https://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/todays-letters-why-dont-we-just-leave-bank-street-alone

Re: We need an accessible urban forest in North Grenville, July 26.

Canada and the world are in the grips of a mental health crisis that ruins health, threatens lives and hurts economies. Knowing the facts is the first step on the way to creating new hope.

The facts are: We are losing local farm and forest land to housing and highways. North Grenville, formerly Kemptville, is a good example of what can go wrong in politics and urban development. Heather Popazzi hit the nail on the head in her article.

Kemptville, with 2,400 residents (1975), used to be a small agricultural community with farm animals happily grazing, a delight to those who passed by those farms. In 2014,  Kemptville Agricultural College was closed. The former college’s remaining farmland is intended for a 250-bed correctional facility, pushed by the present Conservative government. It could have become Canada’s first green-care farm to treat addicts and those with mental health issues. Green care, or mental health farms, are very successful as treatment programs in Europe.

Over the last couple of years, right under our eyes, local farmland is gobbled up by developers for housing. Today, 13 acres of the Ferguson Forest Centre is to be gobbled up by developers. We are living in a society ruled by politicians with no vision. The July average daily temperature this year for Kemptville is 1.4 C higher than its 30-year average. That’s due to the removal of forest and farmland.

William J. langenberg, Merrickville, retired lecturer, climatologist, Kemptville Agricultural College