Latest News!

In February 2011 the staff at the Ministry of Natural Resources wrote to the Region of Niagara and asked for comments on their proposed changes to the Fonthill Kame-Delta Earth Science Area of Natural and Scientific Interest (ANSI). This proposal presents a boundary that includes a slightly larger area of the ANSI but has the Kame-Delta split into four areas and does nothing to preserve the feature as a whole.

The Region of Niagara Council has approved a staff report dated April 6, 2011 that opposes the current proposal by MNR staff and asks for further discussion with the Region and the Town of Pelham before any changes are made.

The significance of the Fonthill Kame-Delta is its total morphology and the landform comprising the five main components: the ice-contact slope, the delta front slope, the main terrace, the upper terrace and storm beaches, plus the northwest trending ridge.

The Region, The Town of Pelham, The NPCA, and Pelham residents all agree that a larger section of the Kame-Delta needs to be protected outside of the current urban areas and where gravel extraction has already occurred. Leaving a large area of the Kame-Delta unprotected would leave it exposed to development and possible gravel extraction.

The MNR staff proposal seems to fly in the face of Minister Canfield’s letter of April 2011.

Recent action regarding the ANSI

The Fonthill Kame-Delta was originally identified in 1980 as a provincially significant area and became an “Area of Natural and Scientific Interest” (ANSI) in 1983. This ANSI designation restricts development for reasons of heritage, science or education.

In May 2009, however, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources recommended new boundary changes to the ANSI area.

While a new area to the south side of the Kame-Delta would be added to the ANSI, other changes would significantly reduce the protected area. In fact, only small portions of the main components of the Kame-Delta complex would be included and the landform as a whole would no longer be protected.

The area that the MNR proposed to remove from the ANSI encompasses much of what is called the Upper Terrace. The Upper Terrace to be removed stretched from across from EL Crossley High School, past Effingham, to Lookout Street and lies between Tice Road and Highway 20. This area is the most vulnerable to development pressure – especially in the form of aggregate extraction!


In April 2010 Minister Cansfield sent a letter to the Town of Pelham stating that the boundaries of the ANSI would NOT be changed.