Pelee region scoops new shorebird habitat! Tens of thousands of birders visiting the Point Pelee, Ontario region this May are in for a better show than ever. This spring, nearby Hillman Marsh Conservation Area will open a huge 45 acre impoundment that will be managed for spring shorebird habitat. For a region that often has a dearth of mudflats, this is big, big news!

As a long time local birder, I'm thrilled, and I want to make sure birders know where it is, what it is, and most importantly how we can help ensure its a runaway success. Because WHAT WE DO, OR DON'T DO (see below) COULD MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE. One thing we often bemoan is the lack of good, predictable shorebird habitat both inside and outside the national park. Now the Essex Region Conservation Authority has stepped up to the plate to fill that void. In the spring of 2003, ERCA in partnership with Ducks Unlimited , will open a new multiple use 45 acre managed impoundment at Hillman Marsh Conservation Area. The habitat will be on the west side of HMCA five minutes from Point Pelee National Park and the town of Leamington. Each spring, water levels in the impoundment will be managed to attract migrating shorebirds. The potential of this site is enormous. The estimated budget land acquisition and construction of the cell was Canadian $800,000 (approximately US$500,000). Major financial partners in this project included Ducks Unlimited, Family Tradition Foods Incorporated, Canadian Wildlife Service - Environment Canada, Nature Conservancy of Canada, Ontario Power Generation, Essex Region Conservation Foundation, North American Waterfowl Management Plan, Kathleen-Mary and Walter Barron Foundation, Ontario Great Lakes Renewal Foundation, and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources.

Additional costs include yearly maintenance and agricultural costs, and reforestation and tall grass prairie planting. Many partners have stepped up to the plate to bear the brunt of the capital cost of the project. But essential to the long term success of the project will be user fees from birders who benefit directly from the creation of this managed habitat. Each year, there will be operation and maintenance fees associated specifically with the provision of shorebird habitat. These include the cost of pumping and maintaining water levels.

STRONGLY ENCOURAGE BIRDERS TO COMPLY WITH THE SELF SERVE PAY KIOSK AT THE ENTRANCE TO THE SITE. Those fees will demonstrate our support of this site and will ensure that it is maintained in future years.

The second thing critical to success of the project running smoothly is using the designated access and parking lot. Because of the configuration of the site, some birders will be tempted to shortcut the existing access and try to park along County Rd. 37 due west of the site. PLEASE DO NOT ACCESS THE SITE FROM CTY RD. 37! The only permissible access is via the parking lot and trail. All the land west of the site is being planted into either native trees or prairie and is being actively restored. The newly constructed dykes on the west side will likely be soft and muddy and not be suitable for foot access this spring. Access to the site is via the current entrance and parking lot at northwest Hillman Marsh and by following the trail south and east to the existing dykes which were used as the eastern boundary of the impoundment.

One of the biggest challenges to managing the site on the long term for shorebirds is control of vegetation within the cell. After the spring migration, water levels will be lowered and the impoundment will be planted with a wildlife food crop such as corn, millet or wild rice. The planted homoculture should severely deter invasive emergent vegetation. In the early fall the crop will be harvested and the impoundment will be flooded to attract migrant waterfowl. The impoundment is within the established baited area of Hillman Marsh Conservation Area. However, hunting will not take place in the impoundment. Once the site is frozen and waterfowl depart in early winter, water levels would be managed to reduce crop residue and to prepare for the creation of mudflats for the following spring. Local birders, including yours truly, were involved in consultation on this management scheme.

For birders this spring will be an exciting time. Who knows what will turn up? Huge numbers of breeding plumage Dunlin, Black-bellied Plovers, both yellowlegs, Ruddy Turnstones and peeps are a good possibility. And rarities such as Curlew Sandpiper, Ruff, both godwits and others have made brief visits before such a site existed. And each year the site is sure to get better.

One thing is certain. The Essex Region Conservation Authority, Ducks Unlimited and all the contributors are to be thanked and congratulated for this wonderful project. Shorebirds, and all those who love them, are sure to be big winners.

For more info on Essex Region Conservation Authority please contact Danielle Breault at dbreault@erca.org, (519) 776-5209 ext 352, or visit www.erca.org

Emerald Ash Borer may Ravage Billions of North American Trees

Reprinted from March 2003 Wood Duck & FON Nature NetworkNews

The dead and dying ash trees of Windsor and nearby Detroit may, according to this story, harbour the biggest threat to North American forests since the devastation caused by Dutch elm disease in the 1960s .

The story says that ash trees in this region are dying by the millions, infested by the emerald ash borer, an East Asian insect that is quickly chewing through every ash in its path. If the insect spreads beyond this area, foresters fear the bright metallic green borer will become the next plague to the continent's woodlands, with the potential to kill virtually all of the ash in both Canada and the US. One of the large risks to the spread of this insect into Canada is the movement of firewood from infected areas in the US, to cottage areas along the south shore of Lake Huron.

The emerald ash borer is believed to have arrived in Detroit by hitchhiking on wood-packaging crates from Asia sometime during the last decade. It is the first reported infestation of the insect outside its native range. The borer is an arboreal destroyer, a so-called "primary tree killer," or a pest that, on its own, is able to overwhelm the defenses of healthy trees. Less virulent pests are only able to kill trees already weakened by drought or disease.

Ken Marchant of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, the federal department in charge of stopping unwanted pests, was quoted as saying in heavily infested areas of Detroit "there are only two types of ashes. There are dead ashes and there are dying ashes. There is nothing that has been spared thus far. It's killed literally millions of them." .

FON will be providing updates on the Emerald Ash Borer as more information becomes available.

Lance Allin had some information sheets at the February indoor meeting on this new exotic beetle. A recent presentation to Sarnia City Council by John Degroot called attention to this pest, reminding council members that Sarnia ash trees are very much threatened. There is a plan to create a barrier between the area north and east of the infected area to try and isolate the insect, but there is not a lot of confidence that this will work. If you would like more information I have a copy of the sheet or I am sure Lance would be glad to supply you with one. Ed.

From The Cardinal No. 189 November 2002

Dave Martin

In September, 2002, a Butterfly Listserv on the Internet carried a discussion about the bias of conservation research towards certain taxonomic groups, namely vertebrates and especially birds and mammals. The discussion had originated in the letters section of Science, which is the journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. This journal can be accessed at www.sciencemag.org.

One of the replies in this discussion came from three ecologists who work for NatureServe, which is an American organization that is a partner of the Nature Conservancy. NatureServe is the creator and custodian of a massive data base of some 20,000 species. The NatureServe Web site is www.natureserve.org.

is the part of their argument that attracted my attention: "Although a disproportionate amount of research focuses on vertebrates in general, and birds and mammals in particular, our analyses of the conservation status of U.S. organisms find birds and mammals to have the lowest extinction risk levels among 14 taxonomic groups."

to the authors "only 14% of birds and 16% of mammals are classified as extinct, imperilled or vulnerable." By contrast "69% of unionid mussels, 51% of crayfishes, 43% of stoneflies, 37% of freshwater fishes and 33% of flowering plants" have a high level of extinction risk. Worldwide, birds and mammals are the only two groups that have been assessed comprehensively.

Their concluding statement applies as much to Canada and Ontario as anywhere else: "there may be useful reasons for focusing research on charismatic organisms, such as garnering public support and funds for conservation, but our data suggest that such an approach underrepresents the vast majority of species and those organisms at greatest risk of extinction and thus in greatest need of conservation attention."

Biological consultant Dave Martin is the Regional Coordinator for the Breeding Bird Atlas.)