eastern region (ontario)

volume 28, number 4, 2007

DDucks Unlimited Canada, the Otonabee Region Conservation Authority, Lakeland Alliance, the Peterborough County Stewardship Council and the Victoria County Stewardship Council have formed a partnership to promote wetland stewardship to private landowners in the greater Kawartha area. The program will focus on working with private landowners to promote all the benefits that wetlands can bring to a property and help landowners maintain or manage their wetland habitat. With funding from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, project co-ordinator has been hired and will report to the five partners who have formed a steering committee.

DUC and partners help organize wetland stewardship program in Kawartha area

The initial focus will be on helping to conserve the over 200,000 acres of permanent wetlands in the counties of Peterborough and Kawartha Lakes, ideally by assisting with voluntary customized wetland management plans for interested landowners. The program will also identify wetland restoration opportunities, implement a nest box program and renew conservation agreements with existing DUC project landowners.

The Kawartha Lakes area is rich with lakes and wetlands, which makes it prime habitat for waterfowl and wildlife.

While the feasibility of peat as a fuel source in Ontario is a fairly new issue, DUC has many fact sheets available on a wide variety of issues relating to the environmental and economic importance of wetlands on the landscape: everything from marine areas to grasslands and forests. For more information check out Natural Values: Linking the envi-ronment to the economy at www.ducks.ca. Click on the Wetlands and Waterfowl Conservation tab and then the Importance of Wetlands link under the Value of Wetlands tab in the sidebar.

e a s t e r n r e g i o n ( o n t a r i o )

WWith an increasing population and the corresponding demand for electricity, the Ontario government has been forced to look for alternatives to replace the energy output that will be lost from the decom-missioning of coal-fired generation plants.

Clean and sustainable alternative energy sources, including peat, are being pursued to make up this anticipated shortfall of power. Today, peat fuel supplies 13 per cent of Ireland’s power needs. In Finland seven per cent of electricity and 19 per cent of district heating requirements come from this non-conventional energy source. Sweden, Russia, Belarus and the Baltic republics also use peat for energy.

The advantages of peat for power pro-duction are that it has only 10 per cent of the sulphur content of coal, contains vir-tually no mercury and produces less ash waste and dust emissions. U.S and European scientists have classified peat as a slowly renewable biomass. Although the economics are not well understood, the use of peat has been predicted as a competitive replacement fuel source in several studies.

However, this potentially cost-effective renewable resource is not without risks to the environment. Peat is harvested from bogs and the amount of peat required for use as a fuel source can only be found in northern Ontario – particularly the boreal

DUC Ontario explores issues around peat as a fuel source

forest. Harvesting peat from Ontario’s boreal forest could have a number of impacts on wildlife and the environment.

Impact on waterfowl:The excavation of peat will remove one

habitat type and replace it with another, potentially transitioning wetlands from shal-low vegetated basins to deeper open-water basins. Waterfowl productivity is anticipated to be lower in this altered condition. DUC has internal guidelines that caution against activities that effectively exchange one wet-land habitat type for another.

Impact on the environment:The role of peat as a substitute for fossil

fuels could have a negative impact on climate change and thus continental wetlands. Wetland vegetation, through the process of photosynthesis, uses carbon taken from the atmosphere for plant growth. As a result the boreal forest bogs function as a sink for atmospheric carbon.

Bioenergy production from sustainable biomass sources is considered by some to be carbon neutral because CO2 emitted during combustion or natural degradation processes is captured by growing plants. However, it is unclear for peat specifically if the full environmental costs of using

peat as a fuel source includes the CO2 used in the harvesting, transportation and preparation of the material for burning or the potential of the degraded wetlands to recapture carbon.

DUC heartily supports an ecologically responsible and sustainable approach to the generation of electricity but feels that the environmental impacts of using peat as a fuel source should be more fully researched. As we search for sustainable alternatives to fuel sources it will be very important to ensure, to the best of our ability, that the decisions we make today don’t create new types of problems for future generations. In the meantime, one of the most important things we can do to take pressure off of Ontario’s resources is to reduce our consumption.

Investigation of blue-winged teal A worrisome turn of events in Ontario is the suspected decline of blue-winged teal. Waterfowl experts believe that the loss of pasture-land, ephemeral wetlands and adjacent short grassland nesting habitat has contributed to the decline of this small duck that prefers

shallow ponds. The Eastern Habitat Joint Venture is undertaking a research

project that seeks to confirm the decline of blue-winged teal and examine the link between past and current habitat availability and population numbers. Results will assist DUC and other conservation organizations in developing appropriate management, enhancement or conservation programs to increase and/or maintain blue-winged teal breeding pairs in the province.

ILetters from a young waterfowling enthusiast

e a s t e r n r e g i o n ( o n t a r i o )

In the early spring of 2006 a keen young waterfowler from Kingsville wrote DUC and sent photos of a nest box that he had built himself. Mike Coppola says he was hooked on waterfowling after he was introduced to it by his friend Tyler Sabelli.

In his own words: “Tyler invited me to go goose hunting with him last year around the end of the season and I got hooked. I started checking out waterfowling forums to learn everything I could. I saw a post on the forums about a guy making some wood duck boxes with his son and daughter, and I didn’t really know what the box was for so I researched it some more. I decided I wanted to make one since on my trips to my pond I always saw a bunch of wood ducks. It was early February when I decided I was going to make a box for sure so I would be able to get it up in time before breeding started. I researched how to make a wood duck box and came up with a really good diagram with dimensions and instructions. It just so happens that it was a Ducks Unlimited wood duck box instructional. So I printed it out and headed to the garage. I traced out the dimensions, cut it out, and screwed it together. That weekend, my friend Tyler came over and we built two more. We put one box at my small pond, one at this other small pond behind my bush and one at the bigger pond. They are all spread out by a pretty good distance. Well, after putting them up and checking up on them and seeing that one was successful, I figured I’d e-mail Ducks Unlimited to show that their design worked for me and I knew they wouldn’t mind seeing a successful box. :)”

Following are Mike’s enthusiastic updates leading up to a suc-cessful hatch.

April 25“Hello, my name is Mike. I’m seventeen years old and I’m from

southern Ontario in the town of Kingsville (home of Jack Miner). I’ve been getting pretty bored during the off season and was thinking about volunteering for something waterfowl related. I made three wood duck boxes this month and one box already has a bunch of white feathers in it, hopefully from a wood duck. There are a lot of woodies in my area so I’m hoping it’s one of them!”

April 27“Hi again, I checked up on the first wood duck box I ever made

(made it about 3 weeks ago and placed it at one of my ponds) and look at these pics. :) There are 13 eggs. I’m positive it’s a wood duck.Another box I set up is empty and the other one I made is being

nested by some other kind of bird. I figured I’d show you these pics since I talked to you about the boxes I made and thought you’d enjoy seeing some eggs. It feels so good helping out the population. :)”

May 25“Hey there, just thought I’d let you know about my SUCCESS!! All

thirteen eggs hatched yesterday and they jumped out today (I missed the jumping but the box is now empty with lots of egg shells). Here’s some pics.”

Congratulations, Mike and Tyler, on your first successful hatch! Nesting cavities are scarce in southern Ontario but thanks to DUC’s wood duck nest box program in Ontario and waterfowl enthusiasts like Mike Coppola and Tyler Sabelli, wood ducks are once again thriving here. Not including the wood duck boxes that enthusiasts build themselves, Ducks Unlimited Canada has nearly 12,000 wood duck boxes on wetlands throughout Ontario.

Above: Young waterfowlers Tyler Sabelli (left) and Mike Coppola (right) donned their camo for this photo with the successful nest box.

Right: If you are interested in building your own nest box like Mike and Tyler, please visit http://www.ducks.ca/resource/general/wetland/ nestbox.html to download the instructional PDF.

Ducks Unlimited Canada contributed $40,000 to Cataraqui Region Conser-vation Authority’s efforts to acquire 700 acres of the environmentally sig-nificant Bayview Wetland north of Amherstview. The purchase strengthens the ecological link between Parrott’s Bay Conservation Area, Lemoine Point Conservation Area and the Collins Creek corridor. Parrott’s Bay and Collins Creek are also projects to which DUC has con-tributed.

Parrott's Bay Conservation AreaVisitors to Parrott’s Bay Conservation Area in Kingston, Ont. (pictured below), will see some bright new interpretive signs there. In 2005, Ducks Unlimited Canada assisted with the purchase of a property that was an important upland addition to the provincially significant Parrott’s Bay coastal wetland. Last year, DUC and the Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority applied to the Community Foundation of Greater Kingston for funding for interpretive signs that have since been completed and installed at the conservation area.

eastern region (ontario)

The Flyway newsletter is published by Ducks Unlimited CanadaOak Hammock Marsh Conservation CentreP.O. Box 1160, Stonewall, ManitobaR0C 2Z0 tel (204)467-3000 fax (204)467-9028toll-free 1(800)665-DUCK

Please direct your inquiries to the following:Eastern Region Atlantic: Kelly MacDonald Quebec: Bernard Filion Ontario: Lynette MaderWestern Region Marci Dube

Flyway production staffDirector of Communications and Marketing:Madeleine ArbezEditor: Duncan MorrisonAssistant: June FinnsonArt Director: Tye GreggGraphic Designers: Lindsay Pikta-Marie, Aquila Samson, Jeope Wolfe

© Ducks Unlimited Canada, 2007 Printed in Canada on 100% recycled paper including 100% post-consumer fibres

ontario area ContactsDirector of Regional Operations Eastern Canada, Jamie Fortune (613) 565-2525

Manager of Provincial Operations for OntarioRon Maher (613) 389-0418

Conservation ProgramsBrian Royal (705) 721-4444

Outreach ProgramsLynette Mader (705) 721-4444

Education Program Coordinator Stephanie Walker (705) 721-4444

Government RelationsJulie Cayley (705) 721-4444

DevelopmentJessica Rawn (705) 721-4444

Provincial Manager of Event & Volunteer ProgramsSteve Stinkowji (705) 544-8437

Event & Volunteer Customer Service(613) 389-0418 (866) 389-0418

publication agreement #40064849

This yellow orchid is one of the many plant species that can be found at Bayview wetland.

DUC contributes funding to securement of Bayview Wetland