GinaECFNC

Seed Collection for Future Forests

Gina Pannunzio

Written for The Egret Newsletter – Volume 34 – Number 4 – December 2018

Windsor-Essex County is part of the most biodiverse area in all of Canada, the Carolinian Life Zone. This area is home to just over 70 native trees and shrubs that create unique forested landscapes and habitat. While the Essex Region Conservation Authority has planted more than 6 million trees and achieved 8.5% natural areas coverage, more action is needed to reach our 12% target by 2020. One way to achieve this is by continuing to plant trees, but it is also critical for tree growers to have a consistent supply of healthy, viable native woody plant seeds with locally adapted genetics. In Southern Ontario, seed collection can be challenging due to inconsistent year to year seed production, mis-identification of species, seeds provided that are from unidentified locations or generally poor quality seed to start tree seedlings from for the new season.

ERCA has a very active seed collection program. For the past decade, ERCA has partnered with landowners to collect high quality seeds from the target species that are best suited to our Carolinian zone (Zone 38). These include Hickory, Oak, Maple and Sycamore trees, as well as Dogwood, Nannyberry and Elderberry shrubs. Partner nurseries then grow the seeds into small trees. After a period of 1 – 3 years, ERCA buys these seedling trees back to plant in our region, ensuring the most tolerant and best-adapted species are used for restoration projects, providing the best chance for the trees to flourish.

As part of ERCA’s annual seed collection program, the public was invited to assist ERCA’s Certified Seed Collectors at two workshops hosted at Camp Cedarwin in Kingsville. Workshop attendees learned how to identify targeted tree species that produce high quality seed, collect sustainably from these trees, test viability from the collection as well as process, clean and prepare seed for shipping.

For those interested in learning more about the program in Ontario, I recommend checking out Forest Gene Conservation Association’s website www.fgca.net. As the Ontario Seed Plant program is now defunct, this group is working with others like Forests Ontario to deliver the certification and forecasting workshops. Their manual, Seeds of Ontario Trees and Shrubs Field Manual for Crop Forecasting and Collection is an excellent resource and can be purchased from ERCA’s office to avoid shipping costs, or via FGCA’s website.

Seed Collection Photo Gallery

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Earth Day Community Tree Planting Celebration 2019

Gina Pannunzio

Written for The Egret – Volume 34 – Issue 4 – December 2018

An active community involved in restoring the Detroit River watershed is critical to meeting conservation goals. Both Essex Region Conservation Authority (ERCA) and the Detroit River Canadian Cleanup (DRCC) support community cleanups and tree planting activities across the watershed with many different partners. Not only do these activities improve habitat quality for plants and animals, they also enhance the quality of life for local residents. Planting native trees and wildflowers restores lost habitat and increases biodiversity, while fostering environmental stewardship in the community!

Through an ongoing annual partnership in celebration of Earth Month, the DRCC, the City of Windsor, the Little River Enhancement Group (Lil’ Reg) and ERCA invite residents, organizations and businesses to help plant a naturalization site belonging to the City of Windsor, which is in the Little River watershed. In 2018, 2,200 large potted trees and seedlings were planted in two hours by over 1,200 community members!

The 2019 Earth Day celebration will take place on Sunday April 28 2019 from 10am to noon. The location is recognized as the green space, south of Wyandotte Street east between Florence Avenue and Martinique Street in Windsor. This location includes a large storm water pond and naturalized areas along the Little River corridor and the Ganatchio Trail, which is a popular recreation site for cyclists, walkers, runners etc. It should be noted that Earth Day 2019 would be the 100^th planting Lil’Reg, the City of Windsor, the DRCC and ERCA have participated in!

As part of the Earth Day celebration, Green Teams representing local organizations, groups, businesses, schools and teams of citizens register in advance to participate in the community planting. In 2017, there were 41 Green Teams registered. Some of the teams include Eco Teams from high schools and grade schools across Windsor-Essex, large families, Caesars Windsor, IKEA Windsor, Windsor Family Credit Union, Islamic Circle of North America, Rotary Club of Windsor-Roseland, Sweet Revenge Bakeshop and more. Green Teams receive a plaque for participating and get their group photo taken at the opening ceremonies prior to the planting portion of the celebration.

As well, students from K to 12 will be invited to submit entries to ERCA throughout the month of April including photography, poems, essays and posters. The student winners attend the opening ceremonies where they receive recognition receive a prize. ERCA decides the theme for the Earth Day contest based on the global theme for the day. In 2018, the art contest focused on plastic consumption reduction. The 2019 theme for Earth Day is ‘Protect Our Species.’

The Earth Day celebration also includes fun activities for kids such as face painting and nature themed crafts for families to participate in. ERCA will also have some educational resources available for anyone interested in learning about the programs available and upcoming spring events.

The How To Crew is a team of expert planters that assists ERCA staff in preparing for the planting portion of the event. As there will be many trees planted, the crew will be on hand to provide tree-planting demonstrations, to answer any questions related to tree planting, and to help with mulch and equipment distribution. The How To Crew help improve the overall quality control of how the trees are planted which improves future survival assessments. An estimated thirty How To Crew volunteers will be at the event.

Following Earth Day, citizen scientists are welcome to sign up for a tree-monitoring workshop in early June to measure the survival of Earth Day trees planted. Citizen scientists are individuals who volunteer their time, effort and resources to work with professional scientists, resource managers, environmental managers or alone on scientific research. These individuals do not necessarily have a formal science background, but are trained on the data collection methodology and understand their role in the bigger picture.

In 2018, citizen scientists worked with the DRCC, ACER (Association for Canadian Educational Resources) and ERCA to take measurements of a sample of 100 large potted Earth Day trees and conduct an overall health assessment. The measurements included root collar, height, diameter at breast height and crown width. This information helped inform ERCA staff and the City of Windsor Forester evaluate the survival of community planted trees, which informs future planting plans and decisions made about community supported naturalization projects in Windsor-Essex County.

Join the How To Crew!

There will be a How To Crew Tree Planting Workshop hosted on Thursday January 31 2019 from 6:30pm to 8:00pm in Committee Room C at the Essex Civic Centre. Check out the events list for more details.

Earth Day Celebration at Malden Park

Each year, the City of Windsor hosts the Earth Day celebration at Malden Park. The details and date for this event will be available in the new year. The Essex County Field Naturalists will also have a Bake Sale at the celebration.  Please consider baking and/or volunteering for this event. For information or questions contact Cathy Lapain at  .

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Swift Night Out in Farmington Hills, Michigan

By: Jeremy Hatt

Written for The Egret – Volume 34 – Number 4 – December 2018

Each year, the Detroit Audubon Society holds a Swift Night Out at the “Swift Sanctuary” at 31505 Grand River Avenue in Farmington Hills, Michigan. In 2018, the event was held on September 22 and eight ECFNC members attended. The group carpooled in two vehicles from Windsor.

The “Swift Sanctuary” is a historic winery with an enormous chimney towering high above the building. Up to 50,000 Chimney Swifts have been recorded entering in one evening in the past. We were excited to see high numbers of swifts since no sites in Essex County have even recorded over 1,000 birds.

“Swift Sanctuary” – Photo by Jeremy Hatt

This Swift Night Out is a very well-run event. When we arrived around 6:00pm, there was a band setting up to play for the evening, a large group of people already sitting in lawn chairs with binoculars, drinks, and snacks, and a table with Detroit Audubon Society merchandise and information.

Since it was our first time attending, we went to speak with a volunteer to get some more information and we were told that the numbers of swifts entering that evening may not be as high as usual. The event would go on as usual, but we were given a second location nearby that we could visit where high numbers of roosting Chimney Swifts had been reported that week. After a quick deliberation, we all agreed that we were keen to see large numbers of swifts so we left the event and headed over to Botsford Commons, a retirement community at 21450 Archwood Circle, Farmington Hills.

Chimney Swifts entering Botsford Commons – Photo by Jeremy Hatt

As soon as we arrived around 6:35pm, about 100 swifts were already circling in the area above the main retirement home building, which had a large chimney in its center. It became evident that the staff at the retirement home was familiar with the swifts so we had no problem finding a comfortable spot to observe the swifts entering without being asked to leave the property. I don’t think any of us were prepared for the spectacle we were about to witness.

For the first hour, not much activity took place and we began to wonder if maybe a lot of the Chimney Swifts that roosted at these sites had already moved through. Then around 7:35pm, things started to get exciting. Chimney Swifts began streaming in. By 7:45 thousands of swifts filled the sky above us forming a large cyclone of birds that circled the chimney continuously as groups of birds dropped in at each pass. We watched in awe at this spectacle, all happening in front of a stunning pink and orange sunset.

It was difficult to tell how many swifts there were but we conservatively estimated about 5,000 birds entering the chimney. I admit that I didn’t focus too much on getting an accurate count as I decided to just enjoy the show of seeing this many Chimney Swifts together, the most any of us had ever seen at one time.

Thank you to Carl Maiolani and Donny Moore for carpooling the group across the border.

Quick video of Chimney Swifts entering Botsford Commons on Donny Moore’s open Facebook page, Donny Moore Photography:  https://www.facebook.com/donnymoorephotography/videos/2206545482955730/

Group selfie (left to right): Jeremy Hatt, Donny Moore, Gerry Kaiser, Carl Maiolani, Paula O’Rourke, Denise Hartley, Timothy Shortridge

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