Puslinch council to consider wildlife mitigation strategies in 2025 budget discussions

ABERFOYLE – Gabriele Monteith and Steve Naylor would like Puslinch Township to take extra care when designing and maintaining roads that pass through wetlands.

Living on a farm in Badenoch which contains 12 acres of provincially significant wetlands, the couple have spent a lot of money improving the property to ensure turtles are not killed trying to cross roads.

They installed turtle fences, created nesting sites and even hired a consulting firm to help them understand what can be done to reduce turtle mortality on the roads.

“Take wildlife into account at the construction stage,” Monteith advised the council on June 12.

She said the township’s practice of using asphalt and bitumen on road shoulders has a detrimental effect on wetlands. Often, materials end up on the shoulders and beyond after a winter of snow removal and general traffic.

She brought photos showing asphalt and bitumen that had eroded into wetlands in the area of ​​Watson Road South, near Wellington Highways 34 and 36.

Naylor suggested adding larger culverts so turtles can cross under the roadway, adding flashing lights so drivers know they are in a turtle crossing area and adding fencing to turtles along roads to discourage turtles from using the road. He pointed to guidelines for turtle crossings prepared by the City of Guelph that have reduced turtle mortality by 98 per cent, he said.

Public Works, Parks and Facilities Director Mike Fowler said it is not a normal practice in the township to use blacktop on roadsides.

“It was a one-off idea,” Fowler said. “We wanted to use recycled asphalt as bank stabilization. Normally we use a granular “A” on the shoulders.

Monteith said turtles like to lay eggs in gravel. They had dumped gravel on their property to provide nesting and resting sites for the turtles, who love to lounge in the sun.

Fowler said that’s not something the township can necessarily do. “There’s usually drainage at the side of the road,” he said. “We cannot restrict the flow of water; This is the main concern related to the dumping of gravel piles.

“It’s not cheap,” Councilwoman Jessica Goyda said. “I would suggest that in the budget we talk about setting aside money to gradually build and grow a new program. I don’t think we can go all-in on it right away…but we could start developing a plan.

Mayor James Seeley said he liked the idea of ​​bringing the topic to budget discussions.

“If we do it, we have to do it throughout the municipality,” he said. “But I like the idea of ​​mitigating that through design.” Wider paved shoulders and greater setbacks from wetlands,” he said.

“I think there’s a happy medium.”

Council passed a resolution to bring wildlife mitigation measures to the 2025 budget discussions.