ONTARIO GOVERNMENT AND NATURE CONSERVANCY OF CANADA RENEW CONSERVATION PARTNERSHIP

For Immediate Release
November 22, 2006

ONTARIO GOVERNMENT AND NATURE CONSERVANCY OF CANADA RENEW CONSERVATION PARTNERSHIP
Agreement Will Protect More Natural Heritage Lands

TORONTO — The Ontario government and the Nature Conservancy of Canada are renewing a long-term partnership that has successfully protected more than 20,000 hectares (50,000 acres) of natural heritage lands across Ontario, valued at more than $32 million, Natural Resources Minister David Ramsay and Michael Bradstreet, Ontario’s Regional Vice President of the Nature Conservancy of Canada, announced today.

“By working with the Nature Conservancy of Canada we have ensured that some of the most ecologically significant areas of Ontario are conserved for future generations,” said Ramsay. “This partnership complements other government initiatives, such as the Greenbelt and the Natural Spaces program, which protect critical ecosystems and habitats.”

After working together for more than a decade, the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Nature Conservancy of Canada have renewed their partnership through a five-year agreement to secure ecologically sensitive private lands in Ontario. Under the agreement, the province will invest an additional $3.1 million in the first year, and the Nature Conservancy of Canada will at least match the province’s contribution. The partnership builds on a shared commitment to identify, secure and care for significant natural areas in Ontario.

“This unprecedented partnership with the government of Ontario has delivered the long-term protection of many of the province’s natural treasures. It has allowed NCC to do what we do best – to work directly with private landowners across Ontario to build a network of protected areas that provide safe haven for endangered plants and animals,” said Bradstreet.

The partnership supports several programs with a range of conservation goals, including expanding Ontario’s system of parks and protected areas, supporting the securement of significant natural heritage lands by other Ontario partners, and conserving important wetland habitats. It has secured a wide variety of habitat types and landscapes, from 17,000 acres of globally rare “alvar” habitat on Manitoulin Island to 32 acres of rare habitat at Turkey Point in southwestern Ontario. The partnership has also protected critical habitat for threatened and endangered species such as the globally rare Lakeside Daisy and the Acadian Flycatcher – an endangered bird.

The management and long-term stewardship of these sites is the responsibility of local partners such as conservation authorities or local land trusts, the Nature Conservancy of Canada or the Ministry of Natural Resources. The Nature Conservancy of Canada also contributes science and land management expertise throughout the process of identifying priority areas, negotiating the land purchase, and ensuring long-term conservation.

The Nature Conservancy of Canada is a non-profit, non-advocacy organization that takes a business-like approach to land conservation and the preservation of biological diversity. Its plan of action involves partnership building and entering into creative conservation solutions with any individual, corporation, community group, conservation organization or government body that shares its passion. Since 1962, the organization and its supporters have protected more than 1.9 million acres of ecologically significant land nationwide.

Related Information

• Backgrounder: MINISTRY OF NATURAL RESOURCES & NATURE CONSERVANCY OF CANADA PARTNERSHIP

For More Information

Jolanta Kowalski
Communications Services Branch
416-314-2106

Laura Mousseau
Public Affairs Officer, Ontario Region
Nature Conservancy of Canada
1-877-343-3532, Ext. 235

General Enquiries

Natural Resources Information Centre
1-800-667-1940
TTY 1-866-686-6072 (Hearing Impaired)