Conservation achievements to be recognized in Port Rowan

MEDIA RELEASE - Community, Environment

May 24, 2011

Volunteers at Waynco Prairie. Photo: Stephen May

Relating to LONDON, CAMBRIDGE, PORT ROWAN, WATERLOO, PORT DOVER, SIMCOE, BURLINGTON, PORT COLBORNE, FORT ERIE

London, ON - Carolinian Canada Coalition announced today the winners of their 11th annual Conservation Awards. Four individuals, as well as two organizations and a high school will receive their awards for outstanding conservation work when the Coalition gathers for its Annual General Meeting on May 27 in Port Rowan.

"It is a real tribute to be nominated for and to have our name attached to an award that has been given to so many great conservationists in the past", said Tom Palko, whose company Waynco is among the winners. Waynco has carried out a number of habitat restoration projects on their Cambridge property, the site of one of the largest remaining stands of tall grass prairie in Ontario. This type of habitat protects uncommon and unusual-sounding species such as Whorled Milkwort, Round-headed Bush-clover and Tick- Trefoil.

"This year we had some very strong nominations," said Michelle Kanter, Executive Director of Carolinian Canada Coalition (CCC). "The accomplishments of this year's habitat champions are diverse – whether working as educators, ecosystem rehabilitation experts, businesses, or special land-use projects – they have all gone beyond the call of duty as stewards of the land."

For the first time since the awards were first given out in 1999, there are two recipients of a lifetime achievement award. Harry Barrett, a Port Dover area farmer and educator, was Founding President of both the Norfolk Field Naturalists and the Dover Mills Heritage Association. George Francis of Waterloo led the creation of the Long Point World Biosphere Reserve and launched one of the first Environmental Studies programs in Canada at the University of Waterloo. Both played a leadership role beginning in the 1980s in what is now the Carolinian Canada Coalition, a network of individuals and organizations 1,200 strong.

Others being honoured include category winners Deanna Lindblad of Port Colborne and Dave Reid of Simcoe (individual), Robert Bateman High School in Burlington (youth), Bert Miller Nature Club in Fort Erie (joining Waynco in group category), and Honourable Mention to Long Point Causeway Improvement Project.

The awards ceremony is taking place at the Port Rowan Royal Canadian Legion on May 27 at 1 pm. It follows a lunch and keynote address by Douglas Desmond, a farmer and lawyer speaking on the impact of wind turbines on rural landscapes. The public is welcome for a suggested $20 donation, with advance registration appreciated at www.carolinian.org. Accomplishments of award recipients can be found at the website as well.

Stretching from Toronto to Windsor, the Carolinian Life Zone of southwestern Ontario is among North America's most vibrant and fragile ecoregions. Carolinian Canada Coalition brings together diverse groups to steward southwestern Ontario's unique habitat network, to support thriving wild and human communities in harmony for generations.

Each year, the Carolinian Canada Conservation Awards recognizes outstanding contributions by individuals and groups in greening the future of southwestern Ontario.

Visit www.carolinian.org for more information!

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For more information, contact:

Sandy Clipsham,
Network Manager
network@carolinian.org
519.831.8222

Michelle Kanter,
Executive Director
admin@carolinian.org
519.433.7077

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The Carolinian Canada Coalition (www.carolinian.org) is dedicated to stewarding a healthy ecoregion in collaboration with a wide range of public and private stakeholders. CCC programs have been focusing on research, awareness and effective action by connecting people who care for nature since 1984.

Please feel free to circulate this notice to your own networks.

Whooping cranes

Whooping cranes spread outside park

The whooping crane is the tallest bird in North America, standing 1.5 metres or nearly five feet tall.

(Ron Heflin/Associated Press))

Related Link

Whooping crane population rebounding slowly

Beginning of Story Content

Endangered whooping cranes are expanding outside Wood Buffalo National Park, another sign that their population is recovering.

The cranes have begun spreading onto the lands of the Salt River First Nation near Fort Smith, N.W.T., near the northeast corner of the park, which straddles the N.W.T.-Alberta boundary. The band has created guidelines to make sure the birds are not disturbed.

Wildlife biologist Rhona Kindopp said the expansion of the cranes' breeding territory is a sign that efforts to help the crane population recover are working.

"I'm absolutely excited and there's people excited all throughout the migratory corridor and down into Texas about the growth of this population," said Kindopp.

Biologists in Canada's north will be counting the whooping cranes and their nests this coming weekend to find out how many returned from Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in southern Texas, along the Gulf of Mexico, where the Canadian cranes spend their winters.

Ronnie Schaefer, a member of the Salt River First Nation, said he had been quite worried about the birds because of the 800-million-litre spill in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010, which is still being cleaned up.

"It made me feel happy they made it through the winter and migration down to where they had that massive oil spill," he said.

Volunteer monitor

Schaefer, the local town bylaw officer, devotes 40 hours a week of his own time to monitoring the cranes and making sure people follow the guidelines created by his band so that the birds aren't disturbed.

He rides his ATV through the deep mud left behind by the snowmelt, searching in the marsh with his binoculars.

Schaefer described how each bird stakes out its own patch of marshland and confronts other birds, dancing and calling, to defend it.

"They know, 'This is our territory, don't [over]step this boundary,'" he said. "It's fun to watch."

The whooping crane is the tallest bird in North America, standing 1.5 metres or nearly five feet tall.

In the 1940s, just 21 of the birds were left in the world, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, which says habitat loss and hunting were to blame.

Thanks to efforts to protect the birds' breeding and wintering grounds, the population of wild and captive birds had grown to 500 by 2007.

Last summer, 74 nesting pairs of the endangered birds were counted at Wood Buffalo National Park, up from 33 pairs in 1991.

Other populations live in Florida and Wisconsin.

The population is expected to reach 5,000 in about 30 years, at which point it will be considered fully recovered.