Enbridge is restoring 200 acres of sensitive native habitat over the next five years on unused areas of its 80MW Sarnia solar facility off Blackwell Sideroad.
Natural wetlands, woodlands, and tallgrass prairie plantings will be restored and enhanced through the $150,000 partnership program with Return the Landscape.
At a community conference Friday morning, Return the Landscape Coordinator Shawn McKnight said land will be restored to provide much-needed habitat for birds and native plant species.
"It's crucial that people understand that without native plants, we do not have wildlife, we do not have pollination," says McKnight. "There's all kinds of things that we start losing."
McKnight says Sarnia currently has 10 per cent of natural coverage and is well below the recommended 30 per cent needed for a healthy ecosystem.
"If you imagine somebody went into your fridge and took 90 per cent of your food away. You couldn't live very long on 10 per cent," says McKnight who believes species are being starved due to lack of healthy habitats.
"That's what we're doing with our wildlife, with birds and butterflies. We've taken away their habitat."
Enbridge's solar facility is already home to a number of native plant species at risk as well as migrating birds. The project aims to enhance and expand those existing habitats to achieve the 30 per cent natural coverage recommended for a healthy ecosystem.
Local naturalist Larry Cornelis was responsible for surveying the land for breeding birds and was impressed with the many species that were already present on site. His survey will act as the baseline result information to compare improvements to in the future.
Cornelis says these types of habitat restoration projects are crucial to our environment.
"We all depend on a healthy, natural environment to exist," says Cornelis. "We're not taking care of things very well, so when a company like Enbridge says, 'what are the opportunities to do here to do something good for our natural environment?', well, it's important to all of us to have that kind of work done."
Moving forward, Return the Land will be working to heavily collect seed in the fall and begin planting in the coming spring.
The Enbridge habitat restoration project also provides opportunities for school groups to visit and learn about solar energy generation and environmental restoration in the future.
The 1,100 acre solar facility consists of 1.3-million thin-film solar panels and generates enough energy to power 14,000 homes.
