The Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority welcomed the public to its Little Cataraqui Creek Conservation Area facility last Sunday to present its first ever Lake Assessment Report and perhaps generate some interest in people getting involved.

There are 170 named lakes in the CRCA’s jurisdiction of which they now have report sheets on 45. The reports as well as the overview are available on CRCA website and include such information as physical features, bathymetry, phosphorus levels, calcium levels, pH levels, oxygen levels, fisheries data, species at risk, invasive species, visibility and where the lake sits on the oligotrophic-mesotrophic-eutrophic (ie water quality) scale. (Just Google CRCA lake reports.)

“Reported lakes within the Cataraqui region are generally healthy with suitable conditions to support aquatic Communities, resist changes in pH, and adapt to external stresses such as changes in shoreline habitat,” the report says. “However, eight lakes within the region have eutrophic conditions and over 40 per cent have been invaded by zebra mussels.”

Eutrophic conditions means that the water body is enriched with nutrients, which induces growth of plants and algae and may result in oxygen depletion. While it can occur naturally, in current times it is often induced by the discharge of phosphate-containing detergents, fertilizers or sewage.

Environmental Technologist Holly Evans said the “seeds of the idea” for the lake reports sprouted from all the calls they were fielding about lakes on a variety of topics.

“Technologists are always getting phone calls,” she said. “Everything from ‘I saw this weird thing on my lake’ to ‘I’m thinking of buying a property on this lake’ to ‘where can I go fishing for this kind of fish.’

“We wanted to put the answers all in one place online.”

For example, the online fact sheet on Loughborough Lake will tell you where it is (including GIS coordinates), where the boat launches are, surface area, volume, maximum depth, average depth and length of shoreline for both the east and west basins. It also features a ‘lake characteristics’ section outlining the various differences between the east and west basins as well as dams and nearby lakes.

But there’s also another reason for inviting the public and getting the word out about lake reports. They’d like some help both for lakes yet to have lake reports as well as ongoing data collection.

With the growing trend towards ‘citizen science,’ the CRCA would like to recruit some ‘partners’ to assist in various forms of data collection.

“The CRCA values the lakes in our region and we’d like to give you more information about them,” Evans said. “But we need the information (and) the best way to gather information is to engage people and build partnerships.

“We’re reaching out.”

They’re interested in just about any aspect of a lake, from temperature readings to observing wildlife. They have kits they will share as well as information on how to use them and gather information.

They’re also interested in any sort of information families may have collected over the years.

“If you live on a lake, chances are you’ve recorded when the ice went in and when it went out every year,” she said. “We want to move that information from the binder and get it online.”

Perhaps the busiest place in Frontenac County was Wintergreen Studios on Canoe Lake Road as the wilderness retreat played host to Land Art BioBlitz 2017, a five-day series of workshops and species count featuring a variety of activities and visiting instructors.

Workshops featured Matt Ellerbeck, the Salamander Man, professional naturalist Richard Aaron, composer and Carleton University music professor Jesse Stewart, naturalist Bronwyn Harkness and organic vegetable farmer/environmental activist Marie Bencze.

This was Wintergreen’s third BioBlitz, however it was the first to be held over five days. The first two were one-day events.

“This year is very different,” said program director Monica Capovilla. “Instead of being a race to identifying as many organisms as possible in a 24-hour period, the idea is to mirror and honour the Slow Food movement, giving everyone a chance to form a deeper connection with the natural world.

“This is more than just species identification, it’s all about learning what’s out there and creating a better understanding of why biodiversity is so important.”

To that end, there was a steady stream of buses coming in bringing a range of classrooms from public schools in Verona and Kingston.

“For many of these kids, this is a very different space from what they’re used to,” said Capovilla, a teacher herself. “It’s about teaching them a greater respect for insects, animals, trees — and to give them a better understanding for where they fit in with it all.”

She said they hope there will be a “ripple effect” from this event resulting in more people getting interested

‘Travelling BioBlitzer’ Jason Crockwell from Pittsfield, Mass. said he made a special effort to come this year.

“Even though I’ve been living in my Jeep, and I’ve never been out of the U.S. before, I wanted something different and this certainly is it,” he said.

BioBlitz 2017 was free to the public because the support of TD Friends of the Environment Foundation, Capovilla said.

They’re already planning next year’s BioBlitz on a similar theme and it’s tentatively scheduled for the last weekend in May/first weekend in June.

Wintergreen Studios is a year-round, off-grid, art/wilderness/education retreat on a 204-acre property with mixed habitats.

They have a number of events scheduled for the summer with the next one being a medicine walk/salve-making forum with Mary Ann Spencer. See their website for details.

Phragmites (say 'frag-might-ees') or European Common Reed is that huge plant with the flag of seeds on top that you are seeing more and more along roads in our area. It was probably imported from Eurasia mid-1800's in straw packing materials and first seen growing in Canada in Nova Scotia in 1910. For about 40 years it was unremarkable. But lately its spread is truly remarkable. It is so common in southern Ontario that locals call it simply "phrag". Predictions are that the great marsh (over 3000 hectares or 7500 acres) at Long Point on Lake Erie will be completely taken over by Phragmites in about five years.

Elimination of a marsh by phrag happens because the reed grows so densely and its stalks are so sturdy that animals such as turtles can't push through it. The roots deposit toxins in the soil (allelopathic), preventing growth of native plants and the dense reed growth shades out any that try to grow there.

Phrag spreads by underground rhizomes and surface runners as well as windblown seed. The most important mechanism of spread is by road construction and maintenance machines. Pieces of rhizomes and runners are carried on machines and in soil that is moved take root to start new colonies.

As with many other invasives, we gave phrag little attention when it first showed up. But when it produces larger colonies, as in the Long Point marsh, the citizens soon want "government to get on board". Locally, Central Frontenac has several small colonies. One is slowly expanding in the southwest corner of the Frontenac Road and Highway 7. Further east, there is a much larger colony behind the Smoke Shop on the south side of Highway 7 at Silver Lake.

Phragmites is largely absent from North Frontenac but there is a small 'starter' colony along the Ardoch Road in front of the North of Seven. There is another larger patch just over the boundary into Central Frontenac. This could be the source of seeds and rhizomes to spread phrag into North Frontenac. But we could stop that process by removing these small colonies before they can start that invasion. Just mowing won't do it! Information on control is available at the link cited below.

Small colonies escape detection at first because we don't recognize the plant, we don't know how damaging it will be when invasion progresses, and we don't recognize that these small starter colonies will be the source of stock to allow Phragmites to expand until it is damaging. Then, when phrag has captured all our roadsides and also our wetlands, we ask for control and, at that stage, it is unbelievably expensive.

The best control method is prevention of early establishment. The only control method that has worked consistently after colonies are established is spraying with Roundup and soy oil. Spraying must be certified under applicable municipal, provincial and federal regulations. It is unsafe to assume complete elimination after spraying because transported seeds, rhizomes and runners that are not killed by the herbicide can start new colonies. Following established best practices, the residue of tons of stems and seed can be burned off with preparation, care and approval.

Much tax money can be saved by early detection and elimination of invading Phragmites when it still has only small colonies. To report locations of colonies, contact local municipalities and call 1-800-563-7711 or go online to www.invadingspecies.com or call Friends of the Salmon River (613 379 5958) or Friends of the Napanee  (613 377 1287) or your local Conservation Authority.

More information: https://dr6j45jk9xcmk.cloudfront.net/documents/2675/stdprod-089643.pdf

Poplars are widely distributed throughout the northern hemisphere and are found in every province of Canada.  Fast growing and prolific, they are the first trees to regenerate in areas devastated by forest fires. Regeneration occurs by means of suckers sent up from the roots and a few sprout quickly from stumps. Most people dismiss poplars as weed trees but they are actually wonders of nature.  Biologists praise them for their natural ability to clean up contaminated soil and water.  Poplar roots are particularly good at sucking up contaminates from soil and water and breaking down notorious chemicals into compounds that dissipate slowly over time.  Once in contact with agricultural herbicides used in Canada on corn crops, the tree actually creates a less harmful by-product by replacing the harsh chemicals with something much more benign.  The really good news is that neither the tree nor its leaves become a toxic waste hazard along the way.

Dr. Joel Burken, an environmental engineer at the University of Missouri-Rolla chose to study the poplar many years ago because poplars are easy to cultivate and grow remarkably fast, up to 30 feet in three to four years!  With over a thousand varieties, there is at least one that is suitable for almost any climate from Canada to Mexico.   Dr. Burken’s research gives governments and environmental regulators the green light to approve the use of poplar trees in reclaiming toxic lands on a large scale.  He points out that planting poplars is an economical choice and much less intrusive than cleaning up a site with bulldozers and backhoes.  The bonus is that reforestation happens simultaneously.

Four poplars are native to Ontario:  Trembling aspen, large-tooth aspen, balsam poplar and eastern cottonwood.  In addition to these native species, several introduced species and hybrids are widely planted for ornamental purposes or as windbreaks.  These are the European white poplar, Lombardy poplar and Carolina poplar.  Since most poplars have long leaf stalks, the wind always sets them fluttering and the leaves are always moving, especially the trembling aspen.  Interestingly, the common name for this species in many languages translates as “woman’s tongue”!

The life of poplars is short and vigorous.  They need a lot of light and moisture but offer bigger, longer-lived trees some gentle shade in their early years.  Eventually the larger trees take over and the poplars die.

Poplar wood is fairly light, soft and weak and is used commercially mainly for pulpwood, plywood, particle board, matches and boxes.  Animals love it:  Beavers love the inner bark and use the poplar trunks for the main structure of their dams.  Grouse eat the winter buds, snowshoe rabbits feed on the bark and twigs and moose browse among its branches year round.

Be thankful if you see poplar trees on your property.  They’re just helping Mother Nature to clean the environment.

Recently, a flood victim said "the walls I have built are not strong enough – I will make them stronger and bigger"

He summarized the widespread philosophy that pops up with every flood. Hold it back with walls of sandbags and keep it in its proper channel with berms. An engineering prescription for floods.

Stewardship of the watershed is a better, cheaper and longer-lasting prescription. Instead of 'here is the water—fight it', ask 'where does the water come from? How can the flood peak be prevented before it threatens us?'

Water that comes as rain and meltwater does not just run down our rivers. Rain is water that evaporated from the earth into the atmosphere. When it falls back to earth, it can be absorbed into soil or litter, or it can be evaporated again back to the atmosphere, or it can be contained in wetlands or lakes, or it can flow down a geological fault into the groundwater.

Prolonged or sudden, high volumes of rain or meltwater will quickly run off if it falls on waterproof slopes such as bedrock or pavement. Cover that area receiving the rain with materials that can absorb the rain, or let it soak in, or let it flow down faults and cracks into the groundwater, or evaporate it, or slow its flow downhill or store some in pockets in the land, such as wetlands, and the flow will be slower or the volume flowing will be less. The headwaters are the key.

Trees have great effects on the fate of water. For photosynthesis, trees use only about 1 percent of the water they take up; most of it is evaporated. Forest can remove up to 70 percent of the rainfall by evaporation and transpiration from the pores in their leaves. Because deciduous trees lose their leaves for several months and conifers do not, the conifers remove more water by evaporation and transpiration. In one experiment where 16 hectares (about 40 acres) of deciduous forest was replaced with conifers, about 24 million more litres of water was moved back to the atmosphere by evaporation and transpiration by the conifers.

Some trees can move 500 millimetres of rainfall back to the atmosphere in a year if the trees are supplied with lots of water. That is more than half the annual rainfall in our region.

A watershed with lots of conifers in the headwaters area of the watershed can reduce streamflow by 15 to 20 percent compared to watersheds with no forest.

Besides evapotranspiration sending some rainfall back into the atmosphere, forests, including their leaf litter and their dropped limbs and other large litter, interfere with the flow of surface runoff and allow more rain to penetrate into the soil.

Besides benefits to us in our watershed, forests are major conservers of biodiversity. Forests are important components of the beauty that we see in our landscapes.

Bags and berms is a 'bandaid' approach. But we could easily apply a longer-term and less costly solution to sudden flooding by planning our stewardship of land use in the headwaters of our watersheds.

Unlike Lanark and Lennox and Addington, there is not countywide spraying plan to deal with Wild Parsnip along public roadways in Frontenac County. Since there is not county roads department in Frontenac, it is left entirely to the townships to determine what action they would like to take. In South Frontenac, some of the more highly infested areas have been dealt with through targeted use of Roundup, applied directly on the plant. Local beekeepers have been notified before the applications have occurred to enable them to keep their swarms out of harms way.

This year, however, the public works department is going to tender for some more extensive herbicide use, which will cover larger sections or even entire roads if necessary.
“I do think the problem is real and needs to be addressed,” said Public Works Manager Mark Segsworth. “We decided to go to tender and then bring a concrete proposal to council for debate. That way council will know exactly what they are being asked to approve and the public will as well.”

Segwsorth said he has heard the arguments about the dangers of herbicides as they are being applied in neighboring municipalities and about wild parsnip being less of a threat to human health as some people claim, but feels it is a real danger to public health.

“I’m concerned about what would happen if a dog or a young child ran through a thick patch of it,” he said.

Segsworth said he approached the public works departments in North and Central Frontenac about a joint tender to deal with the problem but they both declined.

North Frontenac Mayor Ron Higgins submitted an article on Clearview, the herbicide of choice in Lanark and L&A, by ecologist, activist and sometime Frontenac News environmental correspondent Gray Merriam to Frontenac County last week. A different, similar article by Merriam can be read by clicking here.

Higgins cited Merriam’s work in a tweet on May 3rd in which he said he “opposes the use of herbicides to combat invasive plants.”

The Frontenac Stewardship Foundation held it annual retreat at the Queen’s University Biological Station (QUBS) this year. The location, on Lake Opinicon, is emblematic of Frontenac County in that it sits at the edge of the Canadian Shield, having one foot in the fractured limestone and another in the hard granite of the shield. The station is not located in Frontenac, however, being just over the border in Leeds Grenville, 20 km from Perth Road on the scenic, winding Opinicon Road.

The conference provided an opportunity for a dozen or so groups and organisations that are involved in stewardship activities on the four watersheds that intersect in Frontenac County to update each other on their activities and look for ways to work together in the future.

Frontenac County was well represented at the event. Newly hired county community planner, Megan Rueckwald delivered a presentation on the relationship between stewardship and land use planning in the Frontenac Official Plan, Communications Officer Marco Smits sits on the Foundation Board as well and was at the retreat, as were Councillors John McDougall and Dennis Doyle.    

Professor Stephen Lougheed, who is the QUBS Director and a self described “simple country geneticist” spoke about the long term studies of pond frogs with a focus on the 200 km x 200 km region surrounding the centre have demonstrated changes in the local climate over an 80 year time frame, going back to 1930. During his own research career, song metres have been installed at locations throughout the region, which turn on 15 minutes after sunset and stay on for an hour. They have gathered invaluable data for the research done by him and his students and colleagues from around the world.

He said that since 1970, the average temperature in the region in the month of March has risen by 2.8 degrees. In his own research this is seen as a causal factor in a change in the date when frogs are first seen each year. He also tracks the date when frog songs, one the harbingers of spring and the marking point of the end of syrup season in Frontenac County, are first heard.

“The average first sighting of the American Toad has changed from day 115 after the start of the year [late April] to day 95 [early April]. Data of first calling has shifted from day 140 to day 120. The Leopard Frog has shifted even more, 37 days earlier,” he said.

“Another change has been in the pattern of rain. We are seeing less rain in April and early May [this year being a notable exception] and more rain in early June. This has implications for amphibians.”
The climate change information from the scientific community around the world is irrefutable, in his view, but the specific implications for individual species is hard to pinpoint because we don’t know all the factors at play. He uses his own studies of frogs as an example.

“We know almost nothing about 95% of the life cycle of the frogs we study. Once they leave the pond we don’t know where they go or what they do or how they live. We don’t know how the climate change effects that part of their life cycle at all.”
Professor John Smol is a paleo - limnologist. He studies the sediment at the bottom of lakes, which holds a wealth of information about the last 12,000 years in this region, the time when the ice retreated and the lakes were formed.

In his talk, entitled History Matters, Smol said that it is important to know as much background as possible when trying to figure out what is going on. He said it is like dealing with a medical patient.

“If you get a certain reading it can mean different things depending on the patients medical history. It can be a cause for alarm, if it is a sudden change, it can be the marker of a gradual change, or mean nothing because that is the patients normal level,” he said.

One of Smol’s research initiatives has to do with developing better ways to gather data from lake sediment. While the sediment representing ancient times is easier to analyze because it is more solid, more recent sediment is looser and easier to disturb. Smol is one of the developers of a relatively simple tool for the job, and is able to segment out thin layers representing small increments of time. All of this enriches the library of data that can be analysed.

That does not mean, however, that the implications of environmental changes are easy to predict, however, as factors that may be relevant or even crucial are not always apparent.

The example he chose to illustrate this principle, is of interest to people who live on or near local lakes, particularly canadian shield lakes.

Smol said the problem that “he cut his teeth on” as a scientist was that of acid rain. The ph levels on the Canadian Shield lakes that he studied was dropping and it was making the water unsuitable for the plants that were the base species of the aquatic food chain.

In 1990, amendments to the Clean Air Act in the United States to address Sulfur Dioxide and other emissions were signed in to law by then US President George Bush, and as one of the researchers who contributed to the design of the regulations, Smol was on hand in Washington for the signing. Acid rain is considered to be a success story in terms of environmental regulation. The targets for decreases have been met, and the cost to industry, estimated at $1 billion per year, are 1/4 of what they were projected to be.

And ph levels have recovered in most lakes that were affected. But, as Smol pointed out, the story does not end there.

One of the effects of acid rain was a decrease in calcium levels in canadian shield lakes.

Based on some of the limnological research, scientists have found that calcium levels in Shield lakes has been pretty steady for thousand of years. As Smol explained, it is not easy to bring up calcium levels once they drop. The one major source for lakes comes from trees dying and decomposing and leaching calcium into nearby lakes, which is hindered by development and logging.

“Our lakes are basically suffering from Osteoperosis” he said. About 2/3 of Shield lakes have levels of Calcium under 2mg/litres and about 1/3 are below the threshold of 1.5mg/litre.

The 1.5 mg threshold is important because that is the level that one of the larger and more common aquatic species Daphnia (water flea) requires in order to survive and multiply.

There are two implications from this. One is direct. With the decline of Daphnia, another species has moved in to take its place. That species is called Holopedium, which are of similar size to Daphnia but have different characteristics. One is that they are covered in a jelly like substance, which makes them harder for other species to feed on and it also makes them a problem for water intake pipes because they can clog them. They have led to what some have called the “jellification” of local lakes.
Holopedium are also much less effective at grazing on algae than Daphnia, and this might be associated with the Algae blooms that have become common in recent years in some lakes.

“It’s pretty much counter intuitive to think that acid rain, which killed off algae, can be part of a chain of effects leading to the development of algae blooms, and while scientists are not saying that decreased calcium levels are the cause of algae blooms, it shows there are many implications from each change that takes place,” Smol said.

As to the low calcium levels, he said there is no obvious solution to the problem, since adding calcium directly to lakes is an expensive proposition. The only case where levels went up appreciably in the lakes that Smol has studied was in a lake that is surrounded by a gravel road that is treated with calcium carbonate each summer as a dust suppressant.

In summing up his talk, Smol talked about two of the lessons learned in his career. One is that ‘there is a recurring pattern of unintended consequences’, and the second is that “we tend to be overly optimistic. Things are generally worse and more complicated that we initially imagined.”

Smol said that he does not exactly have a reputation as an optimistic in the scientific community but even he has been overly optimistic over the years.

For more information about jellification, go to http://post.queensu.ca/~pearl/jellification/jellification.html

Residents of Tay Valley Township have been fighting a spraying program that has been underway on County roads in Lanark County for two years, and similar concerns are now being expressed by the Lennox and Addington Stewardship (L&A) Council over a similar program set to start up in L&A this month.

In both cases the roads are being sprayed with Clearview, which is an approved herbicide, and the target species is wild parsnip, which has been associated with painful burns among some people who have been exposed to its toxic juices.
While at least two Lanark County Townships have opted not to spray (Tay Valley and Mississippi Mills) the county roads in those townships were sprayed last year and will be sprayed again this year. Last year, residents living along those roads who were opposed to spraying had the option of putting up “no spray” signs and township crews would avoid their properties.

This year, the protocol has changed, and that has led opponents, such as Sonia Cirka, to voice further opposition. In place of the opt out sign program, those who wish to avoid spraying need to join the “Adopt a Road” program in Lanark County. Taking its cue from previous programs wherein informal residents groups and community clubs “adopt” a section  of road by removing litter and trash build up on the roads, the new program provides for further options, from “spotting and reporting invasive plants and noxious weeds, to hand pulling/spading of invasive plants and noxious weeds”

Anyone who wants to opt for an “adopt a road” commitment in place of roadside spraying, must commit to managing the invasive plants and noxious species through other means”

Sonia Cirka, one of the activists opposing the spraying program, feels that the county is employing the adopt a road program to make it harder for residents to stop the spraying along their property lines.

“One councilor said [at a council meeting in March] that the signs were ‘too political” and looked like a ‘campaign’,” she said, “so they came up with a plan that makes people accept the spraying or pull the weeds themselves. This ignores the fact that the spraying causes environmental damage and is not even effective.”

Dr. Paula Stewart, the Medical Officer of Health for Lanark and Leeds Grenville, presented a report in April of 2016 wherein she identified wild parsnip as a hazard and Clearview as an effective and safe control.

“There is a human public health risk of severe burns from exposure to the sap of wild parsnip. There is no research evidence of a health risk to humans with controlled spraying of roadside ditches with Clearview,” her report concluded.

However others have expressed different perspectives on both questions.

“This is an agricultural Class 4 herbicide that is similar in its action to 2,4D. Clearview isn't approved for use on our lawns, so why would we be putting it on our roadsides?” said Dr. James Coupland, an entomologist who lives in Mississippi Mills township. Coupland also questioned the effectiveness of the treatment: “there isn’t enough incidence of interaction with wild parsnip to merit such a huge outlay of herbicide. All the information we need to know is on the Clearview label.”

Concerns about the impact of Clearview on pollinator species have also been expressed by opponents of the spraying program.

In Lennox and Addington, the local Stewardship Council has expressed similar concerns, pointing out as well that the residents of Addington Highlands living along county roads will be subject to spraying even if Addington Highlands Council decides not to spray.

County roads in L&A include: Road 29 which runs from Hwy. 41 through Flinton to the Hastings County border, the section of Hwy. 41 south of Hwy. 7 to the border with Stone Mills, and Road 30, Buckshot Lake Road which runs from Hwy. 41 south of Denbigh to the border with North Frontenac Township.

In a media release earlier this week, the Stewardship Council said the following: “The main concern for the Lennox and Addington Stewardship Council is that the herbicide selected, Clearview®, is highly soluble in water and could easily enter our waterways through the ditches next to our roads.”

They referred to the opinion expressed by James Coupland that “Clearview takes a long time to break down, and it can travel through a water system for months damaging or killing native plants (including milkweed) and threatening our pollinators. Clearview is highly toxic to aquatic organisms in particular.”

Lennox and Addington residents will have the option to post “no spray” signs on their property but the Stewardship Council is concerned that people are not aware of this and the spraying will take place soon. Also, similar to the situation in Lanark, there are strings attached.

“The landowner must sign an agreement to manage all noxious weeds on their frontage,” said the Stewardship Council release.

In addition to a disagreement over the impacts of spraying on human health and agriculture, the two sides also disagree about Wild Parsnip. Proponents of spraying call it a public helath hazard and opponents call it a nuisance whose impacts can be managed.

After many years of informed concern by conservationists, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources has finally made it illegal to hunt snapping turtles.

Snapping turtles have been listed as species of Special Concern both Federally and by Ontario but that gave them no protection and OMNR continued to state a limit of two turtles in their list of game animals.

Mortality is critical to snapping turtles because their earliest  reproduction is delayed for up to 20 years. Even then only 7 out of 10,000 eggs survive to adulthood. These characteristics of their reproductive life history combine to mean that, on average, female snappers must live until they are at least 25 if the population is not to decrease.

Egg-laying females search for sandy, south-facing slopes to dig nests for their eggs. Our roads often cut through turtle habitat and females dig nests in the gravelly road shoulders. Many more snappers, both females and hatched young, are killed on roads than were ever killed by hunting.

Conservationists have a victory in their fight against snappers being on the game list but the bleak future of snapping turtle populations is in the hands of drivers.

The Friends of Lanark County and the National Farmers Union Local Chapter present "Pollinators, People And Pesticides", a speaking event that will interest members of the community who care about the pollinator crisis and human environmental health in general. Speakers will explore the effects and consequences of pesticide use (including roadside spraying) on human and pollinator health.

With Margaret (Meg) Sears Ph. D., Chair and lead scientist for Prevent Cancer Now, will speak about the environmental and health impacts of toxins including pesticides in our environment.

Vicki Wojcik Ph.D., from the Pollinator Partnership - the largest organization in the world exclusively dedicated to saving pollinators, will speak about new and emerging pollinator issues including the plight of our bees and the monarch butterfly.

Thursday April 6, 2017 at 7 p.m., McMartin House 125 Gore street, Perth. Free event. Light refreshments offered.