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Breaking News
One of the species is a plant: Bent Spike-rush (Eleocharis geniculata). Status: Endangered. Reason for designation: Only two extant Ontario populations (Great Lakes Plains population & Southern Mountain population) are known for this annual species of the sedge family. The total population consists of possibly fewer than 2500 plants. They occur mainly in sandy wet habitats along ponds and in damp open meadows over an area of only about 2000 sq. m. The habitat is declining due to the spread of the invasive, introduced form of Common Reed, an aggressive exotic grass.
Report
In his 2010/2011 Annual Report "Engaging Solutions" released January 10th, Gord Miller says there’s no shortage of talk about the problems such as climate change, waste diversion, and the loss of biodiversity. “But when it comes to doing something” says Miller, “there doesn’t seem to be a lot actually happening.
On species-at-risk, the Ministry of Natural Resources is not doing enough to protect and recover species at risk. Much of what the ministry is doing has become an empty bureaucratic exercise that does little on-the-ground to tangibly benefit endangered species.
On funding, the Government of Ontario has passed notable legislation such as the Lake Simcoe Protection Act, 2008, the Endangered Species Act, 2007 and the Green Energy Act, 2009, but has not given the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Ministry of the Environment the additional resources they need to oversee and monitor new legislation while also covering their previous core responsibilities.
This coming season the Royal Botanical Gardens will again be accepting trees at the Valley Inn Rd. location at the mouth of Grindstone Creek in Burlington. Recycling Christmas Trees for use in projects at the RBG is a long standing tradition. For years trees were used to cover various plant collections as an insulation technique preventing collection species from desiccation in the cold winters and others from sprouting during mid winter thaws. Recycled trees have also contributed to a marsh restoration project at the mouth of Grindstone Creek. Since 1999, over 150,000 trees have been used to reconstruct the creek channel through the river mouthmarsh. The trees are formed into riverbanks along the edge of the channel. Each January, they are exported across the frozen marsh, maintaining any weak areas in the 1.5km length Christmas tree river banks. The trees themselves are light and as a result, can sit on top of the soft marsh bottom even once things have thawed again in the spring. The trees then trap sediment, shield the adjacent marshlands from any inflowing creek water quality issues, as well as form a barrier to keep out the non native carp of Lake Ontario. The end result is conditions in these marsh areas that allow them to regenerate on their own.
A bequest by Mary Hackney enabled the Escarpment Biosphere Reserve to
purchase several properties. The first will be their new
Zinkan Cove property which will link the 1,100-acre Sadler Creek
property to Lake Huron and the NANPS reserve. With the new link, the
reserve will be 5.3 kilometres wide. Please note: while we are a "plant"
society - we wear our plants on our sleeves, we do not consider ourselves a "pant" society, although most of us do wear pants.
However, we admit some native plants do leave us "breathless".
Ontario Invasive Plant Councilis asking you to send in your impressive invasive plant pictures so they may showcase them on their website or on twitter (OIPC1).
Maybe NANPS should get a set of wheels
In Houston, Texas, the Buffalo Bayou IPEU serves as a workstation, lab, book mobile and beacon for public outreach in the battle against invasive plant species along the river and its tributaries.
This is definitely not Tex-Mex on wheels!
This is definitely not Tex-Mex on wheels!
Native Plants rejoice!
Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) reports of a recent discovery of forked bluecurls (Trichostema dichotomum), in Cazaville. It had not been seen in QC since 1952.
