Souris, P.E.I. seawall construction worries wildlife group

Construction is underway on a seawall in Souris, P.E.I., aimed at protecting the causeway, the main road into the town.

But a local wildlife group worries it might do more harm than good.

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The seawall stretches 220 metres and is meant to protect the causeway from washing out during storms.

Solving one problem could create another, by putting the adjacent sand dunes at risk of being swept away, warns Fred Cheverie of the Souris and AreaBranch of the PEI Wildlife Federation.

"The dunes themselves is the one thing protecting the road so far, until this fence came along," said Cheverie. "So I would've like to have seen the dunes restored, built up to some way and give some sort of natural-looking protection to the road."

Cheverie would have liked to have seen more consultation before construction on the seawall went ahead.

"We really wish there had have been more collaboration had beendone, more timely notification of meetings, prior to the whole construction process so the community and other groups could have known what the result could have been," he said.

The province did hold a public meeting, and says it did an environmental assessment before deciding on this option.

But Cheverie wishes the province had chosen a longer-term solution, even if it meant spending more money.

"Probably the best thing would have been is to raise the road coming in, to build it up two metres or a metre and a half or whatever it would take to bring it in," Cheverie said. "That was one of the alternatives that wasn't brought forward."

Souris mayor David MacDonald said after a devastating storm in late January, a fix needed to be found quickly.

"Something had to be done," said MacDonald. "And this is probably the best of a bad deal."

MacDonald said he hasn't heard a lot of negative feedback from residents, and hoped people give the seawall more time before they criticize it.

"Yes there is some damage down there and it does look bad, but as somebody said one time, a construction project always looks worse the first three days it's working," he said. "Hopefully it looks better when it's finished."

The town admits that the wall is really just a short-term solution and MacDonald says that the provincial government is really doing all it can at this point.

He does hope that eventually, a more permanent solution will be reached.

The province does plan to plant miriam grass along the dunes to help protect them.

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