Presenter at Partner Appreciation Evening on March 20 to speak on wetlands theme
David Carter, director with Phil McNamee Charitable Foundation, to speak on March 20, 2025 about wetland at Serenity Nature Reserve in Grand Bend
Ausable Bayfield Conservation to announce Conservationist of the Year Award winner at event; You are invited to attend; please RSVP by March 13, 2025
Enhancing wetlands is the theme of Ausable Bayfield Conservation’s annual Partner Appreciation Evening at Ironwood Golf Club on Thursday, March 20, 2025. The keynote speaker is David Carter, a director with Phil McNamee Charitable Foundation (PMCF).
The presenter will speak about Creating a Wetland: A Growing Collaboration at Serenity Nature Reserve, Grand Bend. Serenity Nature Reserve is located at 70050 Corbett Line.
“I am honoured to have the opportunity to showcase the PMCF’s passion for nature and education, and specifically, the creation of a new wetland at Serenity Nature Reserve,” he said.
David was raised in Sarnia. He now lives in London and works at Robarts Research Institute as a molecular biologist. Although busy as a father of six children, he enjoys camping, canoeing, backpacking, hiking, photography and coaching soccer.
His love of nature was fostered at a young age through many family camping trips at Point Farms Provincial Park, through Scouting at 23rd St. Barts, and later, wilderness backpacking where he met Phil McNamee.
David helped with the construction of campsites at Solitude Nature Reserve near Port Stanley. He sits on the Board of the Phil McNamee Charitable Foundation, and is presenting on March 20 on behalf of Phil McNamee to talk about the creation of the new wetland at Serenity Nature Reserve near Grand Bend.
Ausable Bayfield Conservation will announce the Conservationist of the Year Award winner at the March 20 event. There will also be years of service awards for Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA) directors and staff.
It is free to attend the Partner Appreciation Evening but seating is limited and interested people must reserve a week ahead of the event. There is a complimentary, light supper served at the Partner Appreciation Evening. To attend the event, please reply, to ABCA, by Thursday, March 13, 2025, for meal numbers.
RSVP to Jackson Janmaat, Corporate Services Assistant. She can be reached by email or by phone at 519-235-2610, or toll-free 1-888-286-2610, extension 221. (Let Jackson know if you have dietary restrictions).
Ironwood Golf Club is located at 70969 Morrison Line, two kilometres east of Exeter and south of Highway 83.
To learn more about Serenity Nature Reserve, at Phil McNamee Charitable Foundation, visit the PMC Foundation website.
To find out more about the Partner Appreciation Evening visit the abca.ca website and the Conservation Award web page link.
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Read profiles about local landowners making positive difference
Would you like to hear about your neighbours' experiences protecting water quality with the help of Huron Clean Water Project (HCWP)?
Check out new profiles of Huron County landowners making a difference with grant support from HCWP:
Interested in doing a project on your property or in your community? Contact Brooklyn Rau at brau@abca.ca or 519-235-2610 (toll-free 1-888-286-2610) to learn more!
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Meet Derek Dolmage
In this issue of our newsletter, we introduce you to Derek Dolmage, Stewardship and Lands Assistant.
Derek joined Ausable Bayfield Conservation in March of 2024.
Derek says he loves working outdoors and in nature. “Being part of a team that is working to restore and protect natural habitats is something I really value,” he said.
Our Stewardship and Lands Assistant said he is striving to gain greater knowledge of how to protect the natural world and apply that to life.
As a young person, Derek enjoyed being a Scout, taking camping trips, and learning many things from using the bush for survival to learning star constellations.
Derek said he looks forward to “ … getting out the kayaks and taking a trip down the river, especially in spring with all the fresh growth.”
Our Stewardship and Lands Assistant said he enjoys working with other staff at Ausable Bayfield Conservation. He said they are a joy to work with and very friendly. “Everyone is very knowledgeable in their fields and they are very willing to share that knowledge,” he said.
Derek is from Londesborough and lives just outside of Auburn.
He studied as a Farm Equipment Technician at Fanshawe College before joining ABCA.
Nathan Schoelier is ABCA Stewardship and Lands Manager.
He said Derek brings with him, to ABCA, a strong mechanical background, which is a skill set that is critical to implementing on-the-ground action.
“We really appreciate Derek’s willingness to help and apply his ideas and skills to all aspects of the organization,” Nathan said. “Whether it be working with and planting trees, or maintaining conservation areas to the highest standard, for the community to enjoy, Derek has the skills to support the work needed.”
Thank you, Derek, for all your hard work and all the important skills you bring to the benefit of our watershed community.
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Joy Rutherford joins source protection committee
A retired hydrogeology geoscientist from Wingham is the newest member of a committee working to protect drinking water sources in the Maitland Valley and Ausable Bayfield areas.
Joy Rutherford has been named the new Environment Sector representative on the Ausable Bayfield Maitland Valley Drinking Water Source Protection Committee (SPC). She was appointed in February 2025 and is to take part in her first committee meeting on March 26, 2025.
To learn more, please read the drinking water source protection newsletter.
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Job Posting – Tree Planters Required
Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA) has created a job posting for tree planters.
To apply now or to learn more please visit our employment web page.
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Make a difference to your community – Buy your Conservation Dinner ticket today
Time is running out to get your Conservation Dinner ticket! Your community needs your support.
To donate, or to buy tickets, phone 519-235-2610 or toll-free 1-888-286-2610.
The Conservation Dinner is a chance to rub elbows with your neighbours, have fun, enjoy a wonderful meal, and to make a difference in your local communities.
The 35th Conservation Dinner community fundraiser and auction takes place on Thursday, April 3, 2025 at South Huron Recreation Centre at 94 Victoria Street East in Exeter.
The Exeter Lions Club has been co-partner, with Ausable Bayfield Conservation Foundation and the watershed community, on the Dinner, since 1991. Net profits are split 50-50 between community conservation projects of the Conservation Foundation and community conservation projects of the Exeter Lions Club.
This dinner and auction has raised more than $1.39 million, for projects in local communities, over its history dating back almost three and a half decades.
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Conservation Dinner thanks generous sponsors donating $500 and more
This week, on social media, the Conservation Dinner Committee is thanking all our valued donors including the generous donors who are donating $500 or more to this community fundraiser.
We would like to give special thanks to the following donors of $500 or more:
- PTMG Chartered Professional Accountants
- Metzger Fine Quality Meat
- UPC United Plastic Components
- Usborne & Hibbert Mutual Fire Insurance Company
- Huron Fish and Game Conservation Association
- Scott Petrie LLP Law Firm
- Zurich Dental Clinic
- Casey's Landscape Management Inc.
Thank you for your generosity and for your support of your community!
Have you donated yet to the Conservation Dinner?
We need your support to build parks and trails and conservation areas and to support needed community projects and support youth educational and job opportunities and outdoor recreation and other work in local communities.
Call us today to donate and to get your Dinner ticket.
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Apply now for Huron Clean Water Project grants for your projects
Huron County’s Huron Clean Water Project (HCWP) offers grant incentives for 16 categories of erosion control and water quality projects by landowners, residents and community groups.
If you have a project idea, talk to us about funding that may be available to help you complete your project.
For the current round of applications, the HCWP Project Review Committee is accepting applications until April 2.
We can help you to apply.
If you have questions contact Brooklyn by email or by phoning 519-235-2610 or toll-free 1-888-286-2610, extension 261.
Grant support through HCWP covers up to 50 per cent of the cost of eligible projects and this financial incentive can be combined with other cost-share programs to further reduce the cost of a project.
Huron Clean Water Project has been helping the people of Huron County, for more than 20 years, to protect and enhance water quality.
Landowners and community groups have completed more than 4,000 projects with funding support of HCWP.
The value of those projects is more than $16.6 million. That’s good for the environment … and the economy.
Grants from this County of Huron program support such projects as:
- Erosion control
- Rural stormwater management and wetland creation and restoration
- Tree planting and naturalization
- Invasive species management
- Clean water diversion
- Livestock access restriction
- Manure storage decommissioning
- Community projects
- Forest Management Plans
- Wellhead protection
- Well decommissioning
- Cover crop incentives
- Living snow fences
- Wellhead protection area reforestation
- Restoration incentives
- Special projects.
To learn more visit HuronCleanWaterProject.ca
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White Squirrel Golf Club purchases table of ten tickets for Conservation Dinner
The Conservation Dinner Committee would like to thank White Squirrel Golf Club for purchasing a table of ten tickets for this year's community fundraising event.
If you or your business would like to buy tickets, or even a table of tickets, please phone 519-235-2610 or toll-free 1-888-286-2610.
In photo above, Jackson Janmaat, Corporate Service Assistant, of the Conservation Dinner Committee, presents Dan McLaughlin Executive Director of the White Squirrel with 10 tickets!
The 35th Conservation Dinner takes place on Thursday, April 3, 2025. This gala dinner and auction has raised more than $1.39 million, for projects in local communities, over its history dating back almost three and a half decades.
Learn more:
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Visit our Flood Messages web page
For current flood messages, please visit our flood messages web page.
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Periwinkle is pleasant to the eye ... but not to our ecosystem ...
Periwinkle difficult to control, quick to dominate
Invasive Plant of the Month Feature
By Helen Varekamp and Renee Sandelowsky
Renee Sandelowsky and Helen Varekamp are Bayfield residents and local volunteers. They are writing a monthly series of articles, for the Canadian Coalition for Invasive Plant Regulation, about the benefits of planting native species of plants and removing invasive species. This month (March 2025), their focus is on Periwinkle – Vinca minor.
Invasive plants are plants introduced from other parts of the world and known to have detrimental impacts on human health, the environment, and the economy.
As consumers, we assume garden centres would never sell plants that can do harm. Sadly, this assumption is not always true. The sale of many high-risk invasive plants is not regulated in Ontario. Some garden centres may sell invasive plants, knowingly or unknowingly.
Some high-risk invasive species on the Ontario Auditor General’s Do Not Plant or Sell List include: Periwinkle; Burning Bush; English Ivy; Amur Maple; Lily of the Valley; Japanese Barberry; Pachysandra; and Japanese Honeysuckle.
The next time you go to a garden centre, consider asking if the plant you are buying is invasive or not. If it is, ask why it’s not labelled. As a consumer, we all have a right to know what we are purchasing.
Focus on Periwinkle – Vinca minor
Periwinkle has become a major issue, in the Bayfield area and beyond, taking over large areas of natural habitat. This plant thrives in shaded, moist conditions such as forested areas and along waterways. This invasive plant can even grow in dry shade.
Periwinkle can reproduce through underground roots, and any fragment of its stem, transported via water, wind or animals. This makes it difficult to control and quick to dominate. Periwinkle spreads forming dense mats that exclude other plants including Trilliums and tree seedlings.
Despite its harmful impacts, Periwinkle remains one of the Top Six invasive species still sold in garden centres. Stop purchasing, sharing or trading this plant to help prevent further ecological damage.
HOW TO MANAGE PERIWINKLE
Managing Periwinkle is challenging but achievable with persistence and a multi-step approach. Your control efforts should focus on preventing the spread of this invasive species. Focus on edges first, reversing the invasion front.
Manual Removal:
Removal is most effective when the soil is moist, especially in clay soils. Work on a small section at a time. For sprawling runners, use a rake to lift them from the ground and mow the area to help contain the spread. Dig out plants, ensuring roots are fully removed. Place plants in black plastic bags and dispose in garbage, never in the compost or municipal green waste.
Repeat inspection and removal of Periwinkle regularly for at least a year.
Smothering:
Cut the Periwinkle down and cover smaller infestations with tarps or cardboard or a thick layer of mulch to block sunlight and water. This can be started any time of year and the process can take up to two years to complete.
Herbicide Treatment:
Use herbicides only as a last resort, following local regulations to minimize environmental harm.
After removal, replant the area with regionally appropriate native plants. This step is essential to prevent reinfestation and to restore ecosystem health. Native plants will also attract pollinators and wildlife, improving biodiversity in your garden.
A good choice, as an alternative, would be Wild Geranium – Geranium Maculatum.
LEARN MORE AND TAKE ACTION
Education is key to combating invasive plants. Learn to identify invasive species and choose native or non-invasive alternatives for your garden.
Focus on managing one or two invasive plants at a time and be patient — successful eradication takes time and persistence.
To learn more, visit:
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