The 2022 provincial election is on June 2, and we need people to vote for nature! We have lots of resources on our election webpage. You can read the responses to the Green Prosperity coalition’s questions to parties about the environment. Please share our election resources with your members to help spread the word that nature needs us in this election!
Given the uncertainty with COVID-19, we have decided to hold our 91st Annual General Meeting by Zoom video conference. At the AGM we will elect new directors, approve the 2021-2022 Audited Financial Statements, announce Conservation Award winners and report on the highlights of 2021. You will also have an opportunity to participate in a fun nature quiz. Please join us on Saturday, June 11 from 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
The Friends of Nancy Island and Wasaga Beach Park are continuing to support the Piping Plover Recovery Program through applications to the Species at Risk Fund, which helps provide staff, supplies and equipment to the Piping Plover Recovery effort at the park. Unfortunately, Ontario Piping Plover populations have been declining in recent years. The Friends and the Plover Guardians are excited about the return of the first plover of the season that arrived on April 18th. By April 29th a total of 4, have returned. The beach will be monitored by Park staff, along with the Friends in collaboration with Birds Canada. Anyone interested in volunteering can contact Lindsey atLindsey.Hemphill@ontario.ca.
The Peregrine Falcon continues to generate excitement in Hamilton after being named as the official city bird. Featured in a well-publicized monitoring program that safeguards peregrines nesting at the downtown Sheraton Hotel, the peregrine took first place in the survey by the Bird Friendly Hamilton Burlington Team. Hamilton became the sixth city in Canada achieve a Bird Friendly City designation from Nature Canada. The Hamilton Community Peregrine Falcon Project website is loaded with excellent pictures and a live video stream.In Burlington, the trumpeter swan was named the city bird. The Trumpeter Swan Restoration Group has been a strong advocate for the protection of swans that spend their winters at La Salle Park. Burlington is the seventh city in Canada to earn a Bird Friendly City designation.
Calling all nature enthusiasts! Join Lakehead University this summer for the Ontario Master Naturalist – Summer 2022 Certificate Program, running from June 9 – August 11! You will enhance your identification skills, expand your knowledge of Ontario plants and wildlife and learn more about environmental stewardship in this community-based education program. The program includes eight learning modules taught in a hybrid model (Geology & Anthropology, Mammals, Plants, Birds, Reptiles & Amphibians, Wetlands, Invasive Species, Insects) and live weekly webinars with the course instructors.
See our events calendar for a complete listing of events organized by Ontario Nature and Nature Network groups.
Ontario Nature @ Centre for Social Innovation720 Bathurst Street Toronto, Ontario M5S 2R4
Photo © Noah Cole, Under The Same Moon, Merri-Lee, Hamilton Community Peregrine Project, Willy Waterton, Peter Ferguson, Friends of Wye Marsh