and at least that had some semblance of rationale behind it. The fragility of the location of this 3 acres puts it outside even the most cavalier of contemplations. Besides; there's no access.

In a way, when the question has finally been answered -sometime early this week, I'm willing to bet- I'm also willing to bet that while it'll no doubt surprise us, the very fact that they've done what they've done in the way they've done it will remain the bigger issue, the reality of the owner's behaviour. Ugh.