"The cumulative impacts of these escarpment alterations [rock cut 70 metres wide and 15 metres high, raised roadway at base of escarp-ment, exposed hydro tower on escarpment brow] are predicted to be extremely high. No amount of side slope re-grading or new vegetation cover will reduce this degree of impact both in the longer views and in the short-distance vantage areas."
"The rock cut to create the escarpment crossing creates a significant scar in the escarpment brow that cannot be mitigated with planting buffers. The proposed location of the expressway in this crossing eliminates a scenic promontory and associated vegetation that cannot be replaced on-site or within the valley."
"The Red Hill Creek valley represents a primary habitat corridor that connects two other primary corridors in the landscape, namely the Niagara Escarpment and Lake Ontario shoreline. The impacts of the approved expressway on key functions in the valley system will be profound and largely irreversible."
"There will be substantial permanent loss of remnant significant habitats and the species they support, including Carolinian floodplain and slope forests, dry meadows, and wetland communities. This may be partially mitigated if proposed habitat restorations and wetland works are implemented. However, the created systems are unlikely to sustain the biodiversity, structure and integrity of existing habitats, due to overall fragmentation and dilution of native seed sources which would normally support natural successional processes."
"High-level impacts will occur throughout the Red Hill Creek Valley system including the re-entrant section into the Niagara Escarpment. This is due to removal of significant habitats (Carolinian floodplain and slope forests, dry meadows and wetlands) and loss of critical linkages along the affected primary and secondary linkage corridors (i.e., Red Hill Creek Valley, Niagara Escarp-ment and Davis Creek Valley). High-level impacts will also be sustained by the provincially significant Van Wagner’s March wetlands including the loss of wetland area and removal of habitat utilized by significant plant and wildlife species."
"High-level impacts include the removal or significant disturbance of existing natural areas resulting in the net loss of ecological function that cannot be mitigated within the study area. In particular, these include the loss or disturbance of features representing habitats of irreplaceable integrity that are critical to supporting living things that are considered significant and habitats which play a critical functional role (such as habitat linkage) that will disappear or be permanently reduced."
