Mayor Vandewal introduced Forbes Symon, former director of planning and development for North Grenville, as the Township’s new Manager of Development Services, with the comment; “We hope to see some measurable differences.”

No pressure here….

Desert Lake Noise By-law Exemption Request
A request from Sheena and Leo Pillay, owners of Desert Lake Resort, to have May 20 and all the Saturdays between July 1 and Sept 2 exempt from the Township Noise by-law between 8&11 pm resulted in two delegations and nine letters from unhappy cottage owners on the lake.

Having become aware of the local resistance, Pillay modified her request to Council, suggesting instead that she and her husband would prefer to meet with the cottage association to see what sort of compromise could be worked out. She emphasized that since buying the resort a few years ago, they had been trying to make it less of a party place, and more of a family-oriented business. However, she said they were faced with the dilemma that more and more campers expected campgrounds to provide a range of entertainment beyond hiking, boating and swimming.

Lake Association members Rick Saaltink and Kanji Nakatsu spoke of years of tolerating late-night loud music from the campground, and gave the impression that the prospect of every summer weekend being noisy had raised a lot of alarm among lake residents. However, they acknowledged the campground owners’ flexibility and willingness to try to arrive at a compromise that might be acceptable to both sides of the issue. Both said that the degree of incompatibility meant compromise might not come easily.

Council encouraged the two groups to get together and try to find a solution and report back by the mid- April Council meeting, so any agreed-upon by-law exemption dates could be voted on.

Minimum Distance Separation: New Guidelines
Planner Mills introduced the new guidelines for determining minimum distance separation (MDS) between barns and new development (intended to reduce land use conflicts between farming activities and local residents) should serve to clarify previous regulations. He noted that the new guidelines clarifies what is meant by “unoccupied livestock barn”; i.e., empty but structurally sound and capable of housing livestock, and describes how to apply MDS to existing vacant lots of record.  These guidelines, issued by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, came into effect on March 1st.

Required Septic System Pump-outs and inspections
In an unusual move, Councillor Sutherland asked that his notice of motion to support a resolution in favour of amendments to the Building Code as it relates to septic systems come to the Committee of the Whole for discussion and fine-tuning before it goes to Council next week for discussion and vote.

Councillor McDougall said he thought this motion would be premature: “We can’t pretend this would be a cheap process. It’s hugely challenging. We should wait and see what the province comes up with.” There seemed to be general consensus with this opinion around the table.

Climate Protection: Action, Not Words
CAO Orr reported that fifteen years ago, Council had passed a motion to form the South Frontenac Sustainability Working Group and to join the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) partnership for Climate Protection Program. Time passed, and only when the FCM recently contacted Orr for an update on our progress did anyone realize we, along with 16% of the provinces’ municipalities, were still formally members of this program. We have not: created a greenhouse gas emissions inventory and forecast; set an emissions reduction target; developed and implemented an local action plan, or monitored progress and reported results. The Township has taken some action however. It has supported a number of initiatives toward reducing the Township’s carbon footprint including following LEED principles in the construction of the library, converting all street lighting to LED, supporting trails and multi-modal transportation and solar projects, continuing to work toward more recycling and waste reduction, and identifying energy efficiency as a priority for the new fire hall.

Central Frontenac Council decided to take another look at how a mandatory septic system inspection program might work, rescinding a motion it made two meetings ago asking staff to come back with a bylaw to be implemented before this summer.

The impetus for bringing the motion back came from Councilor Jamie Riddell who successfully argued that “some information wasn’t included” in the report the committee looking into the matter presented to Council at the Feb. 28 meeting. Riddell cited the cost of inspectors as well as potential liabilities costs to the municipality for taking over such responsibility.

“I think we as a municipality need to join forces with other municipalities to let the premier know one-size-fits-all does not work for all rural municipalities,” Riddell said. “We need some funding.

Councilor Tom Dewey said that while he supports in principle some form of inspection, “for a bylaw of this magnitude, I think we need to hold public meetings in all four districts, in the summer when cottagers can be here.

“And we still haven’t addressed island properties and/or water access properties. In the east basin of Sharbot Lake, there is no water access point at all.”

Dep. Mayor Brent Cameron, who is on the committee looking into ways the municipality might be able to help fund people faced with replacing their system, said they need more data and information to be able to determine the scope of the project.

“This is a very important decision,” Cameron said. “We need to get it as correct as we can.

“This affects every homeowner.”

Cameron said they need to look at how the municipality might enforce such a program and cautioned that even if they do order a system replaced, it could easily end up costing the Township money if simply added to the tax bill with interest charged.

“Over the course of a year, that’s credit card interest,” he said. “We can’t take the property for three years and if we end up having to seize the property for non-payment, after the school board and county get their cut, we could end up losing money.”

For his part, committee chair Victor Heese said he thought “reconsidering the original motion is a good idea.”

Spring is for new ideas. Do you have idle land or extra acreage that could be enhanced? Planting trees is an excellent way to add value to your property and has never been easier. If you have 2.5 acres or more of open land, you may be eligible for the 50 Million Tree Program, and the trees are planted for you!

If you are considering a large-scale planting on your property, the 50 Million Tree Program can help by providing both funding support to cover a significant portion (up to 80%) of the total planting costs and technical assistance. A local planting partner will work with you to develop a site plan that suits your property’s unique needs; they will do the planting and conduct follow up assessments in subsequent years. The landowner can relax while the work is conducted by experienced professionals.

“One of the great things about the 50 Million Tree Program is that it’s full service. Landowners work with the Planting Delivery Agencies (PDA) to develop the plan and choose the species of trees being planted on the property,” explains Mark McDermid, a Field Advisor at Forests Ontario. “The PDAs - forestry professionals - are responsible for the purchase, delivery and planting of all trees in the program.”

The 50 Million Tree Program plants for landowners who want to make their property more aesthetically pleasing, for farmers who have an idle field or want a windbreak, and for golf course owners who want to add some shade. Every landowner has a different vision so the planting agents work with you to make sure that vision becomes a reality. The 50 Million Tree Program makes tree planting as easy as possible for landowners in Ontario. To book a site visit, contact Suzanne Perry, our Forestry Outreach Coordinator at 1-877-646-1193 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. To learn more, visit www.forestsontario.ca.

Area conservation authorities are for the most part still in wait-and-see mode regarding this year’s freshet (spring thaw and resulting snow/ice melt in rivers/lakes) but things seem to be shaping up for a fairly standard season.

“We’re a little bit away from the spring peak I think but we may have already had it,” said Gord Mountenay, water management supervisor at Mississippi Valley Conservation. “There’s still some snow left but eventual water levels will still be dependant on how much rain we get. We’re still looking at whether we’ll have to release some water or hold it back.

“We’ve had a fairly decent melt and it’s not looking like flooding (but) the biggest concern right now is stay off the ice.”

Pat Larsen, senior water resources technician at the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority, paints a similar picture.

“The amount of snow we’ve had is a good thing in most ways,” he said. “The melt (in February) reduced things nicely but then we got more snow.

“(But) the cold temperatures have helped keep river flows down so we’d need more than 50-60 millimetres of rain before we got into flooding situations.”

Still though, he said, a “minor drought” condition is still in place, based on last year’s model.

“We’ll look again in April to see what kind of recharge we have and if we’ve had the peak for this year then it’s one of the lower ones.”

He said the trend is a decline in area rivers and lakes.

“In Wolfe and Greater Bob’s Lakes, we’re above targets but they have fallen back,” he said. “And 5-10 millimetres of rain won’t do a lot.

“It’s still certainly a ‘who knows’ but if it’s like last year, water levels will be lower.”

Larsen also had a warning about spring ice.

“People need to be very careful on waterbodies in the spring,” he said.

In the areas serviced by the Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority, watershed engineering technologist Shawn Fairbank said that while 2016 experienced “severe drought conditions,” the region seems to be out of that now, but it’s been “an interesting spring.

“It seems like we had the spring freshet in February but then we had snow in March. We had a second smaller melt in March but I think we’re out of that now.”

It’s a similar situation in the Quinte Conservation area.

“This winter has been surprisingly ‘typical’ in terms of precipitation of snow and rain,” said Christine McClure, water resources manager at Quinte Conservation. “However, the temperatures have been quite different.

“We’ve had more melt events this winter and they’ve been earlier than normal, especially in the south.

“There is still snow in the north and the final water levels will depend on how that melts.”

She said we didn’t have lots of intermediate melts though because temperatures still dipped below freezing overnight.

“Things melted slowly because it was warm and then cold, warm and then cold,” she said. “So, we didn’t have peak stream levels during those times.”

She said we did get a good replenishment of groundwater but “we should be cautious about groundwater because if we don’t get more rainfall in the spring, we could have lower levels in late summer.”

She said overall things are in a reasonable range even though levels have peaked earlier than normal.

“The challenge is we’re looking at levels as they’re occurring,” she said. “Everything else is about what the weather is like for the rest of the spring.”

For a map of Ontario’s conservation authorities and the areas they serve, visit conservationontario.ca/about-us/conservation-authorities/ca-contact-list.

Every year the Monarch butterflies that we see in Frontenac Ontario migrate 7000km to a mountaintop at 10000ft in Michoacán Mexico.  The Monarch’s gather here in grape-like bunches hanging from pine trees to hibernate for the winter. Millions of butterflies can be seen in their drab winter colors hanging in these clusters.  The Mexican government has designated this a protected area, no logging or hiking trails are roped off people are not allowed to make loud noises, and flash photography is not allowed.  Yet in the past 20 years, the numbers of butterflies arriving her has dropped by 90%.  

The problem is not in Mexico it is in Canada and the United States.  The Monarch’s lack of diversified feeding/breeding habits means that it needs the wild plant known as Milkweed. Milkweed habitation in Canada and the United States is being destroyed by housing construction, farming, and herbicides. We have reduced the number and size of the Monarch’s milkweed feeding grounds. If the Monarch’s cannot get to milkweed during their migrations and summer breeding times, they will not be able to feed or reproduce.  A 90% loss in population in twenty years indicates that Monarch extinction is in sight.

In Frontenac, the Monarch Butterflies are seen as part of our summer. Their distinctive black and gold wing patterns can be seen as they flutter around our gardens, farms, and forests, pollinating our plants and adding color to our landscape.

I recently joined the Monarch Butterfly migration when I traveled to the El Rosario Butterfly Sanctuary in the state of Michoacan, Mexico where millions of Monarch’s from Canada and the northern United States, have been hibernating each winter for recorded history. Every year millions of these butterflies gather here safe from predators, waiting for spring.

Sebastian Jannelli, of Greenpeace, reported in July of 2015 that “Over the last two decades, Monarch Butterfly populations have declined by nearly 90 percent.”

We rode the last two kilometers on horseback the added climb of 500m as the mountain rose to a height of 3100m (2 Miles) above sea level.  From the car park, we had walked the first 20-minutes up the paved pathway to the entrance of the El Rosario Butterfly Sanctuary, and the horses. The personally imposed rest stops attested to the lack of oxygen in the air at this altitude, and how steep the walkway was.

This is technically in the Tropics, but at this elevation, a warm jacket and good shoes are required. It can snow up here. The thirty people had traveled by tour bus up the winding mountain roads through the villages of Angangueo and Ocampo, to the car park at 2400m in the small village of El Rosario, Michoacan, Mexico. The car park has Baños and tarp covered restaurants. The last bathrooms are at the end of the 20-minute walk to the entrance of the park where the horses were waited to carry us the rest of the way. There is also the option of hiking to the top. I took a horse.

This year (2017) was my first visit to El Rosario Butterfly Sanctuary. After the 20-minute horse ride up a winding trail with a 30-degree slope, we reached the end of the horse trail and the to start of the 10-minute hiking trail into the forest and the butterfly colony.

Monarch’s reach their hibernation ground at the El Rosario Butterfly Sanctuary starting in November each year. The Monarch colony is roped off from the hiking trail and looks at first like large bunches of grapes hanging from the pine trees these are hibernation clusters, huddled together for warmth. On bright, warm days when the sunlight brings heat to their waiting bodies, large numbers take short, spectacular flights through the forest clearings. It appears to be flights of pure pleasure, but it is more likely to be for the practical reason of soaking up the sun's life-giving energy as they wait for the call of Spring and their flight north. It is one of the wonders of our world to see Monarch’s like this in their pale and drab faded hibernation colors. Yet we may be the last generation privileged to see it.

A butterfly has four distinct stages, these are; egg, larva, pupa and adult butterfly. For the mighty Monarch, this takes about a month from egg to adult. For the annual migration, it takes about four of these life cycles to reach the hibernation grounds. The adult Monarch will live up to six weeks during the migration seasons but will live the four/five months of the winter in a hibernation cluster huddled together for warmth ready to start the migration and breeding cycle in the spring.  

Monarchs feed and breed only on the milkweed plant. Monarch’s along with other pollinators are threatened by habitation loss and herbicides. Mexico has taken a stand with the creation of the El Rosario Butterfly Sanctuary. This sanctuary protects the Monarch Butterflies when they are in their vulnerable winter hibernation stage. But there is another problem. A problem caused by the Monarch itself and its lack of diversified feeding/breeding habits. Milkweed habitation in Canada and the United States is being destroyed by housing construction, farming, and herbicides. We have reduced the number and size of the Monarch milkweed feeding grounds. If the Monarch’s cannot get to milkweed during their migrations and summer breeding times, they will not be able to feed or reproduce the following generations, their very survival is at risk.

I was at the El Rosario Butterfly Sanctuary in early March on a chilly day with only occasional periods of warm sunlight breaking through the cloud. Even these short burst of warmth caused hundreds of butterflies to rise from their grape-like hibernation clusters and follow the sunbeams as they moved slowly across the forest clearings. They are getting ready to migrate north with the expectation the essential milkweed will be where it has always been.

Next season will see the opening of gift stores along the tourist route from the car park, with its food stands to the base of the trails, high on this mountain. The box-like store shells were under construction as we walked past. This has been a Mexican government-inspired project to help the local villagers glean every tourist peso possible during the three-month butterfly winter season.

But will visitors come if the Monarch Butterfly die-off continues? Will people come to see were the extinct Monarch Butterfly used to come for their winter hibernation?

“Late in March we usually get a spring snowfall.” Rosa, my guide at the El Rosario Butterfly Sanctuary informed me. “As the snow melts, the Monarch’s will start to leave this unique mountain top and head north. Then over the following three-day period, they will all be gone.” She said with almost the sad/happy look of a mother seeing her young child off to school on their first school bus. “They will return next year.” She added with a note of uncertainty in her voice.

Then Rosa gave an another sad after fought “In past years the butterflies covered this mountain top, not just the relatively small area that you are looking at today.”

I asked. “Are we the last generation to see Monarch Butterflies in their millions?”

“What are we in the collective countries of North America going to do about it?”

David Craig is currently living in Perth and is building an earthship home just east of town, but what he really wants to do, and soon, is start building a community of earthship buildings in North Frontenac.

Earthships are a home design concept that uses recycled tires, concrete and the structure of the landscape to create homes that can heat themselves by drawing heat from the ground, and are so energy efficient they can be powered with two solar panels and a bank of batteries. All that is needed as a backup is a small wood stove or propane heater. They were pioneered in New Mexico by Michael Reynolds.

David Craig had been working in the traditional building trade when he decided to make a change. He took a course on how to build “Earthship” homes, and since then he has built two of them in Ontario as a contractor. Over the last six years he has developed a more elaborate vision, a community of earthships, a 300 to 400 acre property to be occupied by 300 to 400 people set up in a circle or some other arrangement. The property would include 144 buildings plus other property that would be owned by a community-owned corporation.  Families who purchase the homes will have the option of living in them as single family dwellings just like in any other subdivision, or they could contribute to the community, through 3 hours of labour per week towards a community benefit.

“Those who join in and work for 3 hours a week, and they don’t even have to live in the community to join in, will share in the benefits that come to the community. It’s up to the people what kinds of projects they want to pursue, but the idea is that a third of what is produced stays in the community, a third is sold for a profit, and a third is re-invested in the community.”

The Earthship is at the core of the concept because the homes are cheap to build, but more importantly they are off-grid and self heating, making them very inexpensive to live in. They are also greenhouses at the same time and families can grow their own food as well.

“The attraction of this contributional community concept is that once people are able to have shelter, heat, power, and food, their basic needs are met. That frees them up to live the kind of lives they want to live.”

Craig said that by promoting his concept in pubic seminars there are a growing number of people who are ready to invest in earthships and move to a new community.

“This is not a hippie thing, and it’s not about living in the past, or away from the world. The idea is not to be somewhere in the back woods where no one can find us, but as part of a broader community. There is also no rejection of technology. I still want to have high speed Internet and hot showers, and so does everyone else, but this offers people more control over their lives.”

The one thing standing in the way of getting an earthship community under way is a piece of land to build it on and a municipal jurisdiction that is responsive and is willing to develop the zoning and permitting process to allow it to happen.

“I found a perfect piece of property, 720 acres in Frontenac County,” Craig said. He looked up Frontenac County on the Internet and came up with Ron Higgins’ email.

“He responded positively to me, but it turned out the 720 acres is in Central Frontenac. But I have kept up correspondence with Ron Higgins and we had a meeting with the planner and they were very positive about the idea, but in order to do it in North Frontenac I need to find some land in that township.”

Craig said he is looking for at least 300 acres in North Frontenac and that he is ready to start up the project as soon as he finds suitable land.

“I need to find a property yesterday,” he said “because I am ready to start building right away. We have the people, we have the plans, we are ready.”

Anyone who is interested in the project or has a nice piece of land for sale in North Frontenac can check out talkingtreescommunity.com or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Although gardening season seems to be far into the future, it is not too early to make plans for ‘the best garden ever” Seed catalogues have arrived, with photos of sumptuous vegetables, gorgeous blooms and delicious fruit. Seed catalogues are a wealth of information. Browsing through these can take hours. You may have your favourite varieties that you have grown for years or you may be new to choosing seeds. Stick with kinds of veg that you know your family will eat. Most catalogues will recommend ‘tried and true’ varieties and they will be a safe bet. “Award of merit’ varieties are also reliable. Catalogues offer you dozens of options as to size, shape and colour. For many years, I have also added at least one new item to my purchases- something that I have never tasted before or that is new on the market. These have included artichokes, cucamelons, sweet potatoes, blue pumpkins, walking stick cabbages, etc. Some experiments have been great and others complete flops but it was fun to try.

The descriptions of plants given are reliable and instructions on the packets should be followed exactly. If your variety of squash will run to cover 20-30 feet then your little veg patch will not be adequate, so instead grow a ‘bush’ type. If the package says –‘do not cover seed’ then you know that those seeds need light to germinate. If you have trouble with late blight in tomatoes, then change the location in the garden and grow a variety that is resistant.

Many seeds stay viable for more than one year, so that half package of carrot seed left from last year should be okay if it was stored in a cool, dark, dry place. Parsnip seed, however, must be fresh.

While we wait for spring, we can try growing some seedling sprouts, also known as microgreens, in soil indoors. To grow some microgreens, all you need is a plastic container that will hold an inch or two of soil, and a sunny window sill. A shallow plastic takeout container or salad container with moist potting soil or soilless mix works well. Soak seeds overnight. Alfalfa, radish, pea, broccoli, cress, onion, basil, are just a few that will sprout and grow into tasty micro greens. Place the soaked seed thickly on to the soil surface. Leave the seeds exposed and uncovered. Grow seeds under lights or on a window sill. Keep the soil moist. But not wet. Cut seedlings when about 4 inches tall. You do not eat the seeds or roots. As part of good hygiene, start with fresh soil every time. These little morsels are make delicious crunchy toppings for salads or sandwiches.

Patricia Stirbys and Peter Croal made a presentation in support of the concept of a National Healing Forest last Thursday night (January 12) at the Table in Perth.

The idea came to Croal while he was on the Walk for Truth and Reconciliation in May of 2015, and he asked Stirbys to partner with him to develop it. The initial concept was to see a National Healing Forest established with 6,000 trees to recognise the 6,000 First Nation, Inuit, and Metis children who were lost while attending residential schools, and 1,200 trees to represent the 1,200 plus murdered and missing aboriginal women and girls in Canada.

They approached Charlene Bearhead, the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) Education Lead with the idea, and from there it took off. Instead of a single site the National Healing Forest is now envisioned as a network of sites all across the country and individuals and groups are invited to take on the project in any way they see fit.

Plans are being developed for a plaque to be available for purchase to mark the locations that are part of the national forest, and a website with a map marking all the locations that are open to the public is being contemplated as well.

It was this idea of community participation that brought Stirbys and Croal to Perth.
After they set the scene with a powerpoint presentation on the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the pain that it laid bare, they talked in general terms about the Healing Forest project.

Then the meeting was opened up.

“What we want to know from you people is what do you want to do with this project. It is no longer our project, it is everyone’s project now. We release it,” said Patricia Stirby.
“It is a project for all Canadians. It would be a quite a thing if there were a necklace of forests across the country,” said Croal.

The 40 or so people at the Table wasted no time taking ownership of the idea. Many said they had a special piece of land, an acre, a clump of trees, a small meadow, that they would like to designate as part of the project.

“The idea of healing extends beyond the aboriginal community, the settler community needs to heal as well. And we also need to heal the land after all that has been done,” said Mireille Lapointe, a teacher at St. John Catholic High School who lives near Westport and is a member of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation community.

There was also talk of approaching the Perth town Council, MPP Hillier, or MP Reid to seek funding or the use of public land for the project.

“I like to see this primarily as a community project, as a project that we all take responsibility for, and not something that we turn over to the government to take on, not something that ends up being a photo-op or a series of photo-ops,” said Stirby.

The meeting in Perth was the first public meeting about the project, but there is already a forest in place, in Edmonton on the banks of the North Saskatchewan river. A group called RISE (Recognition in Solidarity Edmonton) placed paper hearts in 1,000 trees along the river, each with a message of reconciliation. While the paper hearts will not last, RISE is thinking about a more permanent commemoration.

Stirbys and Croal are headed to Saskatchewan this week to work with a group of high school students on a visual image that they hope to use as the common element in the plaques that will be made available to participants in the National Healing Forest Project.

As for the National Healing Forest, it is being housed on a virtual basis by the NCTR website. To access information, go to NCTR.ca, click on the Education tab and look for National Healing Forest in the middle right hand portion of the page.

The Elbow Lake Environmental Education Centre (ELEEC), in partnership with the Friends of Frontenac Park and Bird Studies Canada, invites participants to the 2nd Annual “Frontenac” Christmas Bird Count (CBC).  The 2016 official count day is Saturday, December 17, beginning with an introductory workshop for novice birders at 8:30 am, followed by the field survey.  No experience necessary – participants of all ages and ability are invited to take part in the day’s events.

The CBC is the longest-running Citizen Science program in the world, promoting conservation and providing valuable data on winter bird populations since Christmas Day of 1900. The Frontenac survey area covers rural areas around Sydenham, Harrowsmith and Perth Road Village, but also encompasses several protected areas within its 24 km diameter, including Frontenac Provincial Park, Gould Lake Conservation Area, and properties owned by the Queen’s University Biological Station and Nature Conservancy of Canada.  We need volunteers to assist with roadside surveys, as well as adventurous pedestrian teams to count birds in more remote areas.  Residents with bird feeders are encouraged to participate as feeder watchers.  To learn more or to take part in the Frontenac CBC, please contact site coordinators Carolyn Bonta / Michael Johnson at 613-531-4578 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Concurrent with the Frontenac CBC, the ELEEC is hosting a Christmas Bird Count for Kids (CBC4K) event to introduce children and their families to birdwatching and local winter bird diversity.  “Young-at-heart” participants are also welcome!  Following an indoor presentation, and armed with binoculars, field guides and audio call recordings, we will then head outdoors on the trails in search of birds to count.  This free morning session will run from 9:30 am to noon.  The ELEEC is located at 1500 Hewlett-Packard Lane, off North Shore Road, near Perth Road Village.  For information on CBC4K, please contact Carolyn Bonta, Manager – Elbow Lake at 613-353-7968 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Suitable for ages 3 and up; advance registration recommended.

About the Elbow Lake Environmental Education Centre

The Elbow Lake Environmental Education Centre was established in 2011 through a partnership agreement between the Nature Conservancy of Canada and the Queen’s University Biological Station (QUBS), co-owners of the 455-ha Elbow Lake property.  

As the public outreach arm of QUBS, the ELEEC’s mission is to provide outdoor programs to enhance conservation biology teachings in the community.  Our public educational events expose participants to real researchers doing real science right here in our local area, and we do this in a very hands-on way.

For more information on our programs, please visit elbowlakecentre.ca/events.

About The Friends of Frontenac Park

The mission of the Friends of Frontenac Park is to undertake activities to enhance appreciation of the ecosystem of Frontenac Provincial Park, part of which involves creating programs and materials to promote public awareness, education, and understanding of the park’s natural and cultural heritage.

For more information, please visit www.frontenacpark.ca.

About Bird Studies Canada

Bird Studies Canada (BSC) is our country’s leading science-based bird conservation organization.  Our mission is to conserve wild birds of Canada through sound science, on-the-ground actions, innovative partnerships, public engagement, and science-based advocacy.

BSC is a national charity built on the contributions of thousands of supporters and Citizen Scientists.  Using data from our volunteer monitoring programs and targeted research, BSC scientists identify significant population changes and direct conservation planning.  

For more information, please visit www.birdscanada.org.

Contact

To learn more about the Elbow Lake Environmental Education Centre, please contact:

Carolyn Bonta, Manager – Elbow Lake, QUBS
c/o    Queen’s University Department of Biology
    116 Barrie St.
    Kingston, Ontario  K7L 3N6
Phone: (613) 353-7968
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
http://www.elbowlakecentre.ca

To learn more about The Friends of Frontenac Park, please contact:

Friends of Frontenac Park
P.O. Box 2237
Kingston, Ontario  K7L 5J9
www.frontenacpark.ca

To learn more about the Christmas Bird Count, please contact:

Canadian Christmas Bird Count Coordinator
c/o    Bird Studies Canada
    P.O. Box 160
Port Rowan, Ontario  N0E 1M0
Phone: 1-888-448-(BIRD)2473
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
www.birdscanada.org/volunteer/cbc

On October 17, renowned filmmakers John and Janet Foster will present “More Stories from the Wild” hosted by the Friends of the Salmon River at their AGM in Roblin.

For more than 40 years, the Fosters have been telling stories about Canada. Their filming assignments for CBC, TV Ontario, and the Discovery Channel have taken them from coast to coast and into the High Arctic. Through their films and slide shows they have always shared their own passion for Canada’s wild places and the diversity of our wildlife.

In this presentation, John and Janet share more stories, exciting wildlife adventures on their old farm, and new discoveries they have made this year in Hastings County. These are local tales everyone can relate to, including funny and endearing rendezvous with wild turkeys, deer, a barred owl, and many others with whom they share a rich rural habitat. In Prince Edward County, travel with us through dramatic snow squalls, wintering swans and geese, and icy lakeshores. You will see a video of sunrise, mist, and swans at Wellington Harbour on a cold, -20C January morning and learn how the Fosters captured the very images they had envisioned.

The Fosters have directed and hosted many nature and wildlife programs for television, including the CBC series To the Wild Country and Wild Canada. For photography buffs, there will be opportunities to discover nuances of technique from these seasoned experts. John Foster says, “One of the secrets we have learned for filming and photography is knowing exactly when to be there."

Come to More Stories from the Wild, a high caliber show, followed by the Friends of Salmon River AGM on Monday, October 17 at 6:30 pm at Roblin Wesleyan Church, 3100 County Road 41, in Roblin. Entry is free for current FSR members or $5.00 for non-members. Refreshments and discussion will be plentiful. For information, contact Susan at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 613-379-5958. Also see friendsofsalmonriver.ca