Carolinian Canada Newsletter 

MARCH 1999

CAROLINIAN CANADA COALITION ANNUAL REPORT For The Year Ending March 31, 1999

General:

The activities of the Carolinian Canada Coalition are guided by the five priority goals identified in The Conservation Strategy for Carolinian Canada (1997). In this present report each goal is restated, and then the accomplishments of the past year are summarized. Carolinian Canada is a coalition, and all of its activities are the product of partnerships among our member organizations; however, for the purposes of this report we have distinguished between coalition activities and partner activities. Coalition activities are those that have occurred as a direct result of initiatives from the Carolinian Canada Management Committee, whereas Partner activities are independent actions on the part of partners that have contributed to the attainment of our goals. By making this distinction we avoid taking undue credit while still making note of concrete steps towards the realization of the Carolinian Canada Vision:

Vision:

Halt the loss and achieve a substantial increase in the size and quality of natural communities characteristic of Carolinian Canada.

Education Goal:

Achieve broad awareness of the importance of ecosystems, natural communities and endangered species in the Carolinian region by the general public, farmers and other landowners and gain their support for measures to protect these species and habitats.

Steps Taken:

• Carolinian Canada website is firmly established and contains a substantial amount of valuable information. (View at <http://www.carolinian.org>) Visitors are able to preview and order publications and to read the Conservation Strategy, which is posted in its entirety. Quite a number of visitors have sent messages commending the quality of the site and in particular its extensive listing of links to other organizations. Visitation to the site has produced a steady stream of publication orders and requests for additional information, especially from post-secondary students.
• Caring For Your Land: a Stewardship Handbook for Carolinian Canada Landowners was prepared for Carolinian Canada by the University of Guelph. This handbook has been designed to assist rural landowners who are interested in actively caring for their land with a greater understanding of natural ecosystems. An initial print run of 5,000 copies are available from Carolinian Canada, the University of Guelph and the Federation of Ontario Naturalists.
• A Carolinian Canada display was developed and has been displayed at a variety of community events and conferences. The high quality display can be securely shipped to partners for their use, maximizing exposure and eliminating staffing costs. · The Hike Ontario guide to Walks in Carolinian Canada was produced with the financial support of Carolinian Canada, which is also helping to distribute the book. Carolinian Canada and Boston Mills Press hosted the book launch in London.
• The Second Annual Forum was held in the Long Point region. The event featured field trips, presentations on Carolinian Canada projects, South Walsingham Forest, Bird Studies Canada, and local issues of Haldimand-Norfolk.

Partner Progress: (note Partners are organizations with a representative on the Management Committee or a project committee of Carolinian Canada).

• Federation of Ontario Naturalists are reviewing and revising their popular teachers’ kits to bring them in line with changes to Ontario’s school curriculum. This includes updates of their Wetlands and Carolinian modules.
• The Association of Canadian Education Resources has established its EnviroWatch program of community-based environmental monitoring. The project involves students, teachers, scientists and landowners at sites throughout the Niagara Escarpment and beyond.

Community Action Goal:

Achieve broad community action to support conservation and native ecosystems, communities and endangered species throughout the Carolinian region, including the cities and towns.

Steps Taken:

• The results of the Dorchester Swamp Model Management Strategy were published as an extensive case study of a community decision making model leading to a broadly accepted conservation strategy for a significant natural area.
• Changes in the relative responsibilities of the province and municipalities has meant that the local stage is now the most important scene for conservation. Carolinian Canada is focusing on supporting good planning by these local bodies through the provision of tools such as the Dorchester Swamp Plan. Carolinian Canada maintains a database of all of these agencies and contacts.
• 20 agencies attended a conservation practitioners workshop based on the Model Strategy including Conservation Authorities, municipal governments, Conservation non-government organizations and First Nations.
• In response to issues raised by a review of landowner contact programs (see Partners, below) Carolinian Canada has developed a plan to renew its landowner databases. Present databases are static and with the high mobility among the population they rapidly become out of date; the new database will use assessment role numbers as its basis to generate current mailing information updated on an annual basis.
• The Ontario Professional Planners Institute is now represented on the Carolinian Canada Management Committee providing a valuable connection to local planning officials. Other new partners are the Canadian Wildlife Service, Sydenham Field Naturalists and the Hamilton Harbour Stewardship Project.
• Carolinian Canada is actively supporting the establishment of new Land Trusts in the region through the provision of expert assistance and fund raising. In cooperation with the Ontario Nature Trust Alliance a collection of Land Trust documents such as by-laws, policies and procedures has been gathered and catalogued for the use of new groups.

Partner Progress:

• As mentioned above, the Nature Conservancy and the University of Guelph have conducted an extensive review of landowner stewardship projects, including those in Carolinian Canada. A result of this effort has been the publication of a new newsletter for landowners which is being made available to conservation organizations to distribute. Carolinian Canada contributed editorial copy to the premier issue.

Forest Goal:

Halt the loss of native forest cover and achieve a substantial increase including an appropriate proportion of interior forest and improved connections between forests.

The remaining three goals are landscape goals and they have many objectives in common. Foremost among these is the identification of “opportunity areas” for recovery efforts. Carolinian Canada has embarked upon the Big Picture Project to achieve these goals.

• The Big Picture Project will develop a new vision of a network of core natural areas connected one to the other and each to its surrounding landscape. The vision will be expressed through a series of Geographic Information Systems maps that will produce a vivid, visual representation of a protected areas network. ¨ A partnership has been formed among Carolinian Canada, Parks Canada, World Wildlife Fund Canada, the Federation of Ontario Naturalists and the Natural Heritage Information Centre. Through this partnership the organizations have committed staff time and agreed to use the resulting vision as the basis for future conservation activities within the zone. ¨ The Big Picture Project was the subject of a presentation to the Conservation community at the 1998 Latornel Symposium and will be presented at similar events throughout the course of the project to promote the adoption of the vision. ¨ 34 natural heritage data sets have been identified for inclusion in the Big Picture and work is underway to make them compatible with each other. ¨ Official Plan land use data from the 13 upper tier municipalities within Carolinian Canada has been collected so that for the first time natural heritage and land use mapping can be presented together. 
• Carolinian Canada participated in the Southern Ontario Forest Forum in London to examine conservation trends and opportunities in the Carolinian zone. This forum spawned follow up workshops and several excellent papers on conservation.
• The South Walsingham forest was featured in the field trip portion of the Annual Forum, giving participants a look at the finest remnant of Carolinian forest while discussing the challenges facing those trying to conserve it. · Carolinian Canada was unsuccessful in advocating the retention of the St. Williams forestry station that has now been privatized. · Carolinian Canada now regularly exchanges newsletter articles with the Forest Gene Conservation Association.
• The website features sources for plants and seeds and contains a link to the Society for Ecological Restoration’s similar registry.

Partner Progress:

• A management plan is being developed for the South Walsingham forest involving the Ministry of Natural Resources, local landowners and conservationists and the Conservation Authority.

Stream/Wetland Goal:

Halt the loss and achieve a substantial increase in the quality and extent of stream and wetland habitats.

• Big Picture, as above.
• Discussions with farmers groups have demonstrated that the aging farm population is facing serious estate planning considerations that will have a significant impact upon land use and the concentration of ownership. 
• Carolinian Canada is exploring the use of Land Trusts as a vehicle for protecting agricultural land and meeting farmers’ financial needs. A request for proposals to study the issue has been released and arrangements will be made to publicize the results through agricultural organizations and publications.

Partners Progress:

• Remedial Action Plan activities in the Detroit and Niagara Rivers are employing GIS based analysis. The Essex Region Conservation Authority (Detroit River) has committed itself to being the host for a pilot project for the Big Picture Project. · Carolinian Canada hosted the southwestern Ontario component of the Wetland Habitat Fund while it got established. That program has now completed its first round of projects providing financial assistance to landowners undertaking wetland conservation projects.

Prairie/Savanna Goal:

Protect all significant remaining prairie/savanna habitats and restore the full range of native prairie/savanna communities in appropriate locations.

• Of the three landscape categories within Carolinian Canada the tallgrass prairie and savannas are the most threatened with less than 3% of their pre-settlement extent remaining. Wetlands enjoy regulatory protection and the Wetland Habitat Fund provides assistance to landowners. The Managed Forest Tax Incentive Program provides similar encouragement to woodlot owners. Tallgrass communities have lacked special attention until now. Carolinian Canada has been instrumental in the establishment of the new Ontario Tallgrass Prairie and Savanna Association (Tallgrass Ontario). This Association will lead the implementation of the Recovery Plan for Tallgrass Communities (MNR/WWF 1998).
• Carolinian Canada has entered into a partnership with Tallgrass Ontario to share administration, staff and office space while the new association becomes established.
• A series of “Prairie Summer” public events took place in 1998, with more planned for 1999.
• A Tallgrass web page was added to the Carolinian site.
• Working Groups have been established to address: Tallgrass Management, Restoration and Creation, Research and Priorities.
• Carolinian Canada has allocated $25,000 from Shell Canada to the acquisition of a property at the Stone Road Alvar site on Pelee Island.

Looking Ahead:

Southwestern Ontario is a densely populated area rich in agriculture and industry, and so it comes as no surprise to report that the pressures on the landscape continue unabated. What has changed significantly in the past few years is how we conduct our natural heritage planning. The Provinicial Policy Statement on Natural Heritage lays out the ground rules, but implementation is a local matter and this has created a great opportunity for conservation. Recent juridictional amalgamations and other reasons have led many communities to undertake new planning initiatives and this opens the door for the introduction of better planning practices. Our Big Picture Project will provide municipalities with model plan components and state of the art natural heritage mapping. Close to 98% of all of the land in Carolinian Canada is privately owned and the success or failure of conservation efforts will be largely determined by landowner attitudes. Carolinian Canada continues to promote good stewardship through our communications activities, such as Caring For Your Land. The landowner contact component of the Big Picture project will promote the vision of a sustainable natural areas network to the owners of properties connecting or adjacent to protected areas. Carolinian Canada is committed to fostering new conservation partnerships with groups and organizations whose primary or traditional activity is not conservation, such as farmers, municipal planners and educators. These sectors are now represented on the Management Committee of Carolinian Canada and through the course of the coming year we will be striving to develop our programs in such a way as to be relevant and useful to these groups.