Saving more than branches. A northern Ontario town's battle for its eagles

CBC

6 days ago

On the shoreline of Lake Nipissing, in the town of Callander , Ont., stands a white pine older than the town itself.
Thought to be between 170 to 204 years old, it's also home for two eagles, Pete and Paulie.
Anyone who happens to walk by would know as a sign was created near the bottom of the tree as a welcome to their nesting ground.
When Janis Reed, a longtime resident of the community, came across a Facebook post that the city was considering development in that area that could result in the loss of not only the tree but the eagles as well, she knew she had to do something.
She created a petition to stop the relocation of the eagles and the possible destruction of the tree.
Reed said people from nearby communities, including Powassan, East Ferris, North Bay and Mattawa have signed the petition. It currently sits at 1,693 signatures.
She hopes to present the petition to Callander's municipal council to stop the relocation of the birds and the destruction of the tree.
"They are ours. They chose us to come and raise their families. They are a part of Callander They are a part of Callander's fibre," said Reed.
She added that also having a white pine as old as this one should be designated a heritage tree.
Grant McKercher is a friend of Reed's and a Callander resident as well. He said he's been following the eagles since 2018.
"The adults stay here all year round; they don't migrate," he said.
"They will construct and renovate their nest in the wintertime and then you'll see them again as they prepare for their eaglets so it's an active nest all year round."
McKercher lives near the bay where the tree is located and said he loves to take photos of them.
"Just the other day I saw the adult eagle teaching the young eaglet to fish. Normally the adults would bring it to them but in this case showed the baby the fish but then flew out and dropped it in the bay to push the eaglet to go down and retrieve it themselves," he said.
Both Mckercher and Reed agree that the eagles are a big draw in the community.
McKercher said there are often people lined up to photograph them and the people who live near the tree are very protective of them.
"Every time I go there, there is someone interested in knowing where the eagles might be. People come from a long distance to monitor the progress of the nestlings and watching them stretching their wings and taking their first flights," he said.
Robb Noon is the Mayor of Callander and said he and council members are aware of the concerns and understands the importance the tree and eagles have to the people living there and the draw it has.
"You know this is not about going and cutting down a tree, it's about development," said Noon.
The municipality has been talking about a possible new location for its library for over 10 years. The white pine tree — that is home to both eagles — is one of the locations under consideration.
But Noon said everything is still in preliminary stages.
Callander has hired an environmental consultant to look at the tree and provide options to move forward with the development by keeping the tree in place and working around the eagles.
One option would be to put in a steel post and move the nest or have the eagles move it themselves.
But McKercher fears this move could mean the loss of the eagles altogether.
"I think the loss of the tree will become the loss of the eagles because they won't take to an artificial platform. They will find the disturbance too great and they will just move elsewhere," he said.
Keeping the tree and having the town develop around it is the only option Reed believes.
"We have to learn to combine the two. We have to respect nature and when there is something that old we have to save some of our natural history. We can't put a parking lot over everything," she said.