Species At Risk Stewardship Fund Projects

This year, Ontario is granting almost $700,000 to 20 projects in the Halton, Brant, Hamilton, Haldimand-Norfolk and Niagara region to protect species at risk and their habitat. Province-wide, the Species at Risk Stewardship Fund will support 118 projects for a total of more than $4 million.

Since many of Ontario's species at risk are found on private lands, voluntary conservation efforts are essential to species recovery. The Species at Risk Stewardship Fund supports greater public involvement in projects which aim to:

• improve the status of species at risk and their habitats through stewardship and recovery activities
• encourage involvement in stewardship activities through outreach, education or youth employment
• increase stewardship-related knowledge and skills of interested landowners or groups.

The projects being funded in this area are:

Bird Studies Canada - $78,740 to support stewardship, monitoring, outreach and educational projects that increase knowledge and understanding of bird species at risk, with research results used to direct future recovery activities.

Brant Resource Stewardship Network - $15,000 to update information on snake species and population sizes, as well as educating the public about snakes and their habitats, in Brant County, the City of Brantford, and the Community of Six Nations of the Grand River.

Colville Consulting - $34,870 to develop an inventory program to determine distribution and population status of Jefferson salamanders within Niagara Region.

Conservation Halton Foundation - $41,328 to update biological inventories on the lands owned and managed by Conservation Halton and protect species at risk through management planning.

Credit River Anglers Association - $44,000 to help construct a new fish ladder at the Norval Dam on the Credit River to help Atlantic salmon and other species at risk reach their spawning grounds in the headwaters of the river.

EarthTramper Consulting Inc. - $90,000 to support detailed ecological surveys of at-risk plants, insect and breeding bird populations in Backus Woods, one of Canada's best examples of the southern deciduous forest region.

Haldimand Stewardship Council - $6,050 to assist in identifying important Blanding's turtle nesting sites, movement corridors, and hibernation locations with the use of telemetry, surveys and monitoring.

Haldimand Stewardship Council - $8,750 to inform and engage landowners in the protection of the Oriskany and Niagara populations of the Gray Ratsnake, which are unique to the Carolinian forest ecosystem.

Hamilton Naturalists' Club - $18,150 to enhance habitat for species at risk by removing threats from invasive species; educational materials and activities will be developed and delivered to primary school students, and education sessions will be undertaken with neighbouring landowners to encourage them to protect species at risk.

Kayanase - $11,675 to support spring and summer surveys for species at risk and their habitats at Six Nations of the Grand River, targeting the Jefferson salamander, breeding birds, spring and summer flora, and reptiles.

Land Care Niagara - $42,702 to support a capacity-building initiative bringing volunteer youth, social service recipients and individuals with mental disabilities together as a community work crew to complete species at risk projects around the Niagara region.

Long Point Basin Land Trust - $27,700 to help recover populations of reptile species at risk, restore species at risk habitats and help inform and engage citizens to participate in conservation efforts in the Long Point Basin area.

Long Point Region Conservation Authority - $18,000 to enhance and recreate species at risk habitat and linkages from headwater wetlands to the receiving coastal wetlands in the Long Point area.

Long Point Waterfowl and Wetland Research Fund - $20,900 to identify breeding sites of least bitterns in the Long Point region and to conduct habitat assessments to identify best management practices for least bitterns.

Long Point World Biosphere Reserve Foundation - $21,250 to protect species at risk and other wildlife around the Long Point Causeway, including alerting motorists to wildlife crossing the causeway, erecting barrier fencing to reduce road mortality and providing alternative turtle nesting sites.

Lower Grand River Land Trust - $24,970 to gain understanding of the abundance and distribution of species at risk at Ruthven Park National Historic Site by surveying habitats for Jefferson Salamanders and at-risk avian, turtle, and plant species.

Norfolk Land Stewardship Council - $77,915 to support on-farm activities such as planting marginal farmland to tallgrass prairie and creating aquatic buffers, to enhance species at risk habitat and biodiversity.

Ontario Aggregate Resources Corporation - $29,500 to support a model for grassland restoration for the aggregate industry, which will guide rehabilitation of sand pits and quarries, to benefit both grassland species at risk and their habitat.

Royal Botanical Gardens - $60,000 to help gather population data and restore six species at risk (few-flowered club-rush, red mulberry, butternut, and Blanding's, northern map and eastern spiny softshell turtles) and their habitats.

St. Williams Conservation Reserve Community Council - $33,550 to support recovery actions, outreach, and surveying for species at risk in one of Ontario's newest conservation reserves.