In the spring of 1995 450 grades 3-8 students in 15 classrooms under the jurisdiction of the Norfolk and Oxford County Boards of Education profited from an hour-long program presented by Wendy Fisher, a recent graduate of the University of Waterloo and employed by LPBR as a Community Action Plan education coordinator. The focus of the program was the Long Point World Biosphere Reserve, showing how the diverse ecosystem of Long Point developed, why it was assessed as an ecological haven worthy of protection and nurturing, and how and when the Reserve was established. The program had three components: a short slide show; a classroom discussion; and an activity period providing students with an opportunity to demonstrate in a group what they had learned from the other two components. Each participant received a copy of the Biosphere's large attractive poster, which captures the diversity and complexity of our ecosystem, together with further aids to understanding the natural features of the Long Point area. The program was designed to complement the curricula of the Norfolk Board and Oxford County of Education, enhancing awareness of LPBR among children, but with the added hope that information would be conveyed to parents who, in general, are often difficult to reach. The students were exposed to new environmental terminology (or had their previous knowledge reinforced) and skills applicable for use both in and out of the classroom were strengthened.Schools visited were based on requests from teachers. The 15 schools were in Port Dover, Port Rowan, Simcoe, Tillsonburg and Walsh. The feedback from both teachers and students has been favourable and several teachers have enquired about the availability of the program in the 1995-96 school year.
Norfolk County is the latest site in a program to establish meteorological climate monitoring towers across the country.
The Norfolk site is the first in Ontario and was chosen because of data already collected on the area by the Long Point World Biosphere’s climate monitoring project. The tower was erected as a partnership between the Biosphere, Environment Canada’s Ecological Monitoring and Assessment Network (EMAN) and the Long Point Region Conservation Authority.
Biosphere president Brian Craig explained the tower has a variety of sensors on it to present a temperature profile from the forest canopy down to 100 centimetres into the soil. It also measures photosynthetic active radiation at three meters above the ground and humidity at one meter above the ground.
Adam, Fenech, a director with EMAN, explained the purpose of the tower. “We’re trying to understand what’s in Canada’s ecosystems and why,” he said. “The climate data will be used for studying Canada’s changing biodiversity and understanding the different levels of habitat, or where different species live throughout the forest canopy.”
He further explained the only way changes will be understood is if there is already lots of data on the location. With the tower in place, Fenech is hopeful other researchers will concentrate their work in the area.
Craig said the site where the tower was erected is one of four biodiversity monitoring plots in Norfolk County. A project that has been ongoing for the past couple of years, the monitoring focuses on taking inventory of the trees, plants and other vegetation in the area. The program has been a joint effort from the Smithsonian Institute and United Nations Environmental Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) Man and the Biosphere Program (SI/MAB). The data gathered by the station will compliment current biodiversity monitoring the LPWBRF is conducting in conjunction with the SI/MAB program.
Dr. Alan Tomlin, a director of the Mixed Woods/Plains Ecological Science, based out of the Pest Management Research Station in London, added the information will be highly valuable in many facets of research. “The data collected from this Norfolk County forest represents the types of temperatures, humidities and sunlight that would have been common over much of this part of southern Ontario up to about 150 years ago before extensive land clearing for farming,” he said. “We can compare current meteorological conditions in this forested area with data from farmed areas and determine the change of different conditions and the effect these changes will have on carbon and nitrogen cycles and the rate of soil formation.”
For further information, contact Craig at Box 133, Vittoria, N0E 1W0. Courtesy The Delhi News-Record
A group of 11 students from ages 13-15 and their teacher from the Annandale Biodiveristy Monitoring Club at Annandale school in Tillsonburg Ontario attended the Leading Edge Conference in Collingwood. We stayed at the Blue Mountain Inn where the conference was held. After unpacking we were notified by Mr. Craig, that we were to get dressed up and go down to the banquet room and mingle with the other people such as artists, scientists and environmentalists attending the conference. Every person we met had something interesting to say. We also had to set up our poster display of the monitoring we conducted over the summer at Backus Woods for the Long Point World Biosphere Reserve Foundation of Canada. We talked to as many people as possible then retreated back up to our rooms where we would get a good nights sleep for the upcoming busy day.
The next day arrived, we had to wake up at 6:30, it's a good thing that we went right to bed after mingling, otherwise we might have been a little cranky with Mr. Craig when he woke us up. After we were all dressed up we headed down to a delicious, cooked to perfection breakfast. After our breakfast we could look forward to the enjoyment of educational, interesting, presentations. We did so and all of the presentations were as spectacular as we expected. At lunch we conversed amongst each other about the very educational presentations we had heard that morning. All of us looked forward to the afternoon presentations. After those presentations that we all enjoyed so much, we headed back to our hotel rooms and put on the old swimming trunks for our swim in the hotel pool. After our swim we got dressed up again to attend what was supposed to be the best meal we had ever eaten. IT WAS!!! After our delicious supper there was a couple more presentations about the Niagara Escarpment which until then we knew little about.
Unfortunately that day had to end, but we could still look forward to the panel discussion tomorrow. We went to bed early again so that we would be up again at 6:30. Tomorrow came and we were wide awake and ready to learn. Two people from our group named Jodie Merrill and Christine Attack, were on the panel, who represented our group great. They did exceptionally well in answering all the questions with great thought. Only one question was passed.
Our car ride home didn't feel long at all because of our discussions on everything that we had learned during the last few days.
We felt privileged to be invited to the conference and we will remember this one and hope to be invited to another. We hope that we made a good impression on all of those who attended the conference because they made a life long impression on us.
A desire to learn about environmental monitoring work being done in the Long Point/Haldimand-Norfolk region spurred the Biosphere committee to undertake the Long Point Area Monitoring Assessment Project (LPAMAP).
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, approximately 90 surveys were sent out in August 1995 to groups that might be conducting monitoring in the area. In December, the collected survey information was summarized and published in a written report. Amazingly, about sixty monitoring projects were reported. This report was then forwarded to all participants in the survey, along with other interested individuals and organizations.
Now that the initial survey has been completed, the LPWBRF will be exploring opportunities to associate with local, national and international programs monitoring environmental change. The desire is to explore what else might be done to round out or strengthen environmental monitoring activities in the region.
Funding for this project was provided by the University of Waterloo, Faculty of Environmental Studies. Anyone interested in obtaining a copy of the published report should contact the LPWBRF.
During the past 2 months I have had the opportunity to work with the Long Point World Biosphere Reserve Foundation with a team of two other Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources Environmental Youth Corps Summer Students. My experience gained has helped me with my ongoing studies at Sault College, Sault Ste. Marie.
My duties included assisting with vegetation maintenance on LPWBRF planting sites and working on the Forest Corridor Project. These two activities provided myself with insight into just one small area of what the LPWBRF is doing locally.
Being originally from Delhi and knowing the area, I thought that this job would be a good experience. What I did not expect was that it turned into a rewarding, educational and GREAT experience! Being from the area many of us take for granted the environment that surrounds us and take little time to explore the diverse surroundings that lie right our backdoors.
I have learned a great deal about the complexity of our area and the great interest that exists amongst our community to manage our resources to the best of our abilities. With this in mind the Forest Corridor Project is assisting landowners to understand the piece of nature that they own, so that through this education they can manage their resources for future generation.
My activities this past summer dealt with increasing my technical field skills, improving my communication abilities and learning how to work with a team. My fellow workers, also local students, all assisted each other with the learning process and through our Project Co-ordinator, Steve Scheers we were able to better understand what we were appreciating each day.
I believe that programs like this that offer local students an opportunity to hone their skills while helping their communities are very important. Our work helped our neighbours and through doing so helped our future. To say I enjoyed my summer employment would be an understatement and I would recommend to any student interested in learning more about our area and what we can do to maintain it, they should consider working or volunteering with the Long Point World Biosphere Reserve Foundation.
In August of 1996, we were invited by Graham Whitelaw to help work at the Biosphere Monitoring Plot in the Niagara Escarpment Biosphere Reserve near Highway 401. I was amazed at the differences between Backus Woods and the Niagara Escarpment. Backus is filled mostly with Carolinian trees and the soil is mostly sand. The Escarpment is mostly maples and the soil is mostly rocks. Also, the Escarpment has no bugs whereas Backus Woods is filled with them. We worked at the Escarpment in shorts and tee-shirts instead of long pants and sweaters.
Myself and a friend, Leslie Free, were honoured at the age of 14 to be asked to work with university students. We had a lot of fun, made some new friends, and would do it again if asked. I would like to thank Graham Whitelaw for the tour of the breathtaking landmarks of the Escarpment and for giving us the opportunity to work with him. I would also like to thank Debbie Ramsey for the wonderful dinner and party after a hard day’s work. We had a great time!
