Helping Fish and Wildlife in our Community
Text Box: Habitat Haldimand Inc.

  Newsletter of Habitat Haldimand (Summer 2010)

     Issue #28

 

Spring is such a busy time for everyone cleaning up from the winter, getting our gardens cut back from the last year’s growth. I leave the flowers standing till spring so that the birds can enjoy eating the seeds.

Then there is the planting of our tree seed that we collected last fall and stored in the refrigerator. It now needs to be planted in our raised beds where the tree seedlings will grow all summer.  For any new member that may not know, Jane and Wade put on a Seed to Tree Workshop in the fall.

 

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Annual General Meeting:

 

Habitat Haldimand’s Inc. Annual General Meeting took place June 4th, 2010 and all positions are the same as last year:

Chairperson:              Ron Atkinson

Vice Chairperson:      Roger McEwan

Secretary Treasurer:  Jane Schofield

Directors:                     June Atkinson

                                   Ed Couture

                                   Donna Couture

                                   Wade Dowling

                                   Wilf Grigull

                                   Robin Richardson

                                   Roy Schofield

Jane and Wade teaching the basics of tree seed collecting and what to do with the seed to grow healthy trees.

Habitat Haldimand’s Great Tree Giveaway:

This was a record year for the number of trees given away to Haldimand residents. We had a grand total of 23,700 trees of which 2,200 trees went to our wetland projects.

The Habitat Haldimand executives and associate members did all the sorting and packaging of the trees. We did have fun but we are not getting any younger so we made a decision to cut back on the number of trees given away next year. A big thanks goes out to our “tree lady” Jane Schofield who went through all of your requests to figure out which species of trees and shrubs  will best suit your property. We also thank Roy and Jane Schofield for the use of their cooler, it worked great again this year (it keeps the trees dormant until they are picked up for planting).

We sold “at our cost price” a record number of tree protector wraps, mats, and wire pig tails (which protect and support the tree seedling). A number of repeat customers told us that they had better success growing the trees when they also used tree protector wraps, mats, and wire pig tails. They said “if you’re going to spend the time to plant the trees you might just as well spend the little more money to almost guarantee their survival”. Looking forward to seeing you next year.
Habitat Haldimand Inc. No longer part of Haldimand Stewardship Council:

Habitat Haldimand Inc. has decided to branch out on its own and therefore is no longer under the umbrella of the Haldimand Stewardship Council or the Ministry of Natural Resources.  All of our activities will carry on as usual with a new address and telephone number.   They are:

Address:  Habitat Haldimand Inc., P.O. Box 275, Cayuga, Ontario N0A 1E0

Phone:    (905) 774-7845
Community Forest Initiative:

In March teachers wanting to show their students firsthand how to grow trees from seed took part in our Community Forest Initiative. They received at no charge seeds, acorns, pro mix, and the Styrofoam trays in which the trees are grown.

The trees are then planted outside in lining out beds for two years (see last article for pictures) when they will be given out in our “Great Tree Giveaway”. We are educating our young students and at the same time growing more trees to be planted in Haldimand county.

Work Days:

Any students wanting community hours, are more then welcome to receive them from us.  Anyone else that wants to help or learn more about the great outdoors just give us a phone call or visit our web site at www.habitathaldimand.ca 

Wetland Program:

All five wetlands have now been completed. They were funded in part by the Ontario Trillium Foundation and Ducks Unlimited. Working on the wetlands with Ducks Unlimited has been a pleasure.

Ducks Unlimited wants Habitat Haldimand to continue working with them next year on some more sites.  So if you think that you might have a potential site for a wetland and are willing to put  some money towards it maybe we can help. For more information contact Roy Schofield at (905) 774-7845. A big thanks goes out to our Vice Chair Roger McEwan and Director Roy Schofield for making this project such a success.
Mill Stream:

Trout Unlimited volunteer Bill Christmas has done a lot of work on this stream in the past few years. He is a great guy to work with. There are plans to have a beaver baffle put in the stream  but we had to wait and get all the approvals before we could install it. They are now in place and the plan is to install one in July of this year, the location has not been decided.
Camp Kiawa:

Habitat Haldimand has been told that this camp has been closed and no more work will be done there.
Taquanyah:

The Tree Swallows and Blue Birds are using the bird boxes to raise their families.

The G.R.C.A. has done a new tree planting and a Tall Grassland Planting in the vacant field at the south end of Decewsville Road.

Schools are back using the Centre once again this spring.
Lining out Beds:

(Left) Tree Seedlings that were started in local greenhouses are being transplanted by students and volunteers to lining out beds where they will grow for the next two years.

 

(Right) These are the students and teacher from St. Stephen’s School in Cayuga that helped us with transplanting  the lining out bed pictured above.

One of our five completed Wetlands and a new home for many critters

How to Protect your Tree Seedlings

Students learn firsthand how to grow trees from seed