An 'amazing change' in a few short months
News
Posted By ELLIOT FERGUSON, SENTINEL-REVIEW
Updated 1 month ago
The tour group approaches the wetland through a field used to graze cattle, each person watching where they step.
At first sight of the group, a heron lifts off . Long, graceful sweeps of its long wings carry it toward a setting sun. It's followed a few moments later by a duck frantically beating its wings.
Aquatic insects pay the group no attention and continue skimming the pond.
Less than a year ago, this wetland didn't exist. Landowners Carol Cowan and Ken Anderson, who operate an organic beef cattle farm near Drumbo, partnered with Stewardship Oxford and Ducks Unlimited to install a simple earthen berm at the east end of the property.
The results in such a short time are impressive.
Swallows and dragonflies swoop and dart over the surface of the water.
Young bull rushes grow along the new wetland, which is fenced off from the adjacent cattle pasture.
The wetland is one of the more dramatic illustrations of what landowners can do to help the environment on their properties.
"Projects like this site, where we've done just a simple berm to create a wetland area, you know, it has many features that are going to help nature," says Dave Depuydt, stewardship co-ordinator of Stewardship Oxford, a Ministry of Natural Resources-backed organization that works to enhance natural areas in the county.
The water used to flow uncontrollably off the field into a nearby stream and then into the Nith River. Now, runoff pools in the low end of the field, providing habitat for wild fowl, insects and aquatic plants. The water eventually drains off at a much slower rate than before.
"It's going to restore the hydrology of the water and help groundwater. They're going to help the water quality that leaves the land, so that by the time it reaches the river it's not full of nutrients that are going to cause algae blooms and create oxygen deficiencies in the water. So it's going to improve fisheries habitat," Depuydt says.
This is the fourth Stewardship Oxford summer tour, a four-hour trip around the county visiting environmental restoration projects.
About 20 people - environmentalists, activists and landowners - visited six sites that offer a cross section of what people are doing locally.
"They can be doing anything from doing tree planting to creating wetlands to doing habitat restoration for tallgrass prairie," Depuydt says.
"Even something as simple as managing their woodlot, putting up nesting boxes, they can all be considered really good stewardship.
"These are options, and practical options for them to do on their own properties."
Stewardship Oxford co-ordinates projects across the county. It works with groups such as Ducks Unlimited, Tall Grass Ontario, Trees Ontario, the Ontario Public Service Opportunity Fund, Streams Unlimited, Pheasants Forever and the Rough Grouse Society.
Four conservation authorities -Upper Thames River, Grand River, Long Point Region and Catfish Creek -are also partners in some projects.
In the past 12 months, Stewardship Oxford planted close to five hectares of trees.
Through the Forests for Life program, 2,900 tree and shrub seedlings were planted. These are later sold to landowners at cost.
In the past year, Stewardship Oxford also provided enough tall-stock trees to East Zorra-Tavistock to plant along more than 900 metres of the 10th Line to act as a natural snow fence.
Working with Ducks Unlimited, Stewardship Oxford installed 2.6 hectares of wetland in four privately owned locations. The group also planted more than a hectare of tallgrass prairie that helps prevent soil erosion.
Standing in the cattle pasture next to the wetland, Roger Boyd, chair of the stewardship council, can't help but be impressed with how quickly nature has moved in to the area.
"This one is the most spectacular change for me," Boyd says. "We were here, I'm going to say about a year ago to this day. We came in from the other direction but the change in the landscape is amazing and to see the wildlife that has moved in here."
The stewardship programs also involve area youth, with close to 430 elementary and secondary school pupils and Scouts Canada members taking part in natural resource management activities.
Tours like this help bridge what Depuydt calls the urban-rural disconnect, and he says it is especially important that people who live in the city understand the value of stewardship work in the country.
"Getting urban folks out to see what brings them their clean water, what brings them their clean air, what brings them their abundant wildlife. Most of that stuff happens on private land. Oxford County is very much a privately owned county, so the stewardship that happens out here is the stewardship that benefits us all," he says.
Stewardship Oxford is usually invited by the landowner to work with them to put together a stewardship plan for their properties.
Such commitment from individuals gives Roger Boyd hope.
"It's like a pendulum. Maybe in the '70s people were really concerned about the environment and for a couple of decades they got more interested in money and possessions and that sort of thing," he says.
"I think the pendulum is swinging back. People are interested in their surroundings and they are starting to realize, with oil spills and all sorts of other accidents, that they are part of their environment.
"I'm really encouraged to see that people are taking small steps and doing the right thing. Think globally and act locally. This is it in spades."
