The Township of Selwyn is one of four municipalities that have been newly certified as “bird friendly” under Nature Canada’s Bird Friendly City program.
Along with Selwyn Township, Richmond Hill in Ontario, Devon in Alberta, and Hudson in Quebec are the new municipalities that have received the certification. Selwyn Township joins Peterborough in the Kawarthas region as two of the 24 municipalities across Canada that are certified as being bird friendly.
Nature Canada grants the certification to municipalities that have met or exceeded a minimum standard in three categories: reducing threats to birds in their municipality, protecting and restoring natural habitat and increasing climate resiliency, and actively engaging their community in these actions through education and outreach. Each municipality received a certification level of entry, intermediate, or high depending on their lowest score in any of the three categories.
“The communities that make up the Township of Selwyn are proud to receive a Bird Friendly City Certificate through Nature Canada’s certification program,” says Selwyn Township Mayor Sherry Senis in a media release. “The township has increasingly made strong efforts towards becoming more sustainable by introducing new programs to our residents and taking on various corporate projects that will make positive leeway towards fighting climate change.”
“From the introduction of countertop composters to the installation of EV chargers and becoming a certified Bee Friendly Community, this Bird Friendly City Certification is another step towards becoming a greener community. As a township, we would like to express our appreciation to Nature Canada for supporting communities like ours to become a more
welcoming, safe haven for birds.”
To become certified, nature groups, municipal officials, and other community groups work with Nature Canada, one of the oldest national nature conservation charities in Canada that represents a network of over 130,000 members and supporters and more than 1,000 nature organizations.
Like many of the 24 municipalities that have received the Nature Canada certification, Selwyn Township has been certified at the entry level.
“Our work is not over by any means now that we have achieved this first goal — we have lots more we want to accomplish,” writes Carly Davenport on the Bird Friendly Selwyn website. “Priorities like increasing tree canopy in our parks, creating connected greenspaces, reducing plastic pollution from our waterways and wetlands, promoting accessible birding locations, promoting community science, educating on the threats that birds face in our community, and ultimately ensuring that as we continue to grow as a community we do so in ways that do not have a negative impact on our local biodiversity.”
The City of Kawartha Lakes may soon be the third bird friendly city in the Kawarthas. At its October 24th meeting, city council supported a resolution for the Bird Friendly Kawartha Lakes team to submit a certification application to Nature Canada. The Bird Friendly City of Kawartha Lakes group — consisting of representatives from the Kawartha Lakes Environmental Advisory Committee, Kawartha Conservation, Kawartha Land Trust, Fleming College, Kawartha Field Naturalists, Kawartha Wildlife Centre, and Kawartha Bird Control — will be preparing and submitting an application on behalf of the municipality in February 2024.
