{"id":310779,"date":"2026-07-31T15:26:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T15:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/310779\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T15:26:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T15:26:13","slug":"proposed-alto-rail-route-slashes-through-queens-field-biology-station","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/310779\/","title":{"rendered":"Proposed Alto rail route slashes through Queen\u2019s field\u00a0biology station"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last February, Queen\u2019s University\u2019s sprawling 3,400-hectare biological station was put on notice that it could be ripped in two by a federally funded high-speed passenger railway project. Ironically just weeks earlier, the federal government had lauded the wilderness campus as \u201ca globally unique research and teaching facility,\u201d in its official strategy to preserve Canada\u2019s natural lands,\u00a0A Force of Nature<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Staff at the Queen\u2019s University Biological Station (QUBS) have never been officially notified of the passenger rail project bearing down on it, but they did get details of the project at a community information session at a rural Lions Club hall in mid-February. There, hundreds of concerned landowners from two counties were told that Alto, a federal Crown corporation backed by over $4 billion in taxpayer dollars, was building a double-track rail line through eastern Ontario on land to be expropriated under C-15, which amended the federal Expropriation Act. The public meeting marked the start of a three-month consultation process after which Alto would begin mapping a one-kilometre-wide construction corridor between Toronto and Quebec City.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alto is considering two possible routes for the Ottawa-to-Toronto stretch: the southern route through QUBS, or a northern route along Highway 7.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Alto is considering two possible routes (in blue) for its high-speed rail line between Ottawa and Toronto. The northern option parallels Highway 7, while the southern option cuts through the Queen\u2019s University Biological Station (in red) within the UNESCO-designated Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve (outlined in green). For a more detailed interactive map, scroll down. Map courtesy of: Frontenac Arch Biosphere Region<\/p>\n

A barrier through the biosphere\u00a0<\/p>\n

A few weeks after the community information session, QUBS manager Shelley Arnott attended an Alto roundtable where participants were asked to discuss the benefits of the project.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt made me laugh,\u201d she recalls. \u201cBecause every question was framed\u2026 like, how will the train line benefit your community? They listened to our concerns, for sure, (but) they definitely pitched it in terms of wanting to hear positives.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Few attendees could identify community benefits, because the 300 km\/h electric train initially offered no station stops between Peterborough and Ottawa. Even worse, the 60-metre-wide track bed and its high metal fence will effectively create an impenetrable barrier through the heart of eastern Ontario and western Quebec. Farmers will be cut off from their fields. Rural commuters will face dead ends on local roads. And QUBS researchers \u2014 and the wildlife they study \u2014 will lose easy access to the region\u2019s complex ecosystem of lakes, marshes and woodlands.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Former QUBS director Stephen Lougheed, who held the position from 2011 to2025, is unwavering in his opposition.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me be very blunt. That southern route should not happen. The integrity of the Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve to me is inviolable,\u201d he explains, referring to the area\u2019s conservation designation that has won itinternational status as a UNESCO biosphere reserve.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

While he has serious concerns about damage to the integrity of QUBS research activities, Dr. Lougheed\u2019s primary fear is the destruction of habitat. Thirty-five of the region\u2019s native species are identified as \u201cat-risk\u201d including whippoorwills, cerulean warblers, gray ratsnakes and Blanding\u2019s turtles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis (rail line) is an absolute barrier for movement of wildlife \u2026 and if you want to maintain connectivity, which is imperative for maintaining biodiversity, you can\u2019t have such an absolute barrier to dispersal and movement. It has huge impacts on wildlife,\u201d he warns.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to Dr. Lougheed, the Frontenac Arch received its UNESCO heritage designation because it is an integral part of a crucial \u201cland bridge\u201d between the wilderness regions of Algonquin Provincial Park and New York\u2019s Adirondack Park.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd with climate change, you need to facilitate range shift.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alto did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

Anti-alto sign on the Cataraqui Trail (photo by Frank Edwards)<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

Queen\u2019s student Emma Dafoe samples lake water (photo by Stephen Flannery)<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

Cyclist on the Cataraqui Trail (photo by Frank Edwards)<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

Golden winged warbler<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

Cerulean warbler<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

Gray ratsnake (photo by Steve Lougheed)<\/p>\n

\u276e
\n \u276f<\/p>\n

A long-established research station\u00a0<\/p>\n

QUBS has grown substantially since Queen\u2019s established it in 1945 on the edge of Lake Opinicon, near the Rideau Canal\u2019s Chaffeys Lock, an hour\u2019s drive north of Kingston. Since that modest beginning, it has expanded from a cluster of sleeping cabins and a wartime Quonset hut into a bucolic campus made up of 13 properties acquired through purchase and bequest. Among the 32 buildings on the main Opinicon campus are the $7.2 million Raleigh J. Robertson Biodiversity Centre, a library, a dozen laboratories and numerous sleeping cabins. The Elbow Lake Environmental Education Centre a few kilometres away hosts conferences and student outreach programs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alto is not the area\u2019s first railway line. In 1913, Canadian National Railway Co. completed a track between Napanee and Smiths Falls that connected the string of villages, mines and mills that dotted the Frontenac Arch region, but it was abandoned 71 years later. Recently the track bed was converted to a popular multi-use recreational trail that runs through through the QUBS properties, giving hikers and cyclists a clear view of the natural areas now at risk from Alto. This summer the trail is spotted with anti-Alto signs, erected by users who fear that the old right-of-way could be used for the Crown corporation\u2019s high-speed line.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Because of its education and research activities, the Queen\u2019s University Biology Station is recognized as an OECM (the acronym stands for Other Effective area-based Conservation Measure), a working landscape that preserves biodiversity while also serving other purposes. The federal government\u2019s Force of Nature strategy highlights the important conservation role of the Queen\u2019s station and other OECMs, as the government aims to protect 30 per cent of Canadian lands and waters by 2030 \u2014 a target colloquially known as \u201c30 by 30.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they want to achieve \u201c30 by 30,\u201d they\u2019re going to have to use the so-called OECMs,\u201d says Dr. Lougheed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Construction brings destruction<\/p>\n

Station managers also worry that some of the worst damage to QUBS will come long before the Alto trains run through the region in 2050.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring construction and after, you are creating a conduit for invasive species,\u201d Dr. Lougheed warns. \u201cWe have a bunch of lakes where there are (still) relatively rare mollusks that (elsewhere) have been driven to local extinction by things like zebra mussels and quagga mussels.\u2026 I\u2019m absolutely certain that this corridor will facilitate the invasion of all these invasive species.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

For now, Queen\u2019s awaits the outcome of Alto\u2019s consultation period. Alto CEO Martin Imbleau recently told CBC radio, \u201cBusiness-wise, we\u2019ve looked at the comments we received and it\u2019s kind of persuasive that a stop in Kingston would make sense.\u201d But he didn\u2019t reveal if that might shift the entire project further south, away from QUBS and closer to the existing VIA rail passenger route.\u00a0<\/p>\n

QUBS director Dr. Arnott sighs when asked about her next step.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s hard to know what to do\u2026. We have not received any information or updates.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe worry about the organisms that live on our property and that will be impacted as well as our ability to continue conducting research and teaching\u2026. QUBS attracts international researchers. It has a far reach. It\u2019s not just a local issue.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With research by Hailey Leggett.<\/p>\n

Interactive map: Frontenac Arch Biosphere Region<\/p>\n

To use the interactive map, tick the box and click \u201cEnter.\u201d The map allows viewers to zoom in and and out, and to view various features such as protected areas, wildlife corridors, and the proposed Alto route.<\/p>\n

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