The Long Point World Biosphere Reserve Foundation developed its Internet website in 1996 to record its activities. Since then, there has been a positive spin with momentum building toward the creation of a database for Long Point Country. This idea evolved firstly, from the Biosphere's Website in the form of a worldwide learning tool, "The Long Point Schoolhouse". This project was sponsored in part by the Long Point World Biosphere Reserve Foundation and has now used as a multi purpose learning tool, enabling students from K-12 access the project.
The Long Point Biosphere Reserve Foundation has been given permission to enter into this database the following reports; The "Long Point Environmental Folio," compiled by the Heritage Resources Centre, University of Waterloo, Dr. Gordon Nelson and Kerrie Wilcox (editors). The Norfolk Land Stewardship Council Report on "Waterfowl and Wetlands of Long Point Bay and Old Norfolk County," by, Dr. Scott Petrie, this report relates to present conditions and future options for conservation. And a LPWBRF project to develop a Manual for Educators on "Growing Native Tallgrass and Wildflowers for Prairie Restoration," compiled by Wendy Cridland and Zoe Pfeiffer, through a Long Point Region Conservation Authority contract called Project CARE. The Long Point Biosphere Reserve Foundation has now hired students for a second year through the Human Resources, "Hire a Student" program and have also entered and completed year one with the Grand Erie District School Board "Student Co-operative" program in order to populate this material and much more into this database.
"The Long Point Schoolhouse Project" along with any educational institution, and children at home doing their homework, will be able to link to this Long Point Country database and extract information to assist in research projects, developing environmental models, examination studies, communications, networking, etc. The natural science datum will offer insight into the environmental impact experienced in the relationships between humans and nature. The database will provide our youth and anyone who explores it's content, the opportunity to better understand Long Point Country's natural resources, and assist to educate for an environmentally sound future for everyone's children's children.
The Long Point World Biosphere Reserve Foundation (LPWBRF) in cooperation with Environment Canada's Ecological Monitoring and Assessment Network (EMAN), and the Smithsonian Institution and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organizations (UNESCO) Man and Biosphere Program (SI/MAB) has established two biodiversity monitoring plots, one in Backus Woods and the other in the Wilson Tract, with the permission and support of the Long Point Region Conservation Authority who own and manage both woodlots. Located in Canada's Mixed Wood Plain ecozone, Backus Woods is the largest remaining woodlot in southwestern Ontario and, perhaps, the best example of a mature Carolinian forest in Canada.
The goals of EMAN and SI/MAB are to employ long-term monitoring and research to:
- Identify and define ecosystem effects resulting from environmental changes;
- Measure ecosystem responses to control measures such asthe Canadian Acid Rain Control Program;
- Provide an early warning system to identify new stresses;
- Provide the scientific basis for the development of environmental indicators.
The Smithsonian Institution (SI) and UNESCO's MAB program (SI/MAB) have developed, and support, a protocol for conducting biodiversity monitoring. The initial phase involves identifying and mapping saplings and trees in a one hectare plot. A group of fourteen highly motivated and capable senior elementary students attending Annandale School, Tillsonburg, Ontario were invited to assist with the field work. The Long Point Region Conservation Authority donated the use of a group camping site for student and chaperon use during data collection, the last week of August. The field camp was carefully structured to support the objectives of collecting accurate data and providing a meaningful, enjoyable and rewarding learning experience. As an Annandale Biodiversity Monitoring Club project, the students have continued to assist by entering the field data into the SI/MAB BIOMON computer program.
EMAN is establishing a network of monitoring sites in each of the 15 terrestrial and 5 marine ecozones in Canada. The SI/MAB program intends to have a global network of 300 permanent, long term, biodiversity monitoring plots in biosphere reserves and other protected forest areas by the year 2000. The information collected at monitoring sites will then be shared with scientists, researchers and host-country educators worldwide.
The LPWBRF is seeking additional partners to implement the mapping and monitoring of shrubs, plants, fungi, mammals, birds, insects and other arthropods. If you are interested in assisting with this project please contact the LPWBRF.
The Long Point World Biosphere Reserve Foundation biodiversity monitoring project received financial and in kind support from Environment Canada, Canada Trust's Friends of the Environment, the Royal Bank of Canada, the Smithsonian Institute/Man and Biosphere, the Long Point Region Conservation Authority, Kim Husted Surveying Ltd., Thornton's Lockworks, and Tillsonburg and Springford Scouts Canada's Troops.
Located along the North shore of Lake Erie within the Carolinian forest zone is the Long Point World Biosphere Reserve Foundation (LPWBRF). Long Point was one of two sites chosen across Ontario to be classified by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organizations (UNESCO) as a World Biosphere Reserve. In cooperation with UNESCO, the Smithsonian Institution/Man and Biosphere Program (SI/MAB) and Environment Canada's Ecological Monitoring and Assessment Network (EMAN), the LPWBRF has established four biodiversity monitoring plots. These four plots are located within boundaries of the Long Point Region Conservation Authority and the Turkey Point Provincial Park. Both organizations have allowed the LPWBRF access to their lands and have ensured preservation of the plots.
The protocol established by the SI/MAB project is an international standard to ensure continuity within the existing biosphere reserve network. This protocol includes the initiation of a one hectare plot for monitoring and research. This plot is then further sub-divided into 25 20m X 20m quadrats.
The first phase of the LPWBRF biodiversity monitoring project involves identifying, mapping, and collecting structural characteristics of the trees in each quadrat. A consistent SI/MAB protocol is employed to document information in detailed user and field guides.
Phase two of the project focuses on the identification and mapping of shrub species. Shrub species are classified as those woody plants with a diameter at breast height (dbh) less than 4cm. Documentation of the shrub species is carried out by a 20m X 100m belt transect through the plot and by 4 random quadrat samples.
The third phase of monitoring includes the collection of data pertaining to herbaceous plants and seedlings. Sampling of this data is executed by completing a 1m X 60m belt transect through the plot and by random samples of 2m X 1/2m in each of the 25 quadrats.
Subsequent monitoring will include documentation of fungi, mammals, birds, insects and other arthropods through LPWBRF research and joint ventures with other organizations.
Recording of the collected data takes place by entering the information into a permanent database. The software includes programs from the SI/MAB This standardized database was established in order to facilitate information exchange so that data will be accessible to scientists, educators, and organizations worldwide. The link between Biosphere Reserves and other agencies will allow researchers to determine cause and effect of long term environmental change on a global scale.
For more information about this project or the LPWBRF in general, please contact Brian Craig, President LPWBRF, at (519) 586-2444.
The Long Point World Biosphere Reserve Foundation (LPWBRF) wishes to learn about monitoring work that is being done in the Long Point/Haldimand-Norfolk region. For this purpose, "monitoring" can be defined as the gathering of information from periodic observations and measurements to track changes in the environment and critical components of ecosystems. The necessary first step was to compile information on current or recent monitoring work by government agencies and non-governmental organizations. In order to collect this information, 80 surveys were sent out in August to groups that might be conducting monitoring in the area. Within the next few months, the survey information will be compiled in summary form. Once this summary is complete, the LPWBRF will consider convening a workshop to explore what else might be done to round out or strengthen monitoring activities in the region. The Biosphere committee will also explore opportunities to associate with local, national and international programs monitoring environmental change. To date, more than half of the surveys that were sent out have been returned completed. Most respondents have also indicated an interest in receiving a copy of the summary produced, as well as in participating in a follow-up workshop. Funding for this project has been provided by the University of Waterloo, Faculty of Environmental Studies.
The Carolinian forests of the Long Point area must be known as a national treasure. Why else would so many funding organizations want to support work on local forests? The Forest Corridor Project was initiated in 1995 to help landowners assess and enhance remnant forests in LPWBR’s zone of cooperation.
Since its inception, financial support has poured in from both private and public interests. Souces include Action 21-Environment Canada, Carolinian Canada, Ontario Hydro, Ministry of Natural Resources-Community Wildlife Improvement Program, Wildlife Habitat Canada and the Environmental Youth Corps. This funding has allowed for the employment of a project co-ordinator and six local students who have gained tremendous field experience from this opportunity.
The project aims to help landowners help themselves. By providing landowners with inventory data on their forests, and an opportunity to expand these natural areas where appropriate, LPWBRF is helping local people to make informed decisions about the future of their forest within the context of the larger forest ecosystem.
In addition to financial support, volunteer efforts have been impressive. Organized in partnership with Long Point Region Conservation Authority, over 40 members of the Norfolk Field Naturalists and Society for Ecological Restoration helped plant trees and acorns on private land this spring. Local youth also got their hands dirty when students from Port Dover Secondary School helped reforest another property, formerly planted to corn.
Support for the project has been terrific and we plan on having another successful year in 1997!
The zone of cooperation in the Long Point World Biosphere Reserve has become the focus of a new project which will monitor and hopefully, link up natural areas. The LPWBRF supports the protection and enhancement of these natural areas. This project considers a concentration of forest fragments stretching from Turkey Point through Spooky Hollow to the St. Williams Forestry Station Turkey Point, Spooky Hollow, St. Williams Corridor. This stretch of forest fragments was chosen for monitoring and possible connective plantings for a number of reasons: this area is within the zone of cooperation; it contains a Life Science A.N.S.I. (Area of Natural and Scientific Interest), Class 1 Wetland, Significant Natural Areas and ESAs (Environmentally Sensitive Areas), a Carolinian Canada site, a Provincial Park, and a Forestry Station. Creating an unbroken corridor would connect marsh, shoreline and inland ecosystems. The fact that the gaps between existing natural areas are relatively small makes the long term objective attainable.Progress To Date Work on the project to date has focused on forest inventory in key connecting areas within the corridor and meeting with local landowners. This inventory provides basic data on the current plant species and diversity existing in these areas, and can be used for long term monitoring. During the summer, two students were hired through the Environmental Youth Corps (EYC) Program, funded by the Ontario Ministries of Environment and Energy, and Natural Resources to help with field work on this project. They inventoried plant species in both private and publicly-owned forests. The students discovered that public lands tended to contain conifer plantations whereas privately- owned woodlots were of deciduous species. Overall, the dominant tree species encountered included red and sugar maple, black cherry, red and white oak, black ash and sassafras. During the landowner contacts, interested landowners were encouraged to consider restoring portions of their property back to natural vegetation. It was anticipated that some landowners with marginal or abandoned farmland would take advantage of this opportunity. The response has been positive. With potentia funding from Ontario Hydro, about 30 acres of key linkage areas are planned to be planted into native species during 1996. Planting of tree seedlings will be undertaken in partnership with Long Point Region Conservation Authority. Also, there will be ample opportunity for the local community to become involved in this restoration work. Throughout the life of the project, volunteers will be encouraged to help with seed collection and planting events, starting in the spring of 1996.Why Create Corridors? The advantages of creating unbroken, natural corridors far outweigh any potential disadvantages. Numerous studies have shown that increasing the size of and connecting natural areas improves the ecological integrity of the larger system. Specific advantages include the development of throughways for migrating wildlife, provision of improved interior forest habitat,facilitation of the flow of plant and animal genes between forest fragments and recolonization of areas where extirpations have occurred. However, there are potential disadvantages to be wary of: non-native invasive plants also may disperse along these corridors; edge-dwelling parasites and predators may thrive; and costs of constructing corridors could be high.Careful planning and monitoring are important components of the natural corridor project. Through undertaking a biological inventory and landowner contacts, LPWBRF aims to educate the local community about the valuable natural assets they possess. Long term monitoring will assess wildlife use and dispersal, and provide feedback on the value of plantings to connect natural areas. Progress to date on this project has been positive. By locating strategic connective planting sites, LPWBRF, in partnership with local landowners, hopes to continue to monitor and restore significant natural areas within the zone of cooperation. For more information, and to register for volunteer planting events, please contact the LPWBRF.
The Forest Corridor Project has entered its second year of implementation and continues to be an avenue for interested landowners to learn more about the resources they own. In 1996, approximately 2000 acres of private forest were inventoried at the request of local landowners. Further work is already lined up for 1997.
The project area is found within the zone of co-operation in the Long Point World Biosphere Reserve and is located within the southern half of both the former townships of Charlotteville and South Walsingham. This area is composed of a high concentration of forest, but of forest that is fragmented. This area was chosen for monitoring and possible restoration through connective or in-filling plantings for a number of reasons; it contains a Life Science A.N.S.I. (Area of Natural and Scientific Interest), Class 1 Wetland, Significant Natural Areas and ESAs (Environmentally Sensitive Areas), a Carolinian Canada site, Crown, Conservation Authority and Regional lands, and a high component of forested private land holdings. Creating an unbroken corridor through planting and in-filling would connect marsh, shoreline and inland ecosystems. The fact that the gaps between existing natural areas are relatively small makes long term restoration attainable.
Progress To Date Planting Trees Field work on the project began early in the spring with 4 landowners interested in participating in the site restoration process. Each site was assessed for specific requirements and a planting plan was developed in co-operation with Long Point Region Conservation Authority. With help from volunteers, Biosphere and Conservation Authority staff, over 20,000 seedlings were planted in an area equal to approximately 25 acres. These sites have since been monitored for success and have had, where required, vegetation control measures implemented.
Following the spring tree plant, funding was secured to hire a full-time Project Co-ordinator to move forward with the Forest Corridor’s goals and objectives for 1996-97. An individual was sought out that was both strong in the field of forestry, but had strong community ties and commitment. After searching for such an individual, Steve Scheers was selected as the candidate to lead the Forest Corridor Project
