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Local landowner, volunteers restore Lambton Shores wetland
Volunteers and Ausable Bayfield Conservation staff planted 1,000  Tallgrass Prairie plugs to restore nine-acre Tallgrass Prairie and wetland in Municipality of Lambton Shores: Volunteers helped to restore a nine-acre Tallgrass Prairie and wetland in the Municipality of Lambton Shores on Wednesday, August 6.
“We had a great turnout,” said Angela Van Niekerk, Healthy Watersheds Technician with Ausable Bayfield Conservation. “It took 14 people two hours to plant a thousand Tallgrass Prairie plugs into hard clay soil.”
The owner of the land, Bill Dunlop, took part along with nine volunteers and three summer-season employees and one full-time employee of Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA).
Rural Lambton Stewardship Network supplied the 1,000 native plants for this planting project. Ausable Bayfield Conservation supplied shovels and gloves for the use of volunteers.
This latest wetland restoration project has been made possible thanks to Dunlop, a Lambton Shores landowner who has retired a section of wet field. This is the largest wetland and Tallgrass Prairie restoration project that Ausable Bayfield Conservation has undertaken in the Municipality of Lambton Shores, according to the wetlands specialist.
For more information visit this link:
Volunteers restore wetlands
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Volunteers create brochure for South Huron Trail in tenth anniversary year
Anniversary committee announces brochure for South Huron Trail: Volunteers Lorne Rideout and Jim O’Toole, along with local photographers such as Bonnie Sitter, have helped create full-colour brochure for the South Huron Trail during tenth anniversary year. The community committee that is working to honour the tenth anniversary of the MacNaughton-Morrison Section of the South Huron Trail in 2014 has announced that one of the year’s major projects is now complete.
A full-colour brochure of the entire eight-kilometre South Huron Trail has been printed, thanks to a generous donation from the Exeter Lions Club. The 12-panel trail guide includes a map, trail history, trailhead locations, and information on birds, woodlands, plants, and other flora and fauna along the MacNaughton-Morrison Trail and the Morrison Dam Conservation Area.
For more information visit this link:
Brochure for South Huron Trail |
 Notice of trail area closures
Some trail areas to be closed starting in mid to late August for removal of Ash trees impacted by invasive Emerald Ash Borer:
Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA) has issued a public notice that some trail areas at Morrison Dam Conservation Area, east of Exeter, will be closed in mid to late August in order to remove Ash trees that are infested by the Emerald Ash Borer invasive beetle.
For more information and copies of notice see this link:
Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA) issues public notice about trail closure in mid to late August for Ash tree removal
“A rapid decline in Ash trees is expected over the next year because of the Emerald Ash Borer,” said Kate Monk, Manager of Stewardship, Land and Education with ABCA. “We will be supervising an operation to cut and fell Ash trees so they do not become a
public safety hazard. It is safer, and the wood has value, if the trees are removed while they are still living.”
The Emerald Ash Borer is an invasive species from Asia. The insect is now well-established in most of southwestern Ontario. “To date, native Ash trees have shown no ability to resist or tolerate infestation and near 100 per cent mortality has been experienced in infested areas,” said Ian Jean, Forestry and Land Stewardship Specialist with ABCA.
The area will be closed to the public 24 hours a day, seven days a week, not just when the equipment is operating. A map of the trail areas to be closed in August is included in the public notice which can be downloaded at the Ausable Bayfield Conservation website at www.abca.on.ca |
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 Local volunteers help collect water quality data
Several volunteers from Bayfield and area have signed up to be ‘citizen scientists.’ These people from the local community are helping to collect water quality data along the Bayfield Main Beach.
Ausable Bayfield Conservation staff members currently collect about 1,300 water samples a year, said Hope Brock, Healthy Watersheds
Technician. “This monitoring helps us to know if water quality is getting better or worse in different places,” she said. “It would be great to sample at more locations, but that is not always possible.” That’s where citizen science can help, according to Brock.
“Volunteers can provide us with more data, more often, from more locations.”
Citizen science often involves volunteers who assist researchers by collecting information. Ausable Bayfield Conservation provided training for the volunteers, who will collect water quality data from stormwater outfalls along the Bayfield Main Beach. The volunteers will collect samples every two weeks and during rain events throughout July and August. The samples will then be analyzed for concentrations of Escherichia coli (E. coli) and phosphorus – a nutrient which can sometimes result in algal blooms.
For more information visit this link:
Citizen scientists help by adding more water quality monitoring at more sites
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Arkona Lions Car Show Year Ten
Mix of vintage cars, nostalgic music, and natural surrounding makes this car show different: This is a car show with a difference. It offers vintage automobiles next to gorgeous nature areas. Each year the Arkona Lions and Lioness clubs sponsor this community attraction and, in partnership with Ausable Bayfield Conservation, provide spectators with a rare chance for free admission to Rock Glen Conservation Area, located at 8680 Rock Glen Road, Arkona. This popular tourist destination is home to majestic Rock Glen Falls and the Arkona Lions Museum and Information Centre. The museum attracts visitors from around the world to see its extensive displays of fossils (many donated by Ted Baxter) and artifacts.
For more information visit this link:
The Tenth Annual Arkona Lions Car Show and Community Day takes place Saturday, September 20, 2014 from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. |
 Another group contributes to Carbon Footprints to Forests program
Groups holding meetings can contribute on behalf of people who have travelled: Healthy Lake Huron's Rural Stormwater Management Model (RSWMM) Project has made a contribution of $82.50 to the local tree planting program. The funds were contributed on behalf of the participants at a recent workshop to reflect the carbon footprint of travel to that meeting. (Some people also took part in the meeting by web and teleconference). The money will be used to plant 15 trees locally. This is the number of trees needed to capture more than three tonnes of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases estimated to make travel to the event carbon-neutral. This is the second group in a month that has made the effort to compensate for travel by planting trees to capture and store carbon. Visit www.footprintstoforests.com to find out your carbon footprint and how you can compensate for all or part of the greenhouse gas you create from travel or home energy. If your community group is planning a meeting with people travelling to that event, you are encouraged to consider a contribution to limit the carbon impact of that event. For more information visit the website or call 519-235-2610 or toll-free 1-888-286-2610.
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 Eighty people take part in 2014 technical workshop about Rural Stormwater Management Model Project
Workshop held: Eighty people took part in a technical workshop, held on Thursday, July 24, 2014, about a new Rural Stormwater Management Model (RSWMM) being developed for Lake Huron’s southeast shoreline, in a largely rural area stretching from Sarnia to Tobermory.
The new made-in-rural-Ontario technology is in development as an improved tool for use of staff in the field as they support landowners and community groups in their projects and best management practices. Those projects and practices can help to manage water running off of land during storm events.
The model can help determine the kinds of projects that can do the best job to slow down runoff after snow melts or rain falls during a storm. Slowing the water down, letting it soak into the ground to be filtered, can help to preserve valuable topsoil, reduce erosion, and keep sediment, bacteria, and chemicals from reaching creeks, rivers, and Lake Huron.
For more information visit this link:
Workshop held on new software model for management of stormwater runoff in rural areas |
50th Anniversary Celebration at Camp Sylvan on September 20
Public invited to rekindle fond memories of staying overnight in chuckwagons at Camp Sylvan at 50th Anniversary evening on Saturday, September 20, 2014: Teachers are invited to an Open House for Educators starting at 5 p.m.
The public is invited to a public Open House starting at 6 p.m.
Everyone is invited to the campfire celebrations from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Owl calling and a legendary ghost story have been added to the celebration of Ontario's longest-running overnight conservation education program of its kind.
For more information visit this link:
Sylvan Conservation Education Program at Camp Sylvan |
 Trail tenth anniversary celebration ceremony on September 27, 2014
You are invited to celebration ceremony: A new brochure for the South Huron Trail is one of several projects supported by the community anniversary committee for the Tenth Anniversary of the MacNaughton-Morrison Section of the South Huron Trail. The committee includes representatives of several community organizations. The trail brochure is just one of the committee’s projects. Volunteer Dorothy Brown Henderson has written a series of popular columns about the trail. Volunteer photographers Bonnie Sitter and Jim O'Toole have been taking photos over the past year and are organizing photos and historical information for use in a DVD and photo book. Volunteers are also working on several other projects to be announced at a later date.
The committee is also hosting a trail anniversary celebration ceremony to thank those who have been part of the trail’s success. The event takes place on Saturday, September 27, 2014 as part of the Harvest Festival celebrations. The celebration ceremony takes place that day at 11 a.m. Other events to mark the trail anniversary that day include a breakfast hosted by the Exeter Lions Club at 8 a.m. that day and a special hike (details to be unveiled later!) at 9 a.m.
For more information on the South Huron Trail visit this link:
MacNaughton-Morrison and Morrison Dam Sections of the South Huron Trail |
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