A development planned for southeast Brandon is concerning to Megan Hamill.
She’s a member of Native Orchid Conservancy and has started a petition on Change.org (there’s a link below) to protect the endangered small white lady slipper which grows in the area. The plant is protected both federally and provincially.
Stoneridge Equities, which owns the property, says work on the housing development is still a ways off, and it promises the orchids will not be touched.
The petition page reads:
“The City of Brandon has posted a draft “Southeast Secondary Plan”. The plan was initiated because of a request made to the City develop the land in the southeast area.
The area of the proposed development is the site of the third largest population of the threatened small white lady’s slipper (Cypripedium candidum) in Manitoba. Cypripedium candidum is protected under the Manitoba Endangered Species Act and the Canada Species at Risk Act (SARA). Cypripedium candidum falls under Schedule 1 of the SARA, which prohibits damage or destruction of the species or its habitat.
We are concerned that if the City of Brandon permits the development to proceed that it will be in violation of SARA.
We are requesting that the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada intervene to ensure that SARA is upheld and that threatened species are protected in southeast Brandon.”
The petition has garnered over 2,600 signatures and counting.
