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By Carl Maiolani

On Wednesday Feb. 19^th, the Membership Committee hosted the 4^th New Member Orientation meeting at the Ojibway Nature Centre. Altogether, 26 people participated in this annual event designed to help newish members better understand the organizational structure and workings of our club. We started the session at 6:30 pm with pizza and home-baked cookies courtesy of the board of directors and a couple committee members. Carl Maiolani led the presentation by guiding the group through the Club’s website. A short discussion about each of the site’s pages served to familiarize the attendees with the core aspects of the Club. We covered the Club’s mission, monthly meetings, events including field trips and Bioblitzes, our social media presence, the newsletter, and the books published by the Club. Recommendations for improvements to the website’s pages were offered by those in the audience. A suggestion was made that the Club might have a committee devoted to native plants. All of the suggestions will be passed along to the board for consideration. The Committee expects to hold another orientation meeting at the beginning of 2021. In the meantime all members are encouraged to contact the Committee and get more involved in Club activities in line with whatever their interests or skills are.

From Gina Pannunzio

For the first time in the history of the Detroit River, an international community-based effort, the Great Global CleanUp: Detroit River, will hold the largest one-day cleanup event on Saturday, April 25, 2020 between 8:00 a.m. and noon. In collaboration with the Earth Day Network and to mark the 50^th anniversary of Earth Day, nine local organizations from the U.S. and Canada will mobilize an estimated 5,000 volunteers from both countries to join together to protect, restore and enhance one of our environmental assets.  

While all of the organizations have held cleanups in the past, this is the first time they have joined forces to make the biggest impact possible. The participating organizations include: Essex Region Conservation Authority, Detroit River Canadian Cleanup, Friends of Ojibway Prairie, Essex County Field Naturalists’ Club, City of Windsor, Windsor Port Authority, Rotary Club of LaSalle Centennial, Sandwich Teen Action Group, Town of LaSalle, Town of Amherstburg, Focused Environment Crew, Friends of River Canard, Windsor Port Authority, Caesars Windsor CodeGreen, Little River Enhancement Group, and the Eyes on Windsor Anne Whidholm Memorial Cleanup. Belle Isle Conservancy, Friends of the Detroit River, Friends of the River Rouge, Erb Family Foundation, International Wildlife Refuge Alliance, Michigan Department of Natural Resources, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services and Green Living Science.

In global solidarity with more than a billion people worldwide, each working together to cleanup their community on Earth Day, the Great Global Cleanup: Detroit River will help to preserve a part of what is almost 20 percent of planet Earth’s freshwater. The Great Lakes water system is arguably the largest source of freshwater on the planet and with this historic partnership we all have a chance to preserve it for our shared use and enjoyment. Around the world, other Great Global Cleanup campaigns will take place in April making it the largest volunteer effort in history with the goal of removing billions of pieces of trash from green spaces, urban communities and waterways.

Volunteers of all ages from Detroit and Ontario are needed to convene on the river’s banks from Belle Isle to Downriver at multiple sites on both sides of the river, each championed by one of the Detroit River Binational Coalition organizations, to remove waste and plastic pollution, improve wildlife habitats and prevent harm to the shared ecosystem. Groups, businesses, families and individuals are welcome to join the effort. To learn more about the Great Global CleanUp: Detroit River, volunteer projects and to register to participate, visit    https://greatglobalcleanupdetroitriver.org/ .

Questions can be sent to Gina Pannunzio, Partnerships and Outreach Coordinator, ERCA at  or (519-776- 5209 ext. 245).

By Chris Hart

In October, the Pelee Island Bird Observatory (PIBO), along with CBC Windsor, asked children ages four to 12 to make a short video about why trees are important. From those submissions, 10 children were selected to attend a Forest Walk with Diana Beresford-Kroeger around Ojibway on Monday, November 4^th. I volunteered for this PIBO event, and after ensuring that each child (and their parents) had their safety and consent forms filled out, I was lucky enough to tag along. During the walk, the kids were treated with many informative facts, anecdotes and activities, all focused around the history, healing power, and overall wonder of trees. After listening to the ‘ocean sounds’ inside of a conch shell, Diana had each of the children place their ear against the trunk of a large tree in order to hear the subtle sounds of its metabolic processes. This was the first of many ways she had the children connect to their natural environment.

Over the course of the walk, Diana, who was escorted by MP Brian Masse, hosted several interactive discussions with the group of contest winners. The kids had a chance to name different types of animals that live in trees, and Diana followed that up with information on how animal-use is also beneficial to the tree. A prime example was her reenactment of how a raccoon rubs a paw paw seed in their claws, inadvertently providing it with a protective coating of grease to help with future germination.

Diana has a new book entitled To Speak for the Trees: My Life’s Journey from Ancient Celtic Woman to a Healing Vision of the Forest. This theme was very evident throughout the walk. She discussed the healing potential of a variety of local plants, ranging from the antioxidants within raspberries and blueberries, to the digestive powers of apples, to the circulation and stroke prevention benefits of sassafras. Diana also touched on the plethora of native trees that have anti-cancer qualities, and how their reduction, and in some cases, extirpation, in the area, paired with increased industrialization has had an impact on the health of the public. In between her lessons aimed at the children, Diana was more than willing to walk along and chat with parents about any local remedies that might benefit their suggested ailments. Diana has her own arboretum on her property in the Ottawa region. One of its many purposes is to propagate native plants with the intention of returning them to areas from which they have been extirpated.

Once the walk was completed, everyone gathered in the visitor’s center for nice lunch provided by the Mushroom Hub. Diana sat at a table with the children, which, compared to the crowds along the walk, provided a more casual setting for them to ask questions and tell their own stories. This was a pleasant end to a very informative and interesting event. Those 10 children were provided with a great experience to interact with a truly remarkable person. The knowledge and passion for nature that Diana shared with them that morning will hopefully lay the foundation for the next generation of environmental enthusiasts and activists.

To learn more about Diana Beresford-Kroeger, please visit www.calloftheforest.ca. For more information about PIBO, and their upcoming events, visit www.pibo.ca or find them on Facebook at Pelee Island Bird Observatory.