LTVCA Watershed-wide –

It’s a busy spring for our land stewardship staff across the lower Thames watershed!  Trees are arriving this Friday from Somerville and Pine Needle Nurseries with over 65,000 slated for private lands and large scale plantings.  Ten tallgrass prairie projects totaling eight hectares (20 acres) will also be planted this spring.  In addition, three wetlands have been created so far this year with the help from Ducks Unlimited Canada, Wildlife Habitat Canada and Alternative Land Use Service (ALUS) Canada.  We have also been working alongside many students this spring.  Partnering with Chatham-Kent ‘Back To Your Roots’, the LTVCA provides large stock trees to plant at local schools.

Staff promoted our stewardship projects and programs early in the year at the Southwest Agricultural Conference, Chatham Kent Farm show, London Farm Show, Carolinian Canada’s Go Wild Grow Wild Expo, on our website www.ltvca.ca and through our Twitter and Facebook social media.  They also participated in several outreach and education public events including the Shrewsbury Maple Syrup Festival, a presentation at the Palmyra Chili Dinner and a Stewardship Night at Arrowwood Farm.

All this land stewardship activity would not be possible without the support of our 10 member municipalities and the many other funding partners.  Staff keep busy over the winter months applying for funding for on the ground projects across the watershed.  Applications were made to the Forest Recovery Grant, Tree Canada – Project Learning , Scott’s Gro for Good – Seed to Tree project, Peavey Industries Community Agricultural Grant, Chatham-Kent Community Partnership Fund, Tree Canada ReLeaf Program, and the Alternative Land Use Service (ALUS) – Chatham-Kent, Middlesex and Elgin.  Sixteen projects have been approved through ALUS Chatham-Kent for 2019.

Carolinian Canada, LTVCA and other partners are also developing a pilot project to increase habitat quality and quantity on a private landscape in Middlesex County, especially a new collaboration of First Nations, conservation finance and habitat partners to protect, steward and enhance 1,000+ hectares for Ontario Wildlife.

Our stewardship programs provide habitat and shade; they help to clean our air and water and they protect the soil, which promotes water infiltration and reduces erosion and flooding. Tree cover is especially important in large blocks or along natural streams or riparian areas, as a vital element to ecosystems.  Enhancing and maintaining forest cover slows climate warming and assists with adaptation by preventing the release and improving the capture of CO2 from the atmosphere.  Most importantly, land stewardship projects go a long way in helping us reduce phosphorus levels flowing off the land into our streams, rivers and lakes.

For information on our stewardship programs and services contact:

Randall Van Wagner – Manager of Conservation Lands and Services

519-354-7310 ext. 230