March 2023 conservation updates for Ontario Nature’s 155 member groups and their members.
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March 2023 conservation updates for Ontario Nature’s 150 member groups and their supporters. Together, we are the voice for nature. Please share this monthly newsletter with members of your group.

Near Wilfrid Crozier Nature Reserve natural pond and swans

 

Welcome to Our New Member Groups!

Ontario Nature is pleased to welcome three new groups to our Nature Network this month! They are:

Brant for Nature is a naturalist group formed in 2022 based in Brantford. Their mission is “To inspire an appreciation of nature through education and outdoor experiences. To promote environmental conservation and stewardship through community activities and citizen science”. Brant for Nature will join the Carolinian East Region.

Four Seasons Conservancy (FSC) was formed in 1995 to “enhance recreational trails and appreciation of environment and nature in our locality”. They are based in Deep River and have absorbed the former Upper Ottawa Valley Field Naturalists under the FSC name. FSC will join the Ontario East Region.

Trumpeter Swan Conservation Ontario (TSCO) was originally incorporated as the Amherst Wildlife Foundation in 1968 and the corporation was rejuvenated in 2022 with a new Board, new mission and new goals. Their mission is “Ensuring the continuing existence of wild Trumpeter Swans in Ontario for generations to come”. TSCO is based in Port Severn and will join the Huronia Region.

We hope you will join us in welcoming these new groups. We look forward to working with them.
Grey wolf

 

Registration for the Annual Gathering Now Open

Ontario Nature is pleased to invite all members and supporters to our 2023 Annual Gathering and 92nd AGM on the weekend of June 9–11 in Sudbury. After three years of meeting virtually, we are looking forward to seeing all of you in person again. Our staff are creating a suite of inspiring speakers, informative workshops and guided field trips focused on introducing you to the region's diverse nature. Registration for the gathering is now open. Visit the Ontario Nature website for more information.
Lancaster Business Park, Kitchener, Municipal Natural Areas

 

Keeping Up the Fight

The Huron Fringe Field Naturalists (HFFN) is worried that the provincial government thinks the public has either forgotten or doesn’t care that Bill 23 opens up thousands of acres of the Greenbelt to development, removes protections for environmentally sensitive lands and overrides local municipal control over land usage.

HFFN invites concerned citizens to show Premier Ford the error of his ways and demonstrate their support for protecting farms, forests and wetlands by attending a rally in Kincardine from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 15th. Participants will park at the Davidson Centre, 601 Durham Street, Kincardine, and gather near the Lions Splash Pad. Marchers will spread out along Durham Street east to Highway 21. At noon everyone will reconvene at the starting point to meet, mingle and hear remarks from local municipal and community leaders.

Inquiries may be made through the Huron Fringe Field Naturalists Facebook page or webpage.

(Article submitted by the Huron Fringe Field Naturalists)

Carbon Monitoring workshop, weltand

 

Report on Carbon Field Sampling

Ontario Nature has created a guide for community groups and organizations with recommendations for measuring carbon stocks. As part of our research, we conducted field sampling in the summer of 2022 to obtain carbon storage estimates at some of our nature reserves and some candidate protected areas.

We found that carbon stored aboveground in trees was higher than model estimates, and carbon stored in soils was lower than expected. Read our report to learn about our findings, some issues we ran into, and our recommendations for future carbon storage assessments! This work would not have been possible without the support of several volunteers who helped us collect data at three of Ontario Nature’s properties – thank you so much for your assistance!

Common loon, Peter Ferguson

Interesting Links and Opportunities

  • The deadline for nominations of our 2022-2023 Conservation Awards is fast approaching. Do you know a conservation champion deserving of recognition? Visit our website to view award criteria and submit a nomination before March 31st.
  • Check out these advocacy toolkits developed by the Canadian Environmental Law Association.
  • Great in-depth article about why municipalities are so upset about Bill 23.
Bird banding, raRe, D.Crowell

Events 

See our events calendar for a complete listing of events organized by Ontario Nature and Nature Network groups. 



To submit your public events for the online calendar, send them to noahc@ontarionature.org and allow up to a week for posting. Please send only events that are open to the public and no more than three per month.


Submit and Share!

We want to include more content from the network and will feature a story or two each month from network groups, as well as other resources. We encourage you to share your stories and links by emailing them to naturenetwork@ontarionature.org.

Ontario Nature publishes the Nature Network News monthly with contributions from our member groups and staff. We grant permission for use of the information above in member group newsletters. Please credit either Ontario Nature or the member group or the photographer when appropriate.
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Photos © Smera Sukumar, Outdoorsman/AdobeStock, Gary Lloyd-Rees CC BY-NC-SA 2.0, Jenna Kip, Peter Ferguson, D. Crowell