The ‘Township of Mulmur’

April 15, 2015 · 0 Comments

Dear editor:
When we decided to make our home here in Mulmur Township on Janet’s family land in the early 1970’s, the services were few and the taxes low, but the “rural character” was rich. Since that time, in spite of a declaration to “maintain the rural character”, much of it has been lost. In the ‘80’s the number of allowable severances was increased, but the powers of the day claimed that through careful planning, the “rural character” would prevail. It seems rural character means different things to different people. In this case, it was believed that if the new homes were built out of sight of public roads, rural character was safe! And, I suspect that if people did not then live in those new homes, there would be a chance that it could have been preserved. But those homes filled with people attracted to a rural character they did not understand.
The “rural character” we once enjoyed included whip-poor-wills, night-hawks, killdeer, and meadowlarks – we see and hear none of these now. But we do hear lawn mowers – nearly every day, for hours on end, converting the meadows and roadsides to city lawns. Meadows, rich in a diversity of life, are replaced with grass – virtual dead-zones. Gone are the wildflowers, grasses, clovers, butterflies, snakes, moles, mice, rabbits, and on up the food chain to the birds of prey. We now hear leaf-blowers, blasting the earth moulds and dried animal feces into the air; trimmers manicuring where the mower won’t go; and shredders sanitizing the forest floors, converting them to city parks – a more comfortable, familiar environment to the transplanted owners.
Gone are the beavers that raised their family where we live. They created the wetland that brought another whole system of wildlife – the new upstream neighbours didn’t want them eating “their” trees, so they were killed. The wood duck nesting box now stands an empty symbol of what could have been.
Always looming in the background is Adam Krehm’s pit on Airport Road. The truck and heavy machines will likely make us long for the “good ole days” of suburban hum and whine. Add to that the latest buzz from Terra Nova – “Economic Development” and the name up-grade to “Town”, and our “rural character” feels as endangered as our wildlife.
Many new subdivisions are named after what was destroyed to create them, like “Maple Ridge”, or “Poplar Terrace”. Could we not at least do the same here? Let’s call this place the “Township of Mulmur” – it sounds like it has real “rural character”!
Janet and Michael Monahan
Mulmur