. . . . . . . . . . Plus 10

Continuing with LWI's interest in providing scientific data for the public domain, Peter Banks, in 1991, spearheaded a project to bring back Dr. Arthur Clarke to conduct a new mollusc survey on the Sydenham River. The survey was principally commissioned to provide data for part of the Natural Heritage Information Centre project initiated by the Nature Conservancy of Canada. A grant of $5000 from the Volunteer Involvement Program (VIP) of Imperial Oil Limited helped cover the expense of the project.

Some new species were found for the Sydenham in this study and the total species found were 24 compared to 26 in Dr. Clarke's visit and study of 1971  ^1,2.  

In the fall of 1991, the LWI Board approved "A Grand Plan for LWI Involvement in the New Carolinian Canada Program". In short, a target of $25,000 over a five year period was proposed as a donation. Whether or not this bold gesture was ever achieved can be found by reading on.  ³

The mandate of the Carolinian Canada program was to identify and preserve remaining portions of the great Carolinian forest that once covered southwestern Ontario. Thirty-eight major sites were identified, five of them in Lambton County. The Carolinian Canada Steering Committee at that time was composed of representatives from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Wildlife Habitat Canada, the Federation of Ontario Naturalists, the Ontario Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Recreation, the Nature Conservancy of Canada, World Wildlife Fund Canada, Canadian Botanical Association, Parks Canada, Ontario Heritage Foundation and the Association of Conservation Authorities of Ontario. Since then LWI has become a full-fledged representative of the organization as well.

One of the 1991 activities to help fund the Grand Plan noted above was another SCITS auditorium show in the great tradition of our past (John and Janet Foster, Robert Bateman). This type of production is both educational and entertaining and with luck and lots of sweat, can be profitable too. Our star was James Murray the producer of the David Suzuki shows, "The Nature of Things". We were grateful that Jim appeared for no fee and our Grand Plan was well on its way.

The Fifth Anniversary of the Howard Watson Trail in 1993 was attended by over one hundred people at the site of the old Blackwell Station. Mayor Mike Bradley dedicated an historical plaque concerning the old Grand Trunk Railway and unveiled the iron sculpture "Trackman".

The idea of the plaque came from John and Dorothy Tiedje who also did the research on it and made the submissions to the Ontario Heritage Foundation for a grant. Tony Roach arranged for the plaques to be made. Peter Hill designed and arranged for the construction and installation of the pedestal, plaques and Trackman.

Trackman was donated to LWI by Ron Denning. It was designed and constructed by Clive Beckwith and family at Lambton College from old pieces of railroad paraphernalia, spikes, brackets, etc. found by Ron on his walks on the Trail. Regrettably, within a week of installation Trackman was vandalized, wrenched from its pedestal, removed, never to be seen again.

In 1993, Joe Connop and Peter Banks conceived a Landowner Contact Program for two of the Carolinian Canada sites in our area, the Ausable River Valley and the Port Franks Forested Dunes and Wetlands. This would be the first such program mounted independently by a natural history club. LWI member Stephen Bright was hired to do the landowner contacting. A successful request for funding of $2500 was obtained from the Carolinian Canada program, $2500 from the Ontario Heritage Foundation and a further $5000 was obtained from the Imperial Oil Limited VIP program  ⁴

Also in 1993, LWI took on a job of highway cleanup in the Ontario Volunteers-on-Highways Program or Adopt-a-Highway as it is known in the States. Carole Buck was our first coordinator and now it falls to Judy Scott and her helpers to routinely keep the south part of Highway 402 from Airport Road to Lambton 26 clear of trash.

Education in many spheres, as mentioned, has always been one of LWI's mandates. Accordingly, in 1993, the LWI Environmental Bursary was created. This award is designed to recognize a student proceeding to post-secondary study in environmental care, who has demonstrated in secondary school a clear commitment to a better environment. Academic achievement and financial need are also factors in the award. The award is administered by the Lambton County Board of Education and is presently valued at $500. It will be funded in perpetuity from the LWI Bequest Fund.

Since 1988, the Howard Watson Trail had proved to be an immense success. In 1994, a small ceremony was held to celebrate the official lengthening from Michigan to Exmouth Street. The Trail was also extended in the other direction to the Camlachie curve.

In 1994, LWI along with the Norfolk Field Naturalists (NFN) were the recipients of a grant of $3250 from the Ontario Heritage Foundation to conduct a biological inventory of the Manestar Tract, St. Williams and the Karner Blue Sanctuary, (KBS). Peter Carson of NFN designed the study and it was conducted by biologists from the Natural Heritage Information Centre. The results of this study were incorporated into the KBS Five Year Management Plan.  ⁵

Finally in 1994, LWI's Grand Plan to support the Carolinian Canada organization was fulfilled. $23,000 in cash and in-kind donations went towards the total acquisition costs for two properties purchased by NCC in the Port Franks Area of Natural and Scientific Interest (ANSI). (See also Appendix VII). The first property now known as the Port Franks Forested Dunes Nature Reserve is managed by LWI under a long term agreement. The second purchase, the Van Valkenburg property, still has no defined management agreement or program although LWI was originally to assist MNR in that management. The remaining $2000 of our commitment was given to Carolinian Canada to be used as part of the matching funds required for the organization to get grants from corporations like the Ivey Foundation.  ⁶

LWI has further helped the Carolinian Canada organization, now called the Carolinian Canada Coalition (CCC), by acting as the Fund Administrator (Treasurer) for the Coalition since 1995. This task is performed by LWI at no charge except for reimbursement of out-of-pocket costs. LWI's representative sits on the CCC Management Committee.

Many children begin at an early age to appreciate the world around them, whether through a keen interest of a parent or grandparent or by just an inborn curiosity about their surroundings. The Young Naturalists Club was started by LWI in 1995 to provide an opportunity for these budding naturalists to learn more about nature in an organized setting. Spearheaded by Brenda Lorenz, assisted by Sarah Rupert and later by Kim Gledhill as well, the membership quickly approached its limit of 25-30 youngsters. In 2000, Jennifer Goodspeed took on responsibilities for the Young Naturalists program.

One of the information needs for habitat restoration and Karner Blue reintroduction, as noted in the Karner Blue Sanctuary Management Plan, is a flora and fauna inventory, in particular for lepidoptera and other insect species. Accordingly, in 1996, the Port Franks Properties Management Committee decided to mount an Insect Inventory Project in North Lambton County. Led by Joe Connop and Peter Banks, member Jeff Skevington was hired to collect, mount, identify and publish. Many other professional and amateur entomologists helped with collections and identifications, particularly LWI member Ken Stead. Many LWI members and others volunteered their help in a myriad of ways. Including a $5500 grant from LWI, over thirty-seven thousand dollars was raised mainly from foundations and corporations. This is the most money ever raised by LWI for a project. This project also consumed the most voluntary hours in the history of LWI projects.

An absolutely perfect day presented itself for the official opening of the Port Franks Forested Dunes Nature Reserve in 1997. A splendid sign designed and built by John Bellar with some help from other LWI members graces the entrance.  ⁸

Because of LWI's land holdings, experience in managing properties, and interest in learning more, the Board approved membership in, and on the Council of the Ontario Nature Trust Alliance (ONTA) in 1999. All of the properties that LWI owns or manages have been officially registered with ONTA.

1999 was also the Tenth Anniversary of the Karner Blue Sanctuary. Very considerable maintenance work has been done on this site over the ten year period culminating with a number of Prescribed Burns as recommended in the Management Plan.  ⁹

As a millennium project, LWI entered into a long term agreement with Lambton County Library to establish a research and reference collection concerning all aspects of flora and fauna pertinent to Lambton County. . The cornerstone of this collection, which will be housed at the County Library Headquarters in Wyoming, will be Dorothy Tiedje's pressed native plant collection(catalogued and stored in metal herbarium cabinets), as well as their extensive collection of botanical journals, books, field guides, monographs, historical records, and a large catalogued collection of original colour photography.

The rest of the ńcollectionî will consist of books, scientific journals, maps, posters, historical records, published and unpublished occasional papers, reports etc., as well as labelled original nature photography, covering aspects of local natural history. These materials will be gathered, donated or purchased by LWI members, with a certain amount of assistance from like minded organizations and individuals.

In 2001 after thirteen years of successful hard work, LWI finally relinquished management of the Howard Watson Nature Trail. Bluewater Trails, a committee of Sarnia Council, will now perform that task, but LWI will still have responsibilities for the botany-rich Blackwell section as well as Trail cleanup and an overseeing responsibility for the natural aspects of the Trail.. The club is in debt to the Committees over the years, their Chairs: Fern Noël, Sheila White and particularly Gord Catterson, the Chair for the last eight years.

Last fall Lambton Wildlife received a Carolinian Canada Award. This was essentially a life-time achievement award and was given for our bold and successful projects some of which have been briefly recounted in this booklet. These projects were legitimately LWI projects although few if any were conceived by the Board itself. They were created by individuals or groups of individuals who subsequently and tenaciously sought endorsement from the Board. All of the ones that did receive Board approval have been deemed successful. That is not to say that there were no errors made or that they couldn't have been done even better. We learn.

Many, if not all of these projects, had a significant fundraising component. The fundraising often extended beyond the boundaries of our club membership. We have very much appreciated that support from outside. In some cases the project could not have been achieved without that community help.

Most new projects that we might consider in the future will also need money. Between 1990 and 1996, LWI had a fairly aggressive fundraising program. (See Table 3). We had a goal. That goal culminated with the acquisition of the Port Franks Forested Dunes Nature Reserve and the Van Valkenburg property by the Nature Conservancy. Coincident with that specific fundraising, was also some done by the Howard Watson Trail Committee.

Because of our activities and close liaisons with major agencies over the past 35 years LWI has become well known in the natural history and environmental network.