re. "Henry of Pelham's Greener Vineyard" (July 11).

Thanks to food columnist Lynn Ogryslo for highlighting one solution to the problems of underdraining and irrigating fruitlands. It's good to hear someone who saw that the environmental costs of agriculture can be re-engineered to benefit both producer and the watershed. It shows how the farmers are ahead of the politicians who put hospitals on farmland.

Perhaps your environmental columnist, Doug Draper, might be asked to report on the long history of other challenges to the revitalization of the Twelve Mile Creek recognizing the efforts of a number of Niagara's environmental champions: Dave Watson, founder Friends of the Twelve, Uwe Brand, professor and consultant hydrologist, Deanna Lindbland and Jennifer Durley, Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority Restorative Plans for the Twelve, Twenty and Welland Rivers, Allison Thomson, NPCA restoration technician, adviser to Henry of Pelham and others Doug knows.

But we still have a long way to go. Look at the barren east bank of the Twelve Mile Creek behind the new plazas and old factories along Ontario Street and compare it with the green, west bank behind Rodman Hall and Ridley College.

The east bank was once a very productive market garden and mixed farm of the "Old Folks Home" (circa 1900-1950). The Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority has a life's work ahead of it to repair the mess left by reckless municipal planners.

Let's support the dedicated young people above who have the stamina to restore the Garden to the City and let's invest in the local plants to process our own produce instead of tearing the hearts out of the farms. Henry of Pelham is keeping the Greenbelt Green.

D.E. Griffiths

St. Catharines