Photo: Doug Lee, Kevin Hanse and Steve Pitt, harvesting Butternuts.

Well, not that elusive on this day.

Kevin Hansen and Steve Pitt have been working on the Butternut Recovery Project for several years and part of the project involves collecting seed from healthy trees. The project is sponsored by the Forest Gene Conservation Association

Butternut trees have been hit with a canker that has decimated the butternuts in the northern United States and has moved into Ontario in recent years, infecting up to 95% of the butternut stock. While there is no cure for the canker, some trees seem to have a resistance to it and manage to survive while others wither and die.

Through the Butternut Recovery Project, landowners who have butternut trees on their property have been asked to contact Kevin Hansen, who will come out and look at the trees, determine if they are infected, and enter them in a database.

He also contacts the landowners to see if any of their trees, whether they are infected or not, are producing butternuts in a given year. If they are, he comes out and collects the nuts in order to plant them and build up a stock of seedlings for planting later on.

The hope is that by planting as many butternuts as possible, the tree stock may be able to get ahead of the canker.

Doug Lee, of Godfrey, is one landowner who contacted the Butternut Recovery Project. There are about 100 butternut trees on the various farm properties owned by Lee’s family, and some of them are in pretty good shape. This year, about five of Lee’s butternut trees produced seed, and two of them were pretty well laden.

So, bright and early on September 6, Steve Pitt, who is the stewardship co-ordinator for the Lennox and Addington Stewardship Council in addition to working on the Butternut Recovery Project, and Kevin Hansen, met up with Doug Lee at his property off the Ball Road.

Armed with some pails, bags, and extension poles that are normally used for pruning taller trees, the men headed over to a nearby butternut, which, although stunted because it is basically growing out of a rock, is still in an open spot and producing seed. It also shows little if any sign of the canker.

Doug Lee was wearing a construction hat. We soon found out why.

We were all full of advice for Steve Pitt, who was wielding the pole, as to where he should be hitting the branches to knock the still-ripening butternuts off.

The thing is, when you are looking up, your face is exposed, and a butternut falling from 30 feet up gains a fair bit of momentum. We quickly realised it was better to face the ground and listen for falling butternuts as we scrambled to find them among the leaves, rocks and debris in the vicinity of the tree. But that still left the tops of our heads exposed. Better a hard hat than a soft head

The second tree was older, taller, and also in pretty good shape. It was also full of nuts.

After a couple of hours of knocking and climbing and gathering, a full bag and a large pail of butternuts were gathered, which Steve Pitt estimated to be about 750 butternuts.

“This year has been better than the last couple of years for nut production, a lot better,” said Steve Pitt. “We would be lucky to fill half a small pail at some locations last year.”

Pitt said that a sample of the nuts would be sent to a facility in Sioux St. Marie, where they will be tested to make sure they are pure butternuts, and not crossed with walnut or some other similar species, though he said that was not likely, given the location of the trees in this case.

The nuts will be planted in a nursery within a couple of weeks, and the seedlings will be left to grow for about 2 years before they will be transplanted to locations in Frontenac and L &A County.

Anyone with butternuts should contact Kevin Hansen at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 613-449-0732

Photo: Student rangers near Flinton

Members of the Ontario Ranger and Ontario Stewardship Ranger programs, two eight-week summer job programs geared to high school students aged 17, were out in full force on July 11. The programs are both sponsored by the Ministry of Natural Resources and hire Ontario youth for the summer to learn about and experience the great outdoors whole working on a number of environmental projects.

On July 11, led by Aaron Wilson of the Ontario Rangers, and Lisah Palmateer of the Ontario Stewardship Program, members of the two groups headed out into a section of the 2000-acre Lennox and Addington County Forest near Flinton where their teams spent a very hot, humid, and buggy day clearing out unwanted vegetation, specifically balsam fir, in a section of a 60-year-old red pine plantation forest. Using Sandvik brush axes, the students cleared brush all day long in an effort to enhance the growth of the red and white pine plantations there.

The main difference between the two programs is that the Ontario Rangers come from all over the province and camp out for the duration of the summer. Aaron's groups, for example, were camped out at Machesney Lake Ranger camp just north of Bon Echo Park near Cloyne. Their program consists in working on various projects for the MNR and local conservation authorities. The Stewardship Rangers, on the other hand, consist of students from Lennox and Addington and Frontenac County, and are based out of Kingston. They attend the program on a daily basis and travel back home at the end of the each workday. The Stewardship Rangers work for two local stewardship councils who decide which projects the students will work on.

Both groups underwent various training and certification programs in preparation for their work, which included standardized government training in campsite, swim, and boat safety, as well as provincial and occupational health and safety training and first aid. Some of the participants will be receiving two high school credits for the work they are undertaking.

While on site near Flinton, the group was overseen by Scott Brown of Silvecon Forestry, which manages the forest property. The county acquired the forest sometime after the depression, which according to Brown was a very smart thing to do. The red pines are harvested for hydro poles and are also sawn into lumber.

Many of the student participants said they were looking to get into the field of environmental studies later in their school careers. Ontario Ranger, Derek Lamarche of Wainfleet, Ont. said, “I love the outdoors and am definitely considering a career in the MNR and I felt this experience would be very helpful.”

Stewardship Ranger Marise Micklejohn felt similarly and was enjoying the experience. “I am learning a lot and am also loving being outside. The work can definitely be physically demanding but we are learning a lot of different skills and learning how to use a lot of different tools, which makes every day different and really interesting.”

The programs are making an impression on these students. When they were students themselves, both Lisah and Aaron participated in the programs that they are now leading. Aaron said, “Not surprisingly, many of the students who participate will end up going into the environmental fields afterwards, so these kinds of programs are definitely having a profound impact and are spurring youth on to those areas of study and work.”

Lisah agreed and said, “These programs are a great way for students to find out if working outdoors and in this sector is for them or not.”

Unfortunately due to government cutbacks the programs have been considerably reduced. The Ontario Ranger program, for example, has been cut drastically from its heyday in the 1980s, when 100 Ontario Ranger camps existed across the province. Now, just 13 remain. As a result there is a waiting list. Students looking for more information can visit the MNR's Youth Programs website. Student must be 17 years of age to participate in either program.

Photo: Gary Clarke

“Sustainable tourism” just happens to be the fastest growing sector of tourism today, and in an effort to develop a county-wide strategy for sustainable tourism, a first workshop put on by the Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve (FABR) and Frontenac County attracted numerous councilors and all four township mayors, along with business owners and entrepreneurs looking to better understand and define the term.

The workshop offered insight into the topic by various leading professionals in the field. Gary Clarke, founding member and chair of FABR and a director of the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario, spoke of the trend for sustainable tourism which began in the early 1970s and solidified with the 1989 Brundtland Commission definition of it as tourism that “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. Soon afterwards, Canada Tourism developed its own definition: tourism that is “viable long term and which fosters appreciation and stewardship for natural, cultural and historic resources.”

Citing current statistics, Clarke demonstrated the increased demand for greener holidays by travelers worldwide, including 82% of US travelers to Canada, who said that environmentally friendly tourism is one of their primary considerations when choosing a destination.

Clarke pointed to countries like Wales and New Zealand who are on the leading edge of the sustainable tourism trend and who as a result are reaping the financial rewards. “Sustainability is smart business,” Clarke said. “The evidence is all there - we just need to wake up to it. Canada is already recognized globally as a tourist destination for its abundant natural beauty. So right now we are poised to take advantage of an opportunity and attitude that already exists. The questions now is – are we willing to gear up to do what it takes to take those important next steps?”

Ted Manning, director of Tourisk Inc. and also the leading provider of sustainable tourism strategies of the UN World Tourism Organization, spoke at length about the different sustainable tourism strategies he has witnessed around the world. He said that Frontenac County is an exceptional natural jewel that has much to gain. “The Frontenac area still remains in an almost untouched, pristine state and it provides experiences of nature that are just not available in most other parts of the world. Basically you're selling nature to people who do not have access to it otherwise. For that reason efforts must be made to make sure that tourism here develops in a sustainable way, keeping all of the area’s natural assets intact.”

Manning focused on targeting specific destinations; how to plan, protect and provide proper infrastructure to best develop the chosen locations; and how best to manage them in the long term. “The idea is to maximize the benefits for as many people as possible. You can't manage tourists, just the destinations.”

He covered key considerations when deciding on tourist destinations, how to capture the benefits while avoiding excessive costs, addressing issues of sensitivity, and how to measure impacts and risks. “You want to gain from tourism but not have to give up the farm to do it.” He also highlighted the fact that cooperation rather than competition between various area communities should be the order of the day.

He cited examples of this in the tourism plan of Nova Scotia which has successfully spread tourism out all along its coast into hundreds of tiny communities with the aid of coastal walking trails. “That plan has worked exceptionally well.”

The second half of the workshop was facilitated by FABR board member Louise Mantha, and participants described the present state of tourism in the county, which included descriptions of its inherent natural treasures, but also adjectives like dismal, non-existent and under-developed.

Next, participants listed the changes they would like to see in the future. The list was extensive and included better signage, access, information and mapping of trails, paddle routes, beaches and much more.

The last segment of the workshop concerned developing strategies to make these goals a reality. Imminent next steps included plans to form a steering committee on sustainable tourism at the county level; pursuing “buy in” from the various conservation authorities, municipal councils and other counties included in the area; and developing a sustainable tourism plan.

Don Ross, executive director of FABR, was thrilled with the enthusiasm shown at this first workshop. “Our job at FABR is to try to help with sustainable community development with the goal of finding ways to protect natural and cultural heritage - not by building fences or creating laws - but by bringing the community along in a stewardship role. We really hope to come out of this by being able to assist the county in writing up a blueprint for how to become sustainable in tourism over the long term. The idea is that with perspective and knowing what the interests are, to make a plan of how to go about getting there.”

It seems that after this initial meeting the county has come many steps closer to reaching that final goal.

Photo: Meagan Balogh

When Frontenac County completed an Integrated Community Sustainability Plan (ICSP) a couple of years ago, Gray Merriam, who was then the Chair of the Frontenac Stewardship Council, brought the first sustainability project proposal to the county.

It was for a glossy, full colour, magazine format booklet, which he dubbed “The “Naturally Rich Frontenacs”.

The idea was to make use of the talents of people from Frontenac County to produce an informative booklet that includes information about the way people interact with the natural environment in Frontenac County in the way they make their living and spend their leisure time.

The project was a partnership between the Stewardship Council, with Gray Merriam taking a leadership role as editor/driving force, Frontenac County providing funding for printing costs to the tune of $9,000, and the Frontenac Community Futures Development Corporation providing funding to hire White Lake resident Meghan Balogh, who did the design and layout of the booklet.

“What Meghan also brought to the project, basically as a volunteer, was her talents as a photographer, which is what has given the booklet a lot of its appeal,” said Gray Merriam.

The final product, which will be presented to Frontenac County Council next month, is, in Merriam’s words “as rich as diverse as the Frontenacs themselves”.

It includes articles on stewardship, forestry, endangered species, lakes, fishing, hunting, encountering nature, tourism, art, biodiversity and the most iconic feature of the north end of the county, bedrock. Several “Frontenac Success Stories”, which were first printed in the Frontenac News last summer, are included as well. Residents of Frontenac County wrote almost all of the articles in the booklet.

“We hope that this booklet will generate increased pride in the Naturally Rich Frontenacs and provide a starting place for planning how we can plan to be effective stewards of the remarkable inheritance that we share and will pass on to others,” said Merriam in his introduction.

Effective stewardship, in Merriam’s view, brings an economic reward as well, as “urban populations of Ottawa, Kingston and Toronto are expanding and they want, and can afford, some time away from high-pressure jobs to recreate their spirits.”

The booklet is also meant to promote the work and profile of the Frontenac Stewardship Council, which was formed in 1996. The council received administrative support and a limited amount of seed money from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, but operates as an independent, volunteer-run organisation that works to identify stewardship challenges and gaps, develop partnerships and fund environmental initiatives throughout the county. These initiatives in the past have ranged from tree planting programs, to enhancing spawning beds, to support for landowners interested in developing stewardship plans for their properties.

The stewardship council also provides landowners and others with environmentally related information, and each year sponsors a number of talks and workshops throughout the county on topics as diverse as Fishers, Loons, invasive species, and more. The council meets monthly.

(The Naturally Rich Frontenacs is a free booklet that will be available in the coming weeks at area stores and restaurants, and starting next month, at township offices and other locations.)

A web version of the Naturally Rich Frontenacs has been produced as well. It can be viewed at naturallyrichfrontenacs.com.

Photo: Alex Zeller, Michael Enright, Rory Baksh and Peter Young present County's Natural Heritage Study at a public meeting in Sydenham on Oct. 4.

Frontenac County presented their newly minted Natural Heritage Study at two public meetings last week.

The study’s aim is to identify a natural heritage system in the county. It was pinpointed as a “priority project” in the Frontenac ICSP [Integrated Community Sustainability Plan] and its results will be used as one of the foundation blocks for the county’s new Official Plan (OP)

By adopting the Natural Heritage Study (NHS) into the County’s OP, the authors believe that the county will be better able to determine policies for land use, environmental preservation, conservation and management, that will conform to the provincial policy statement.

The NHS project manager Michael Enright, ecologist Alex Zeller and land use planner Rory Baksh made the presentation to a handful of listeners at the Sydenham Public Library on October 4 following a similar presentation in Sharbot Lake on Oct.3.

Some of the over 14 components that were analyzed in the study were; deer and moose feeding/wintering habitats, trout sensitive lakes, bird nesting sites, woodlands, areas of natural and scientific interest, ecological corridors, wetlands, and areas of biodiversity.

The proposed mapping that is included in the study marks off lakes and wetlands, including provincially significant wetlands, all of these having been established previously. As well, and it is this part of the mapping that was cause for concern at the meetings, the mapping includes two added features. One is a series of long, narrow yellow strips that are newly designated “ecological corridors”. The second are swaths of land marked off as “areas of biodiversity” which were designated by the report in order to ensure the county maintains “full ecological representation and capture as much of the different habitats and ecological communities within the Natural Heritage System as possible”

These areas were created using the MARXAN GIS model, a computer-generated program that drew criticism from Gray Merriam, a retired professional landscape ecologist and former chair of the Frontenac County Stewardship Council.

“I have two objections to the study and the MARXAN model that was used to create it,” Merriam said when interviewed following the two meetings. “First, regarding the corridors, there is no evidence to suggest that wildlife will in fact move along these corridors. And 2) listing certain defined areas of specific concern while ignoring the rest of the countryside in between these places will not take into account the landscape in general, resulting in a lack of stewardship for all of these in between areas.”

Merriam said that the MARXAN model was designed specifically for suburban planning in more densely populated areas, areas that have only smaller isolated spots of natural environment left, not areas like Frontenac County with huge wild natural areas.

“Frontenac County is not suburbia so it does not make sense to use a model specifically developed for suburban planning. The study perhaps makes sense in the southern-most portion of the county but further north where the majority of land is wild, this kind of model does not make sense,” he said.

The authors of the study proposed three possible options for how the study can be incorporated into county planning. Two of these would place limitations on development based on some of the designations in the plan, while the third would leave those kinds of decisions in the purview of the local municipalities.

Project manager Peter Young said the next step in the process will be to take the information gathered from the two public meetings and then go to County Council in December.

Young invites anyone who did not attend the public meetings to look at the study online at www.frontenaccounty.ca, and he invites their feedback.

Editorial by Jeff Green

It was several years ago now that Brett Colman, who was then working as a stewardship coordinator with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, appeared before North Frontenac Council.

He was there on a recruitment drive. Colman had just transferred to Kingston from southwestern Ontario and he was trying to find representatives for the Frontenac Stewardship Council from all corners of the county in order to bring it back from a moribund state.

Stewardship councils had been set up as a cost-cutting exercise by the ministry. Until budget cuts in 1995, ministry employees did the work of stewardship councils, providing information and resources to landowners who were interested in fostering a balance between their own land use and the long term viability of the rural ecosystem. Quite apart from the regulatory function of the ministry, which often puts the ministry in conflict with landowners, stewardship is all about cooperation and taking advantage of a common interest between individuals and governments in fostering a diverse and healthy rural landscape.

It took a while for the Frontenac Stewardship Council, which is a group of interested volunteers aided by a ministry employee, to get up and running. With the help of Colman, who took early retirement to work with his wife at Desert Lake Family Resort in Verona, and his replacement, Cam McCauley, the council has had active participation from members in all four Frontenac townships, with members from Frontenac Islands making extra efforts to get to meetings in Hartington or Sharbot Lake within the limitations of the ferry schedules.

Landowners from the Limestone, Canadian Shield, and Islands ecosystems have met together and talked about issues of concern across a vast and diverse territory. Slowly, through communications with county and township councils and staff, cottage associations, woodlot owners, farmers, and students, the Frontenac Stewardship Council has been working its way into the fabric of life in Frontenac County.

As we have chronicled in these pages, Frontenac County itself suffers from difficulties because of its landscape and political history as junior partner in its relationship to the City of Kingston. As the county prepares for its 150th anniversary in 2015, an opportunity to put its best foot forward as a modern, rural community of communities with a common future, the stewardship council was in line to be a key partner in some of the activities.

This is now in extreme doubt. With the Ministry of Natural Resources pulling away from the Stewardship Council program, the Frontenac Stewardship Council will be lucky to survive, and if it does it will likely be as part of a regional program.

As one of the pieces of Frontenac County's fragile public identity, the loss of the council is a loss for the county as a whole, and for all of us who live here.

The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources is ending the Ontario Stewardship Program.

The program has provided administrative and staffing support to 46 stewardship councils in all rural counties in Southern Ontario for the past 16 years.

In a letter to stewardship council chairs that was sent by email on September 27, Assistant Deputy Minister Carrie Hayward delivered the news that the local councils had been fearing ever since details of the 2012 provincial budget came out last spring, which indicated the MNR will be undergoing a transformation plan.

“As signalled in the 2012 Ontario Budget, one element of our transformation plan is to refocus our efforts in stewardship and partnership activities,” wrote Carrie Hayward.

Hayward then said that a number of other “stakeholders” have sprung up since the stewardship councils were created and they are capable of delivering some of the “resource management activities” that the stewardship councils have also been engaged in.

“Instead of focussing much of our assistance through stewardship councils, we will support a wider range of community groups. The result is that the Ontario Stewardship Program, with a stewardship coordinator dedicated to supporting each individual stewardship council’s work, will end.”

Hayward went on to say that 14 stewardship co-ordinators have been notified their positions have been “surplussed” and that 25 new “Partnership Specialist” positions, “working at the district level … with a broader range of stakeholders, are being created.”

For Gord Rodgers, the chair of the Frontenac Stewardship Council, the news was as much disappointing as it was expected.

“I am really disappointed with the MNR,” Rodgers said. “We have been hearing about this for over a year now, and the budget talked about change and consultation, but they did not respond to any of our requests for meetings. A request that a number of council chairs made to meet with the minister did not even get a response from the ministry.”

The Frontenac Stewardship Council has sponsored a number of projects in Frontenac County in recent years, including: tree planting programs; rehabilitating the habitat on Big Sandy Bay on Wolfe Island; providing funding for shoreline rehabilitation projects undertaken by rural landowners; developing a water unit for the grade 8 curriculum; producing the 48-page Naturally Rich Frontenacs booklet; providing financial support for lake management planning and fish spawning bed efforts; and working with foresters on woodlot management plans and on efforts to react to the butternut canker and emerald ash borer.

The Council has also sponsored well-attended talks on grey wolves, loons, fishers, and recently, the grey (black) ratsnake.

“Our efforts have always been geared towards working cooperatively with Frontenac County residents who are interested in improving the surrounding ecosystems. We work with people; we have nothing to do with the legal and regulatory aspects of the MNR. It is disappointing that the MNR is pulling away from such a cooperative aspect of their mandate,” said Rodgers.

The stewardship councils will not be forced to cease their operations, but in order to receive $10,000 in MNR funding support for the 2012-2103 year, they will need to incorporate or to have finalised an agreement with an incorporated sponsor by the end of 2012. Until now the councils have been under the ministry’s umbrella.

The MNR will cover insurance costs until the end of March 2013 for those councils that decide to carry on.

“The problem is that without the support of a dedicated MNR staff person to help us access grants in order to fund local projects, we will need to raise funds just to get a part-time person in place to then seek funding,” said Rodgers.

Rodgers said the Frontenac Stewardship Council would meet later in October to talk about the future, if any, of their activities.

It might be possible for councils from three or four counties to band together and form a regional council, perhaps with some municipal support, but Rodgers said nothing has been done so far in that regard.

“I haven’t talked to the chairs of the neighbouring councils yet,” he said. “The news is still fresh and I am pretty discouraged about it.”

Photo:  Gordon Thompson of the Greater Bobs and Crow Lake Association was helped up by one of the Stewardship Rangers as part of work bee to spread rocks on Bobs Lake this week for a Walleye spawning bed.

Members of the Stewardship Rangers spent a day on Bobs Lake this week helping the Greater Bobs and Crow Lake Association (GBCLA) set out a Walleye spawning bed at one of the major intake creeks on the lake, near the site of an old mill.

The GBLCA received a grant last year from the CFWIP (Community Fisheries and Wildlife Involvement Program) of the Ministry of Natural Resources to purchase rock for the project, but the water levels were never low enough to put the project into effect. This year the levels are low, and the rock was delivered and spread this week, enabling association members and the stewardship rangers to build a spawning bed at the location. The rangers are a group of 17-year-old high school students who have been working throughout the Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington region all summer. Gordon Thompson, the Director of Fisheries for the GBCLA, organized the project and was on hand to help spread the rock around, along with about 8 other association members.

The hope is that in the spring, when the water level is high, Walleye will be able to drop their fertilized eggs in the cracks between the rocks, where they can grow out of the reach of predator species such as crappy, blue gill, and sunfish, until they emerge as fingerling Walleye. The project was facilitated by the Frontenac Stewardship Council.