The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) and Long Point Basin Land Trust (LPBLT) have announced the protection of four sites totalling 145 hectares. These sites expand an important conservation area near Port Rowan, Ontario, just north of Lake Erie.
By purchasing these sites, NCC and LPBLT are protecting important sources of clean drinking water that flow into Lake Erie, including a stretch of Venison Creek and its tributaries.
“From protecting our water resources and restoring habitat for pollinators and birds, to creating opportunities for Canadians to get outside and enjoy nature, the Nature Conservancy of Canada, along with Long Point Basin Land Trust and other key partners and generous supporters, is committed to ensuring that the nature we protect today will be here for generations,” said Wendy Cridland, acting regional vice president, Ontario, Nature Conservancy of Canada.
The purchased lands are a mix of forests, ravines, cold-water creeks, fields, and meadows. They provide habitat for many federally listed species at risk, including birds like Acadian flycatcher (endangered), eastern whip-poor-will (threatened), prothonotary warbler (endangered) and monarch (special concern).
The two organizations will work together to care for and manage the conservation properties, which are located in the Carolinian Life Zone—a critical ecosystem that extends northward from the Carolinas to its northernmost point in southwestern Ontario.
The properties are also within the Long Point World Biosphere Reserve Area of Cooperation and Norfolk Forests Important Bird Area.
Norfolk County is home to more than 45 provincially, nationally, or globally rare plants and animals, one of the highest densities of rare and endangered wildlife in Canada.
These projects were supported by funding from the Government of Canada, through the Natural Areas Conservation Program. These funds were matched with a number of generous donations from SC Johnson, Frank Charles Miller, Mary and Jack Gingrich, Joyce Beare-Rogers, Richard M. Ivey, The Rogers Foundation, Galin Foundation, The Walter J. Blackburn Foundation, The Gosling Foundation, Anne and Dolf Wynia, David Agro and Willa Wong, James N. Allan Family Foundation, Echo Foundation, The McLean Foundation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, through the North American Wetlands Conservation Act, and many additional generous donors.
