Conservation groups in Ontario’s “South Coast” – Norfolk County – are helping to protect the Carolinian Life Zone, an ecosystem that makes up only one per cent of Canada’s land base, but is home to its greatest variety of flora and fauna.
 |
| Native wildflowers are planted to attract butterflies and moths. Photo: Doug Hamilton |
The Norfolk Land Stewardship Council and its conservation partners are working with more than 50 interested landowners in the Big Otter Creek, Big Creek, Dedrick Creek and Lynn River watersheds to improve habitat for wildlife, including species at risk, and to increase the diversity of habitats and species. Besides creating and restoring riverbanks and wildlife travel lanes, partners are retiring marginal farmland. Several of the projects include planting wildflowers native to the Carolinian tall grass prairie ecosystem to provide habitat for bees, butterflies and other insects—planting for pollinators instead of for people.
The projects cover 205 hectares and include:
• Restoring 125 hectares of tall grass prairie to its original state.
• Planting five hectares of native tall grass prairie species and three hectares of domestic grasses and legumes as riparian buffers along the four watercourses in the region.
• Planting of 6,561 trees to provide windbreaks along 8.14 kilometres of field edges.
• Reforesting 43 hectares of marginal farmland with native Carolinian tree species and planting another 20 hectares to re-create oak savannah, a rare ecosystem.
• Creating or expanding 11 wetlands (totalling 2.2 hectares in surface area). Wetlands are critically important ecosystems. They replenish groundwater, soften the effects of flooding, filter and clean water, and are habitat for many invertebrate, amphibian, reptile and bird species.
• Modifying two municipal drainage systems so that water levels are maintained in two wooded swamps, restoring their wetland functions and benefits.
• Hosting seven workshops and six twilight tours for local farmers, which focused on the importance and benefits of restoring wetlands and planting riparian buffers, forested corridors and windbreaks.
Click here to view a map of the project area
){kind=link}
Environmental Protection: Farmers Lead the Way
• In Norfolk County, in the heart of the Carolinian Canada, farmers are leading efforts to protect this unique, but threatened, ecological region.
• More than 70 tree species and 2,000 plant species grow in the Carolinian Life Zone. It is also home to unique wildlife including the prothonotary warbler, Acadian flycatcher, American badger and the eastern hog-nosed snake.
• The Alternative Land Use Services or ALUS Pilot Project in Norfolk County provides farmers with financial incentives and technical support to encourage them to return marginal farm lands to their natural state.
• Norfolk ALUS projects include reforestation with Carolinian species, re-establishing tall grass prairie and pollinator habitats, planting riparian buffers and restoring wetlands.
• So far, about 205 hectares of marginal agricultural land has been transformed under the Norfolk ALUS Pilot Project.
| Partners and Supporters: | |
| Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan | Norfolk Land Stewardship Council |
| Canadian Federation of Agriculture | Norfolk Soil & Crop Improvement Association |
| Christian Farmer’s Federation of Ontario | Ohio Duck Stamp |
| Delta Waterfowl Foundation | Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters |
| Environment Canada | Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs |
| Human Resource Development Canada | Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources |
| Keystone Agricultural Producers of Manitoba | Ontario Nature |
| Long Point Region Conservation Authority | Ontario Power Generation |
| Metcalf Foundation | Ontario Trillium Foundation |
| National Farmers Union of Ontario | Ontario Wildlife Foundation |
| National Wild Turkey Federation | Ruffed Grouse Society |
| Norfolk County | TD Friends of the Environment |
| Norfolk Federation of Agriculture | The W. Garfield Weston Foundation |
| Norfolk Field Naturalists | Wetland Habitat Fund |
For more information, contact:
- Kristen Thompson, Project Coordinator, Alternative Land Use Services, Simcoe (519) 426-5999, ext. 2220
- David J. Reid, Coordinator, Norfolk Land Stewardship Council, Ministry of Natural Resources, Simcoe (519) 426-4259
- Khahy Ho, Lake Erie COA Basin Coordinator, Lake Erie Management Unit, Ministry of Natural Resources, London (519) 873-4647