Amidst current, less than encouraging government changes affecting nature conservation in Ontario, this year we have a stunning victory to celebrate: It was 40 years ago — in June 1985 — that the Ontario Cabinet approved the Niagara Escarpment Plan (NEP).

The NEP was Canada’s first large-scale, environment-first land use plan, protecting a vast swath of land — cliffs, forests, wetlands and farmland, 725 kilometres long from Queenston to Tobermory — from inappropriate development.

Ontario is blessed with the continuous natural corridor of the Niagara Escarpment because of the consistent support of successive Ontario governments, all political parties in the Ontario Legislature and the Ontario public. Ontario’s Niagara Escarpment is a United Nations Biosphere and is a keystone part of the Greenbelt.

Read our letter to Premier Ford about the 40th anniversary of the NEP here.