Recovery of Peregrine falcon part of Earth Day Sudbury celebration

In Sudbury, Laurentian University celebrated Earth Day by retelling the stories of the past, including the success of the recovery of the Peregrine falcon.

As part of Earth Day celebrations earlier this week, officials at Laurentian University unveiled a statue of a Peregrine falcon, a symbol of Sudbury’s success in recovering from environmental devastation.

The message was hope for a better future while acknowledging and learning from the past.

“If we focus on working together as we did in Sudbury, big problems like climate change can be tackled,” said John Gunn from the Vale Living with Lakes Centre.

“We were the biggest problem in terms of sulfur -- and now we’re a clean city. So if we can do it in Sudbury, then others can do it elsewhere.”

Chris Blomme said that he and LU students released more than 90 Peregrine falcons over five years, beginning in 1990. It showed that the falcons could again thrive in the local environment after years of regreening efforts.

“It’s worth the investment to try and improve the environment,” said Blomme, a retired biologist from LU who was integral in the Peregrine falcon success story.

“Not to ignore what’s going on, but to really try and change things to make it more of a healthier environment.”

That story is now memorialized in the sculpture, which will be on display in front of the Fraser Auditorium.

The Peregrine falcon is the first of four sculptures on their way to Sudbury. The next to come will be a trout that will be unveiled at Twin Forks Park on May 9.

Tyler Fauvelle, a sculptor from Livley, said the artwork honours the work that has been done in recent decades to help the city’s environment recover.

“To me, it’s a it’s an incredible symbol of hope,” Fauvelle said.

“That’s what I find so wonderful about Jane (Goodall) -- she was always about hope. She wasn’t about despair. She was about, you know, rolling your sleeves up and getting work done.”

Gunn spoke about the significance of the trout’s story -- and Goodall’s role in promoting it.

“I think it’s a really hopeful story,” he said.

“Jane Goodall carried that story of releasing the trout into what was once a terribly toxic environment, and that a city, an industrial city, had cleaned that up and allowed her to reintroduce the first fish or one of the first fish. And that became a message of hope.”

Fauvelle said that the bronze statues will endure for years to come.

“This message of hope will carry well into the future,” he said.

“Young people in the future, years from now, we’ll see not only who we are (and) what we stood for, but may be able to relate to their own challenges.”

In a year, a bronze statue of Goodall will be unveiled at Science North to honour her advocacy and to inspire the next generation.