preserving the past, protecting the future

By Aleisha Pannozzo

Inside the Friends of Kingston Inner Harbour

Mary Farrar, President of Friends of Kingston Inner Harbour, overlooking the Great Cataraqui River.

In the heart of Kingston lies the Inner Harbour, home to a rich tapestry of history, heritage and now a vibrant ecosystem brimming with turtles! Since 2011, Mary Farrar, a retired schoolteacher, has led a local community organization known as Friends of Kingston Inner Harbour (FKIH), whose mission includes nurturing the area's rich ecosystems for turtles and other wildlife and safeguarding its cultural heritage. Through initiatives like murals, multi-use trails, and public education programs, the group strives to create a sustainable future while honouring the rich history of the Inner Harbour.

The FKIH organize many community events, like clean-ups at Doug Fluhrer Park.

Originally established in 2004 to block the city of Kingston’s plans to create a major sports and entertainment complex on the site of MetalCraft Marine, a vibrant boat-building enterprise with a history that spans over 300 years, FKIH lay dormant until Mary and Edward Farrer breathed new life into it, gaining community support for their vision of preserving and enhancing the Inner Harbour neighbourhood and waterfront.​

Central to their efforts is the protection of the Inner Harbour’s turtle population. The Inner Harbour has a rich ecosystem with numerous turtle species, including painted turtles, snapping turtles and northern map turtles. Since 2016, Mary and the FKIH have painstakingly worked to protect these turtles through stewardship initiatives like shoreline clean-ups and turtle monitoring and mapping. Through a citizen science initiative, they’ve protected over 100 nests in 6 consecutive years, resulting in an increase in hatchlings and “teenagers.”

Northern Map turtles basking in the sun in the Inner Harbour. Photo Source: Herb Helmstaedt/Friends of Inner Harbour

Part of their educational outreach includes turtle awareness campaigns, where they held a series of community events highlighting information about local turtles, as well as Indigenous perspectives on turtles. In 2017, students from Queen’s University Biology program GPS located more than 100 protected nests and created 3 GPS location maps indicating their range. Over 50 volunteers would walk along the shorelines, monitoring these nests and documenting the activity. 

Their most recent grant was for a radio telemetry study for turtles in Kingston’s Inner Harbour, where they were equipped with an antenna and tracked throughout the summer. The data informed them that many of the turtles go to Kingston Mills to hibernate there. 

One of the female turtles captured for the telemetry study. Photo Source: Friends of Kingston Inner Harbour

FKIH hopes that these initiatives will help them better understand the turtle population in the Inner Harbour and use this data to inform any development projects that may impact their habitat. Data was also sent to iNaturalist to add to the ever-growing depository of citizen-science observations. ​

Environmental advocacy

The Davis Tannery Property 
But FKIH's endeavours extend beyond conservation; they serve as staunch advocates for environmental justice. Lately, Mary, FKIH, No Clear Cuts Kingston (NCCK) and other local groups have been using their platform to fight proposed development on the former Davis Tannery property, a 37-acre site located along the shore of the Great Cataraqui River, on the northern edge of Kingston’s Inner Harbour. The property was left polluted by decades of industrial smelting and tannery operations and is being eyed by a developer to build commercial and residential high-density units.

Mary Farrar (right) and friends collected signatures in downtown Kingston in 2021 to stop the clearcutting of the Davis Tannery lands. Photo Source: Brigid Goulem/The Kingston Whig-Standard

Proponents of development say that the area is strategically important to the redevelopment of the Inner Harbour neighbourhood and that the contaminated grounds need to be remediated. But opponents want to prevent its development, stating that the land acts as a carbon-storing urban forest that supports a vibrant wildlife community, including deer, rabbits, swans and the turtles that the FKIH and others have carefully monitored over the years. The site is home to over 1,800 trees, including a 220-year-old oak tree, and contains part of a provincially significant wetland. Nearby, Belle Island is the site of an ancient and sacred burial ground for the Indigenous people of the area.

The case for development stands before the Ontario Land Tribunal after the City Council turned down the proposal in 2022. Hearings wrapped up on March 8 between the developer FKIH and NCCK, who raised enough funds to hire a hydrogeologist, an enviro-toxicologist, a wetland/forest ecologist, and a land-use planner to present their case against the developer.

The former Davis Tannery Property is home to over 1,800 trees, including a 220-year-old oak tree. Photo Source: Herbert Wang/Queen's Journal

Dredging of the Inner Harbour
FKIH is also at the forefront of opposition against the proposed dredging of toxic chemicals from the Inner Harbour. Decades of industrial operations, like the Davis Tannery, have left a legacy of hazardous chemicals at the bottom of the harbour. 

While the federal government seeks to remedy this contamination through dredging, FKIH and its allies challenge the scientific validity of such plans. Leading experts, like Jeffrey Giacomin, a professor of chemical engineering at Queen’s University, expert in water flow, and editor of the prestigious academic journal “Flow,” contend that the current state of these chemicals poses minimal risk. Queens' Professor Kerry Hill has made a critical distinction between 'contamination' and 'pollution.' Currently, the buried contaminant, chromium-3, is not a risk to humans. But when it is oxidized through dredging, it becomes chromium-6— a polluting carcinogenic.

Dredging these sediments, they caution, could unleash an environmental catastrophe, rendering the waters of the river and Lake Ontario unfit for drinking or swimming. Such repercussions would affect the delicate aquatic life, including the cherished turtles, and impact the residents and some businesses, including MetalCraft Marine, of the Inner Harbour neighbourhood.

View of the Kingston Inner Harbour. Photo Source: Ian MacAlpine/The Whig-Standard/Postmedia Network

As the tides of change ebb and flow, FKIH remains steadfast in their dedication, knowing that the power of community can influence the Inner Harbour’s heritage and natural environment. They continue to engage with local residents, community leaders, and environmental experts to amplify their voice and advocate for sustainable development practices, ensuring that the concerns of the community are heard and considered in decision-making processes. Beyond advocacy, FKIH actively participates in stewardship initiatives, helping to get the community involved in preserving the Inner Harbour's ecological integrity.