| Annual Report of the Port Franks Properties Management Committee
To the Board and Members of Lambton Wildlife Incorporated This report briefly documents the activities of the Committee last year. It attempts to recognize the contributions of the Committee members to the Corporation and in so doing hereby thanks them. . One of the major activities is the Prescribed Burn at the Karner Blue Sanctuary and because this is described elsewhere little more about it will be discussed in this report. . The ad hoc Land Acquisition Subcommittee saw little action. Our project is moving very slowly at the moment, but we are still very much interested in donations to the Land Acquisition Fund. . As ever, the Committee is looking for new members. We divide ourselves into two groups. Many are in both groups. The Planning Group includes those who don't mind coming out to meetings to discuss and plan the activities during the year. The Maintenance Group includes everybody who will come out and help with physical work on the properties. In spite of what Floyd Elliott might say these are fun social gatherings. So give me or any other member of the Committee a call if you would like to participate in any way. . June 7, 2002 KBS Workparty - John Bellar, Peter Banks, Joe Connop, Kevin Crowell, Joe Haselmayer, Terry Crabe, Casey Vanden Bygaart. Cut down many white pines to increase lupine growth areas. Brush trails. Recover from Poison Ivy attack. . July 17 Forested Dunes Inspection - Peter Hill, Peter Banks. Check status Mud Creek Bridge and plan repairs. . July 23 Forested Dunes Work Party - Peter Hill, Gord Catterson, Joe Haselmayer, Peter Banks, Joe Connop, Kevin Crowell, George Krause, Nikki May. Repair Mud Creek Bridge supports. Shore up approach with rubble and concrete. Brush entrance area. Water Chestnut trees. Recover from Poison Ivy attack. . July 30 Port Franks Trails Committee Meeting - representing LWI: Nikki May, Peter Banks, Floyd Elliott. . Oct 23 L Lake and Forested Dunes Trail Inspection - Kate Monk, Kelly Vader, Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority, Floyd Elliott, Peter Banks. . Review what brushing and tree cutting needs to be done on trails that may be performed by Ontario Works personnel. . Oct 24
Karner Blue Sanctuary Prescribed Burn Inspection - Terry Crabe, Alf Rider, Floyd Elliott, Peter Banks. |
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Ex officio - President
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Everything we had to sell was gone in the first hour and a half. We could have sold twice as much, as people kept coming long after we were sold out. After expenses this year's sale realized more than $2100.00, and the committee is positive that even more can be made next year if we get organized well in advance. With this in mind we need to start a recruitment drive now! HELP WANTED- We need - Floyd Elliot |
| Annual General Meeting
Click here and scroll for pictures of the meeting.
The club year of 2002-2003 was a busy one for Lambton Wildlife. There was much to enjoy and much conservation work to do. Thanks to our previous presidents, LWI was running smoothly so it has been a pleasurable job for me to guide LWI through this past year. I have had a very strong, hard working and supportive board of directors helping me. Thank you to all the board members. In particular I would like to thank Don Smith for sharing his expertise on club matters with me and for his advice and help throughout the year. I would also like to thank the many members of the club who volunteer their time and participate in club functions. The success of the club is a result of contributions by many people. I would like to comment on some of the highlights of the year. The Indoor programs were excellent with outstanding speakers. The turnouts for the programs were very heart-warming. In the new year it seemed that the attendance increased for each meeting with a room full of members and visitors for our last meeting - Peter's mushroom talk The Outdoor program had interesting trips to local spots such as Kettle Point and the lighthouse. Some of our outings took us to locales further afield such as Niagara Falls and the Bruce Peninsula. Thank you to all the trip leaders. EARTHWAYS continues to be an excellent source of information for our members and the public. Thank you to everyone who is involved in producing and distributing the newsletter. A major fund raiser for the club is the annual Native Plant Sale. The committee has been busy getting ready for this years event taking place on May 10 at the home of John Teasell. There is quite a bit of work involved in organizing the sale and the committee is to be congratulated for the excellent sale last year. Good luck with this year's sale. Mandaumin Woods received a face lift with new signs being installed. Join John Teasell for one or both of the spring walks in Mandaumin Woods and you can check them out for yourself. Members were very generous and supported an appeal for funds to purchase property adjacent to the Karner Blue Sanctuary. We are continuing our efforts to acquire the property at a reasonable price. We may ultimately have to look for a different property if the purchase of the property in Port Franks is not possible. The board and interested members of LWI met with Graham Buck of the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) to discuss the management of the Van Valkenburg property and our concerns with the lack of management for Bickford Oak Woods (BOW). We hope that LWI may be able to assume ownership of the Van Valkenburg property and if so we will be busy in the coming months preparing a management plan for it. We are continuing our discussions with the NCC and the Ministry of Natural Resources regarding our concerns over ATV use and hunting in Bickford Oak woods. We are in the process of updating the Five Year Management Plan for the Port Franks Forested Dunes Nature Reserve. The Young Naturalists were very active over the past year. The major project for the group this year was building and installing flying squirrel nesting boxes in appropriate locations. Membership in LWI is 121 family memberships, 93 single members, 10 life members, 16 Young Naturalists and 6 corporate members. We also mail out 63 complementary copies of EARTHWAYS. Members have been very generous with their contributions to the club enabling us to continue with our conservation and education efforts. Our higher education award for 2002 went to Jennifer Vidmar. Due to this year being a double cohort year, we are planning on awarding two bursaries if there are suitable candidates. Members represented LWI at meetings of the FON, Ontario Land Trust Alliance, Carolinian Canada Coalition, Sarnia Urban Wildlife, Rural Lambton Stewardship Network, Bluewater Trails Committee, Sarnia Environmental Advisory Committee and the Bi-national Public Advisory Council. Our website continues to be monitored by Ross MacMillan. He made an important change this year by getting us a much simpler web address: As usual LWI extended its support to projects in the local community and the larger scientific community. The Howard Watson Nature Trail was enhanced by joining with Bluewater trails to install a new display describing the plants to be found along the trail and the history of the trail. The display is installed where the trail crosses Modeland Road. Several of our members made major contributions to this project. We supported the purchase of Bickford Oak Members supported the annual cleanup of the HWNT and our section of highway 402. Many members participated in the annual Kettle Point Christmas Bird Count and also in other counts taking place in Ontario. Several birders from LWI gathered data for the second year of The Breeding Bird Atlas of Ontario - a five year project being run out of the U of Guelph to find out about the birds that are breeding in our area and to compare it to data obtained 20 years ago. LWI members participated in annual Butterfly counts around Ontario. As you can see LWI has many active members doing worthwhile things for the natural environment. We also have many members who are not as active in the workings of the club, but are very supportive of our projects. These members are also very important to the club. Thank-you all very much for your support. It has been a pleasure and an honour serving as your president. Diane Haselmayer Following dinner Diane welcomed everyone and introduced the head table. Some announcements were made regarding the upcoming highway and trail clean-ups and the annual plant sale. The United Church members who prepared and served the dinner were thanked. They pointed out that this was the 30th anniversary of the annual dinner. Diane then presented her President's Honour Roll. It is a tradition to honour several members of the club for their work during the year for LWI. It was not an easy task selecting the recipients for this year as there as are so many deserving members. However I did select the five deserving members. It is my pleasure at this time to nominate Gord Catterson to the President's Honour Roll for his work as Earthways editor. He attends many meetings on behalf of LWI and it is thanks to him that many first hand reports of the meetings are reported in Earthways. Another of Gord's contributions to LWI is serving as chairman of the HWNT. He is the person who fields complaints and questions regarding the trail. His organizational skills are put to the test in looking after the LWI archives and possessions. He has just produces a comprehensive list of LWI possessions. The possessions list will be useful to members in providing information on what LWI has and who has it. Thank-you Gord for your contributions to LWI. Next I would like to thank Peter Banks for his devotion to LWI. Peter is one of the early members of the club and his energy and enthusiasm for the work of LWI has not waned over the years. I am truly amazed when I look at his accomplishments over the years and he continues to devote many hours to LWI business or work. He attends many meetings as our representative. He continues to oversee the management of our Port Franks properties. Thank you Peter for your continued support of LWI. I would also like to nominate Alf Rider for his work with the club. Alf is also a long time member and has served LWI in a number of capacities. Today I would like to add him to the honour roll for the many years he has led outings for LWI. His trips are always interesting and educational. I don't think I have ever been on one of his trips and not learned some new fact about birds or insects. He is an outstanding leader and teacher. Thank-you Alf for your continuing leadership. Finally, I would like to honour Gita and Modris for their continuing work in organizing the distribution of Earthways. If you need any folding, stuffing, label attaching I can recommend these two. They are also supportive of LWI in other ways, but EARTHWAYS is their baby. Thank-you Gita and Modris for your efforts on behalf of LWI. This completes my honour roll for 2002-2003. Diane Haselmayer The L.W.I. recognition awards were presented. Meritorious Service Award. This year the award was presented to Nan Macnair in recognition of her many years of dedicated service to L.W.I. She served as a board member in 1985-86, and again in 1991-93 and as President in 1982-83. She worked on several committees including the ad hoc Membership Committee, the Environment Committee, the Sarnia Urban Wildlife Committee, the Karner Blue Sanctuary Committee, was Membership Secretary, Treasurer and Earthways Editor from 1982-1988 and 1990-1992. Unfortunately Nan was unable to attend but this award recognizes her many contributions to L.W.I. Conservation Award. |
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Environment Award. Nominations to replace the retiring board members were handled by past-President Don Smith. Those retiring are Joan Biggs, Thelma Shaw, Don Smith, John Teasel and Elizabeth Tenhoeve. There was an additional vacancy due to the resignation of Chris Holding. Nominated and accepted to replace these individuals were John Bellar, Malcolm Boyd, Larry Cornelis (also elected as President-elect), Dick Maxfield (currently Membership Secretary), Carol Churchman to a one year term to replace Chris Holding and Don Smith. As Diane is staying for another year as President Don will remain as Past President. Returning Board members include Diane Haselmayer (President), Janet Bremner (Indoor Chair), Gerry Clements (Publicity), David Dell, Kim Gledhill (Young Naturalists), Sharon Nethercott, Judie Scott (Secretary), George Sunaitis, and Larry Western (Treasurer). Next the bucket draw was held. The wildflower and fern assortment donated by John Teasell was won by George Sunaitis. Mary Warkentin won the Red-breasted Merganser pot holders donated by Alice Wallent-Bellar while two books donated by Bill Bechold (Animal Encyclopedia and Glorious Stenciling) was won by Gerrit Tenhoeve. A teacup & saucer and a bud vase was won by Gerry Lloyd, red and white bottles of wine donated by Don Smith was won by Alf Rider while the two bottles of wine from Modris Zandbergs was won by Joan Biggs. The three certificates for a magnetic massage given by Tony Roach were picked up by Gerry Lloyd, Diane Haselmayer and Helen Tait. Dinner for Four at Lambton College, arranged by Elizabeth Tenhoeve, was won by Elizabeth Van Stam, a gift basket of cosmetics donated by Sharon and Wayne Bowen was taken by Janet Wylie while Floyd Elliot nicked the Karner Blue place mats donated by Gerry Clements. Carolyn Ellis donated a copy of the Breeding Bird Atlas of Ontario and a Photo Book, both of which were won by Blake Mann, while Bob Bell won the gourmet brunch for four to be given by Gita Zandbergs. A cosmetic assortment from Diane Haselmayer was won by Jean Verity, Floyd Elliott's two bottles of wine by Marylin Smith, the Wild Turkey Surprise from George Sunaitis by Aurie Prendiville and the Apothecary Jars from Janet Wylie by Alf Rider. A cheesecake for 10 by Diane Haselmayer was won by Gita Zandbergs, a barrel of cologne donated by Elma Charalambous was won by Floyd Elliot and the Squirrel Entertainment Centre constructed by George Sunaitis was picked up by Kim Gledhill. (This was a four armed contraption with corn cobs at the end of the arms which should provide a good deal of amusing squirrel antics as they try to eat the corn There were two door prizes. The first was won by Wayne Bowen and consisted of a bird house from Larry Cornelis, a book from Bill Bechold entitled All About Herbs, Tupperware donated by Faith Archer, a certificate for a magnetic massage donated by Tony Roach and tomato plants given by Modris Zandbergs. The second door prize consisted of tomato plants again from Modris and Tupperware from Faith Archer. This was won by Kim Gledhill. The featured speaker at this year's AGM was Bill Scott speaking on The Galapagos Islands, mainland Ecuador and Peru. Bill was introduced by George Sunaitis who mentioned that he was a former pupil of Bill's a (um) few years ago when Bill was still teaching. Class of '69 to be exact. Bill retired from teaching in 1992. To start Bill showed three slides of the Howard Watson Nature Trail which runs behind his and Judie's home on Blackwell Road. One slide showed the trail as it is today, one with a picture of a train running on the track (a steam engine no less), and one of Bill and Judie's children standing between the rails. The contrast between then and now was striking with a lot of vegetation growth since then. Bill then moved on to slides of Ecuador showing pictures of the landscape of the mainland and some great views of the Galapagos Islands, which belong to Ecuador and are a good example of what eco-tourism can do for these countries which are generally quite poor. He showed many pictures of various fauna, particularly birds, which have adapted to the unique eco-systems of these islands. He had some pictures of the Darwin Finches which had particularly intrigued Darwin as they seemingly had adapted to individuals islands, with the birds having varying beaks to accommodate the particular food sources on each island where they were found. In fact it was these birds that were an important factor in leading Darwin to his theory of evolution, particularly in light of the fact that Darwin had been hired as a naturalist to support the original purpose of the voyage of the Beagle, which was to provide evidence of the biblical account of creation. Finally Bill showed some slides of Peru and particularly Machu Picchu, the 'Lost City of the Incas', only discovered by Dr. Hiram Bingham of Yale in 1911. It sits atop a mountain over 2,000 m. high and Bill had some impressive pictures of the site taken from various vantage points. He explained that unlike other native cultures such as the Aztec and Mayan, the Inca empire was relatively short lived and depended on the survival of the Inca, the supreme person, and when he was removed by the Spanish it quickly withered. Our thanks to Bill for some really good photographs and commentary on this part of the world. The AGM adjourned about 10 p.m. Gord Catterson |
| 2003 Prescribed Burn at Karner Blue Sanctuary
The planning for a burn begins in the fall of the previous year. We had burned the same three small areas in 1999 and 2000 and did not want to burn again until we had developed a long-term burn plan. In September, Terry Crabe kindly developed that plan for us. It included a tree cutting schedule and a burning schedule for various blocks. For 2003, the plan was to burn blocks numbered A, B and C. Next we needed to apply to MNR to perform the burn and start to look for the money to pay for it. Nikki May, with a little time in August before she applied herself to her university studies, prepared the MNR application and a grant request to CWIP, (Community Wildlife Improvement Program). A philosophy we have developed is that any project first tries to seek its own funding before drawing from the LWI Conservation Fund. CWIP had supplied most of the monies required for the previous two burns. We soon ran into problems. Our previous two burns had been subsidized by MNR. We only paid a portion of the direct and indirect costs. In January we were informed that this time we were scheduled to pay one hundred per cent of all costs. It was necessary to increment our request for the CWIP grant. To our dismay, we were informed CWIP was no longer granting money for prescribed burns. So, increased costs and no money became our challenge. In early February, Peter Banks applied for a corporate Shell Environmental Fund grant and a TD Friends of the Environment grant. We were pleased and appreciative that both came through. We were back on track. Applications to other bodies were also sent in by Peter but were not successful. Meanwhile, Floyd Elliott, Prescribed Burn Officer, was reviewing our application with MNR in Aylmer in mid February. Approval from MNR was obtained and we were on to the next hurdle. With the late snowmelt we had no idea when the Burn might occur. We usually got a week's notice on the approximate window and a day's notice for the Burn day itself. In mid April we got the notification for the window, April 23, 24 or 25. Now the rush was on to prepare firebreaks On April 16 Terry Crabe and Alf Rider made a preliminary pass around one of the blocks with a rented self-propelled cutting machine. Then the next day they were joined by the big team of Floyd Elliott, Kevin Crowell, Joe Haselmayer and Peter Banks to cut the brush around all blocks to be burned, Terry with the machine and the rest with hand tools. Terry also arranged with Tom Purdy at Pinery to have an ATV delivered with a raking attachment on it. Five hours of hard work didn't quite finish the fire break task. Another work party was arranged for April 21. An even bigger team showed up, George Krause, Kevin Crowell, Bruce Strangway, Joe Haselmayer, Alf Rider, Carole Buck, Floyd Elliott and Peter Banks. Three hours of stiff raking and the firebreaks around all blocks were complete, ready for inspection by MNR Senior Fire Officer, Jack Chapman Then there was the delivery of fliers to all households near the KBS. These had been prepared by Floyd Elliott, LWI Burn Officer. Floyd had previously sent letters to all appropriate businesses in the community, to medical facilities, recreational facilities, etc. announcing the impending burn. Floyd and Peter had also met with the OPP in Forest. On the afternoon of April 25, Jack notified us that the burn would be on Sunday, April 27, planned ignition at 11 am. Do you have the Burn Permit he asked? Oh, oh. We did not. This was something new since our previous burns. A quick call to Ron Huxley, Ausable Fire Department Chief indicated it should not be a problem. Diane Haselmayer graciously took a quick spin down to Northville and picked up the Permit. Jack had clearance to burn sections A, B, and C but because of the large amount of slash in an adjacent block, he had concerns about a potential run-a-way fire. If there had been a heavy rain a few days before it probably would have been OK, but as it was it was decided to burn only block A near the entrance. Sunday morning, ten MNR fire fighters including Jack assembled at the KBS. This was more than we had last year. Only one had burned at the KBS before. Ausable Fire Chief Ron Huxley soon showed up but without the rest of his department and their big fire truck. As it turned out his people were busy all day putting out brush fires in the nearby community. The Pinery pumper made its appearance and the MNR people soon had hoses laid and portable water packs filled. LWI's main task during these burns is traffic control, excessive smoke reporting and answering questions and concerns of passing citizens. This job was carried out by Alf Rider, and Peter and Joan Banks, frequently reporting thesituation by radio to Jack Chapman in the burn area. Probably a dozen cars stopped for explanations as well as a fair number of walkers. Even though we were burning right at the KBS gate there was less smoke on the road than in the last two burns. The burn had started on time at about 11 am. It was finished by about 2 pm. The MNR crew remained until 6 pm putting out smoldering logs and stumps. We were asked to check out the situation the next day before noon. Peter and Joan Banks did so and found one stump still burning. They had brought their shovels and quickly remedied the situation. A day later another large stump and the eight-inch deep leaf litter around it was found to be still burning. Again Peter and Joan quenched it and reported back to Jack Chapman as requested. Lambton Wildlife would like to thank all of their members involved in the many aspects of this successful Prescribed Burn, all of the MNR people, the Ausable Fire Department, the Shell Environmental Fund and the TD Friends of the Environment Foundation. Peter Banks |
The L.W.I. annual general meeting and dinner was held on Saturday, April 12th, 2003 at Mandaumin United Church Hall. The business meeting commenced at 4 p.m. and was presided over by President Diane Haselmayer. Following the usual formalities Diane presented her report as follows.