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Helping our natural world - Making a difference with little effort

Shell’s Fuelling Change Program provides funding for projects that receive the most votes on their website: www.fuellingchange.com When you sign in, you get 10 free votes and you can get more votes when you buy fuel. All the projects are great environmental projects so you can’t lose. Ontario Nature, through its Nature Network, is encouraging people to vote for two projects, both in the $50,000 category. One is Bird Studies Canada "Students for a Swift Recovery." It is a school-focused interactive education program to help students learn about and protect swift habitat in school chimneys. The other project is Wildlife Preservation Canada's "Project Soar" that aims to protect and restore habitat for Loggerhead Shrikes.

Nature Conservancy of Canada is trying to raise money to buy more land in the Frontenac Arch. The Club was able to financially support them in their first purchase in this area and is considering a small donation for this purchase. In addition we are asking members to consider donating directly to the Nature Conservancy. Pledge forms will be available at the December meeting or can be printed here.

Save the Snapper!

Like pre-historic dinosaurs, the Snapping Turtle is an imposing creature familiar to most people. Although it has a reputation for being aggressive, the Snapper needs our help. An Ontario MPP has generously agreed to present the completed petition to the Legislature.

Here's what you can do
Download the petition to urge the Ministry of Natural Resources to ban the harvest of the Snapping Turtle. Get as many signatures as you can, and send them to the address at the bottom of the petition. Please return them by early January. The petition will be officially presented to the Ontario legislature by Garfield Dunlop, the MPP for Simcoe North.

Here is some more background information
In 2008, the Snapping Turtle was officially listed as a Species at Risk by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). The Snapping Turtle is still widespread, but is it declining? The indications are that the species is in trouble for a lot of reasons. The draining of wetlands has undoubtedly reduced the number of populations in many parts of Ontario. The Snapping Turtle also faces a high level of mortality on roads. This threat is particularly harsh as it often targets adult females seeking a place to lay their eggs. In addition, a number of people intentionally run over Snapping Turtles because of their dislike of the species. Snapping Turtle reproduction is also under fire from the increased number of Raccoons in many parts of Ontario. The high number of Raccoons results in virtually all of the Snapping Turtle eggs being consumed in many areas.

If all these threats weren't sufficient, the government of Ontario allows hunting of Snapping Turtles. Anyone with a valid fishing license may take up to 2 Snapping Turtles per day.

The government of Ontario does not monitor the harvest of Snapping Turtles in Ontario so there is no idea how many turtles are collected each year. It is likely though that most Snapping Turtles that are taken are the largest individuals - the ones most important to the survival of the species.

Slow and steady wins the race is truly the motto of the Snapping Turtle. In Ontario, at the northern limit of the species' range, Snapping Turtles can take over 15 years to reach maturity. That is a long time to have to avoid predators or cars on the road. And with high levels of egg and juvenile mortality, Snapping Turtles do not bounce back quickly from population declines. Hence any kind of legal harvest is likely detrimental to the species and an unmonitored harvest is completely unjustifiable.

Birding scope for sale

Birding scope in excellent condition: Kowa TSN-822, 20-60X, fully coated lens, includes protective case and Monfrotto full swivel tripod. $1500.

Membership savings for members of the OFNC and the Canadian Museum of Nature

We are delighted to advise OFNC members that effective September 1, 2011, their membership in the Club earns them an additional month on their Museum of Nature membership. It gets even better. A Museum of Nature membership gives you a $4 discount (about 10%) on your OFNC membership starting in 2012. This is double dipping working for you. Not only does it reflect the long-standing close ties between the club and the museum, but it also recognizes that the club and the museum appeal to the same group of people in the Ottawa area.

The OFNC membership forms and renewal forms will now reflect this discount. Below you will find the formal invitation from the Museum of Nature. I hope many members of the OFNC will take advantage of this offer. There is so much to learn and enjoy in the newly renovated museum - don't let the kids have all the fun!

Ann MacKenzie, President, OFNC

Participants needed for Christmas bird count

Ottawa-Gatineau Christmas Bird Count
This year's Ottawa-Gatineau CBC will be held on Sunday December 18, 2011. Please contact the OFNC at 613-722-3050 or birdcounts@ofnc.ca. Details re the post-count compilation and dinner will be provided to participants by the sector leaders, closer to the date of the event.

PLEASE NOTE: birdcounts@ofnc.ca was recently created as a GENERAL contact email address for people interested in participating in the Ottawa-Gatineau Bird Counts. Specific details re: CONTACT PERSONS and SECTOR LEADERS will be made available as soon as this information is confirmed.

Dunrobin-Breckenridge Christmas Bird Count
Another traditional local CBC, featuring more rural habitats than the Ottawa-Gatineau count, and not that far out of town! This season's date is Thursday December 29, 2011. Please contact count coordinator Bruce Di Labio for details at 613-839-4395 or bruce.dilabio@sympatico.ca

We encourage you to come out for these great traditional birding events in the Ottawa-Gatineau area! You don't need to be an "expert" birder to join in - even counting birds at your feeder from the comfort of your own home can be an important contribution. The more participants the better, to discover what's out there in our area during the fall and winter seasons!

Information needed - Sea Buckthorn and Scotch Broom

We are studying the occurrence of two plants cultivated in Canada: Sea Buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) and Scotch Broom (Cytisus scoparius). We would appreciate receiving any information you can provide on the occurrence of these species anywhere in Canada.

For example: Are they grown in Ontario and, if so, for how long? Are they cultivated in the general region? Have either of them escaped from cultivation in your area? Any other related information will also be useful.

Thanks very much for your help with this project.

Dr. Paul Catling and Gisèle Mitrow

Lobby to save the South March Highlands

As you may know, more than 5000 people across Ottawa have been fighting to save the South March Highlands from development. Now we have a huge opportunity to influence city council to purchase a section of this forest and protect it from being blasted and clear-cut. Councillors Marianne Wilkinson and Clive Doucet have introduced a motion to expropriate a section of the land known as the Beaver Pond Forest, and the motion will be voted on at City Council on October 5th.

We need to swamp the councillors with letters and e-mails, in support of this motion! (See sample letter)

This is an old-growth forest located in Kanata that, according to Dr. J Kerr (professor of macroecology at the University of Ottawa) may be one of the most biodiverse areas in Canada. To date, we've received the support of the David Suzuki Foundation, Ottawa Valley Field Naturalists, Ecology Ottawa, Ottawa Carleton Wildlife Centre, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, the Sierra Club of Canada, Green Party of Canada, Greenbelt Coalition, and a half-dozen other organizations.

The South March Highlands is a mini-Costa Rica. Although it is only 3 km by 4 km, it is home to over 675 species, including 19 species-at-risk and another 18 that are on the priority list for the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. The area has been designated as a Provincially Significant Area of Natural and Scientific Interest by the Ministry of Natural Resources and it also contains the largest deer-yard in the city.

The South March Highlands has also been declared by William Commanda (the most senior Elder in the Algonquin First Nation) to be an ancient and sacred site for his people. The archaeological significance of this area has been confirmed by Dr. R McGhee (former president of the Canadian Archaeological Association and past-curator of the National Museum of Civilization) and by Dr. H. Muller-Beck (professor emeritus of palaeohistory of hunting cultures at University of Tubingen, Germany) who have both confirmed archaeological sites of human habitation dating back 10,000 years in this area.

Incredibly, over the past 20 years, a series of poor planning decisions has left this unique area open to development, and now the the only recourse for protecting it is to buy some of the lands back from developers. Recently, we've been able to put a motion before City Council to expropriate a portion of this area which otherwise will be clear-cut and blasted by Urbandale for a housing development north of the Beaver Pond.

City Council will vote on this motion on Oct. 5 and it is important that as many people as possible contact their councillors and ask them to support the motion.

Please send the attached message to your councillor. Voting to expropriate this part of the forest will stall development plans long enough for us to engage the support of the National Capital Commission to provide long-term protection for the balance of the area.

It is especially important for you to write to your councillor if you support this and do not live in Kanata. City Council needs to know that this is an issue that people all across the city are passionate about.

Please take a couple of minutes to cut and paste the attached sample message with your name and address at the bottom and email it to your city councillor with a cc to the mayor at larry.obrien@ottawa.ca. If you have the time, it is even better if you customize the letter to reflect your own reasons for supporting the motion to expropriate.

Please pass this message on to other caring people, so that they can also lobby their councillor. Our goal is to get as many individual emails as possible sent to to City Council.

Monitoring program to detect Emerald Ash Borer

Working with your friendly native wasp?

Invasive pests arrive in our communities often without any warning and settle in for long destructive stays. These pests include Dutch elm disease, purple loosestrife, zebra mussels, and most recently the emerald ash borer (beetle). Successful management of any introduced pest depends on early detection. Forewarned is forearmed!

The beetles are virtually undetectable - at least until it is too late. Larvae feed beneath the bark of our native ash trees and only emerge as adults (high in the tree's canopy) during summer. The larval feeding eventually girdles and kills our ash trees.

An initiative to get a jump on this most recent pest beetle is the new 'Wasp Watcher Program' working to spot new infestations of the emerald ash borer beetle before it can establish itself as a serious pest.

A native ground-nesting wasp, Cerceris fumipennis, is providing a handy solution to our beetle detection problem. This wasp will prey on the adult emerald ash borers (as well as related native beetles) and carry them, paralyzed, back to its burrow. The paralyzed beetle is then stored underground as food for the wasp's larva.

Monitoring for the emerald ash borer is now as simple as watching the wasps return to their nests with prey. The wasps, with prey in "hand," quickly inform us if the destructive emerald ash borer beetles have arrived.

An equally convenient aspect of this wasp's behaviour is that it won't sting humans, even when handled. So, provided we find the needed nests, Cerceris fumipennis is a valuable colleague in the search for pest beetles.

Just as volunteers do feeder watches, marsh monitoring, loon surveys, and butterfly counts, you can now become a wasp watcher, searching for and observing the Cerceris fumipennis wasps in your area. This provides us all with an early-warning system for emerald ash borers and other destructive beetle pests.

For more information on becoming a Wasp Watcher, go to www.cerceris.info

Useful information from the Maine Forestry Service: Beetle hunter

Unique Leitrim Wetland under Attack

Developers of the controversial Findlay Creek Village in south Ottawa have filed an application with the Ontario Ministry of the Environment for a Permit To Take Water, proposing to remove as much as 17 million litres of water per day from the site for the next 10 years – more than 60 billion litres in total, or the equivalent of nearly 50 Olympic-size swimming pools each week.

Not content to wait for the Permit to be granted, between September 10 and October 25 the developer, Tartan Homes, illegally removed water during 29 out of the 43 days. “Here is an example of what the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario warned about in his Annual Report last week,” says Carol Gudz, one of the Friends of Leitrim Wetland. “Wetlands are critically important ecosystems, but development and large water-takings are a major threat to their survival.”

A highly reputable soil scientist, Dr Clarke Topp, recently confirmed that the drainage for Stage 1 of the Village has already impaired the function of the Wetland and that further drainage will seriously degrade the Wetland within a matter of months.

The Friends of Leitrim Wetland urge you to write immediately to Ministers and Ministry officials, demanding that this Permit not be issued.

Read more at greenspace-alliance.ca/node/319.

The Friends of Leitrim Wetland comprises members of the Sierra Club of Canada, the Greenspace Alliance of Canada’s Capital, the Ottawa Field-Naturalists’ Club, and the Coalition for a Healthy Ottawa.

OFNC T-shirts now available

Club T-shirts will be available for sale at the next monthly meeting. They feature original artwork by Education and Publicity Committee member Laura Penney. The shirts are 100% organic cotton and are available in sizes small to X-large $15 each.