Your 2016 Thank You Report

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1 Your 2016 Thank You Report

2 Cover photo: Natural lands purchased and protected by Conservation Halton and partners in At almost 100 acres, this area protects valleys and headwater streams that flow into the Grindstone Creek and to Hamilton Harbour.

3 Dear friends Thank you for your gift in support of Conservation Halton Foundation. As you read the 2016 Thank You Report, I hope you feel your decision to donate to Conservation Halton Foundation was a good one. The pictures on each page show how your gift and those of others were put to work. For example: Thousands of students had the opportunity to learn about the importance of caring for our waterways and forests through the Halton Children s Water Festival and the Halton Forest Festival. Volunteers enthusiastically joined the Conservation Halton Stewardship Program and built bat boxes and bee boxes, attended workshops to help make their properties more rain and pollinator friendly, and helped plant over 3,500 trees and shrubs. We completed two new raptor pens at the Mountsberg Raptor Centre along with many accessibility improvements. Thank you once again for being an ongoing part of these great works. We couldn t have achieved these wonderful successes without you. Warm regards, Jim Sweetlove Chair, Board of Directors Brian Hobbs Director Development

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5 The Halton Children s Water Festival our success continues thanks to you 2016 marked the 11 th year of the Halton Children s Water Festival. This year, we hosted 3,615 students from grades 2 to 5 who learned about the importance of water in our community. To date, more than 38,000 children have participated in the Water Festival since its launch in Through interactive activities, students learn about water conservation and protection, water health and safety, water science and technology, and water and society. For example, in the Shrinking Wetlands activity centre, students learn about wetland resources and the pressures which are put on wetlands and ways of protecting them. Wetlands play an important function in cleaning water and store water during significant rainfall events, releasing it back slowly into our creeks and streams. In the Water Main Break activity centre, students learn how clean water is delivered by water mains to their houses, how they are constructed and the work needed to keep them working properly. Thank you to our committed volunteers and partners from Halton Region, the Halton District School Board, the Halton Catholic District School Board, the Town of Oakville, the Town of Halton Hills and the City of Burlington, and our generous sponsors who have helped make the Festival an ongoing success.

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7 Neighbours and volunteers create habitat and rain-friendly communities through the Stewardship Program Through our Stewardship program, Conservation Halton staff work with people like you to give nature a helping hand. In 2016, we continued this work with 606 people who spent 1,412 hours getting a closer connection to our local natural world. Volunteers planted 2,200 plants and 1,500 trees to enhance 2,500 square meters of habitat at Bayview Park, at Princess Point, at the Cartwright Nature Sanctuary and along Grindstone Creek. At two community workshops, volunteers built 38 bee boxes and 60 bat boxes. Bees are important for pollinating food crops, fruit trees, flowers and more. Bats are an important part of our ecosystem because they eat tons and tons of bugs and mosquitos, and the 60 bat boxes will provide roosting habitat for up to 6,000 bats. Area homeowners attended our Healthy Neighboursheds Homeowner Workshop Series to discuss community stormwater management and its connection to their home. They learned how to select native plants to attract birds and wildlife to their yard, and how adding a rain barrel or rain garden can be a simple, inexpensive way to direct rain water away from the home towards gardens or the lawn. Directing rainfall to a rain barrel or a garden can store water on site and plays a role in lessening the impact of urban flooding. Thank you to everyone who participated in the workshops and the restoration projects, and supported the program with their sponsorships and donations. Photos (clockwise from top left): lands purchased and conserved by Conservation Halton; acorns gathered locally and planted to establish oak trees; bee and Wild Bergamot plant which are planted in pollinator gardens and habitat patches; community members and CH staff participating in Homeowner Workshop series; example of a rain barrel installed by a workshop participant; a community group after a successful habitat restoration project.

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9 Conserving and restoring important natural lands In 2015, Conservation Halton Foundation was an enthusiastic partner in buying almost 100 acres of land near Dundas. These properties connect protected areas and create a safe wildlife corridor stretching between Cootes Paradise and the Niagara Escarpment. Conservation Halton and our partners in the Cootes to Escarpment EcoPark System are continuing to raise funds needed to fully secure these lands. The Hamilton Community Foundation generously provided a loan to Conservation Halton for these properties, and efforts at Conservation Halton Foundation continue to raise funds to pay off the loan. Purchased as part of the Cootes to Escarpment EcoPark System, this area is home to more than 1,500 species of plants and animals, including nearly one-quarter of Canada s wild plants and more than 50 species at risk. It provides the last intact ecological connection between Lake Ontario wetlands and the Niagara Escarpment. These lands protect valley lands associated with Bronte Creek and have a role to play in easing urban flooding by storing water and slowing how quickly it moves downstream. Conservation Halton Foundation was proud to work on this acquisition with our partners, the Hamilton Community Foundation, Royal Botanical Gardens, Hamilton Conservation Authority, the City of Hamilton, and the Hamilton Naturalists Club. Conservation Halton ecologists are working to restore landscapes at this site. Efforts are underway to remove invasive species and re-establish forests, meadows and grasslands by planting 300 liters of walnut, oak and hickory nuts, and 44 kilograms of native wildflower and grass seed. The purchase of these lands continues Conservation Halton s involvement in conserving natural lands, as we ve been doing for more than 50 years. Photo: Natural lands purchased and protected by Conservation Halton and partners in At almost 100 acres, this area protects valleys and headwater streams that flow into the Grindstone Creek and to Hamilton Harbour.

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11 Now it s easier than ever for you to visit Chomper the Great Horned Owl and friends at the Mountsberg Raptor Centre In the fall of 2015, work started on the Nose to Beak Project at the Mountsberg Raptor Centre. The project provides enhanced shelter for our raptors and improves the accessibility at the Raptor Centre for our visitors. We finished the project in late 2016, and Chomper and friends seem to be pleased with the results. We built two new raptor enclosures each of which will house four birds. This will make for great housing for Chomper and his friends. The enclosures are big and bright and the same style as we built for Rufus the Red Tailed Hawk in At the same time as this project, we enhanced accessibility around the raptor centre for all our visitors by: paving and re-grading pathways, adding wheelchair accessible picnic tables, resting areas and turning spots for wheelchairs, and adding power door openers and accessible signage. And now that the pens are done, we have started another small project. Behind one of the pens we are creating a new workspace for our Raptor Centre staff to help them provide the best care possible for the raptors, including an additional pen to house sick or injured raptors. Thank You to our generous donors for helping fund these improvements. We hope you will continue to enjoy visiting Chomper and the other raptors at the Mountsberg Raptor Centre. Photo: New raptor pen at the Mountsberg Raptor Centre that can accommodate four raptors, with regraded and paved pathway that is accessible for people with mobility challenges.

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13 Captive-bred shrikes improving wild population status Since 2011, when Conservation Halton Foundation funded the construction of a specialized facility to breed Eastern Loggerhead Shrikes near the Mountsberg Raptor Centre, staff and our program partners have been hard at work supporting the recovery of this threatened species. The Eastern Loggerhead Shrike is a small, robin-sized songbird. It used to be found from New Brunswick to Manitoba, but it s now found in only a few locations in Ontario. Conservation Halton Foundation, with the help of our generous donors, has supported the operations of the Shrike Recovery program at Mountsberg in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and The results of the program have been very strong. Between 2012 and 2016, 112 shrike hatchlings from Mountsberg have been released to support the recovery of the wild population. The latest information shows that the breeding program is making an important contribution. Data from field studies shows that: Of birds observed in the wild in 2016, 28% were captive bred birds More than 4 out of 10 hatchlings observed in nests in the wild in 2016 came from a pair of birds where at least one was a captive bred bird. There are still many years of hard work ahead, but we thank you for being part of this exciting journey and playing an active role in supporting the recovery of this endangered species. Our hope is that over the longer term, with continuing work through the Mountsberg Shrike Recovery Project, our staff, project partners and supporters, that we ensure that Eastern Loggerhead Shrikes are no longer an endangered species. Photo, top and bottom left: Shrike eggs and hatchlings on the nest in May 2017; Photo, bottom right: mature shrike at the Mountsberg Raptor Centre in 2013.

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15 Festival participants learn about forests and climate change, invasive species and more Now in its fifth year, the Halton Forest Festival is a great annual event which teaches grade 6 and 7 students fascinating facts about our forests. The Halton Forest Festival inspires youth to become good land stewards by building relationships with the natural world, and promotes the benefits of forests to human and environmental health. This year s festival had 1,367 grade 6 and 7 students in attendance. To date, the Halton Forest Festival has reached almost 6,000 students from Oakville, Burlington, Halton Hills and Milton, teaching them important messages about the importance of forests in our community. At the Festival, activity centres help students learn about the challenges and threats facing our urban forests (limited space, soil compaction), learn about different invasive species like emerald ash borer, or take a hike along the Niagara Escarpment to understand more about its formation. For example, in the Carbon Capture activity, students learn about the important role that trees play in absorbing carbon from the atmosphere and reducing the effects of climate change. In Carbon Cycle Shuffle, students explore the balance of the carbon cycle by manipulating carbon sources (cars, homes and factories) and sinks (trees, shrubs and grasses.) Thank you to our community partners and sponsors, and to you, for making the Forest Festival a continuing success.

16 For more information on these projects and what we have planned for 2017, please contact: Brian Hobbs, Director Development Conservation Halton Foundation Phone: x bhobbs@hrca.on.ca Charitable registration number: RR0001