Marking its 25th anniversary year, Kawartha Land Trust (KLT) has announced the protection of two more nature sanctuaries in the Kawarthas, bringing to 50 the charity’s total number of protected properties, which comprise 9,100 acres across the City of Kawartha Lakes and Peterborough County.
The 96-acre Pierce-Vigneux Nature Sanctuary is located near Young’s Point in Peterborough County’s Selwyn Township and the 213-acre Penryn Forest is located near Bethany on the Oak Ridges Moraine in the City of Kawartha Lakes.
Both new nature reserves are home to wetlands that contribute to the health of the waters in their respective regions and each contains a wildlife corridor that allows native species to travel to connected habitats. They are also close or adjacent to other conservation lands in their respective regions, ensuring the conservation of connected habitats, which KLT says is increasingly important in the fragmented landscape of southern Ontario.
“Together, these ecosystems work as connected systems that contribute to the health of our region,” said KLT executive director John Kintare in a media release.
“Conserved lands like Pierce-Vigneux Nature Sanctuary and Penryn Forest help keep our lakes and streams healthy, reduce flooding during severe weather, improve the air we breathe, and support wildlife, including pollinators that are essential to certain types of local food production.”
Penelope Pierce and Paul Vigneux donated the Pierce-Vigneux Nature Sanctuary to KLT through the Ecological Gifts Program, which additional funding received from Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Canada Nature Fund.
“Natural spaces are constantly under attack from development and resource extraction and need help to survive,” said Vigneux. “We think that we can do a little to ensure that there’s room for native flora and fauna in their natural habitat. Knowing that some green space will remain after we’re gone is reassuring to us.”
The Pierce-Vigneux Nature Sanctuary is home to black bears, moose, fishers, coyotes, and a wide range of birds, including sandhill cranes, black-billed cuckoos, ruffed grouse, and northern harriers. The property’s deciduous swamp provides habitat for salamanders, frogs, bats, and other wetland-loving wildlife. A number of at-risk species are also found there, with documented sightings or recordings western chorus frogs, eastern milk snakes, evening grosbeaks, common nighthawks, eastern whip-poor-wills, and golden-winged warbler.
One corner of the Pierce-Vigneux Nature Sanctuary is connected to the first property donated to KLT in 2006.
“Our property is connected to KLT’s Dance Nature Sanctuary and is part of a wildlife corridor, so it made logical sense to protect it,” Vigneux said.
Meanwhile, the Penryn Forest is home to over 100 acres of mixed and deciduous forests that are part of a wildlife corridor in the area, with over one kilometre of the property contiguous with Kawartha Conservation’s Fleetwood Creek Natural Area.
Penryn Forest was permanently protected through a partial donation of the land from the MacLean and Rieger families and individual financial donations, as well as funding from the Government of Ontario’s Greenlands Conservation Partnership program administered by the Ontario Land Trust Alliance, Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Nature Smart Climate Solutions Fund, and Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Natural Heritage Conservation Program Land Trust Conservation Fund.
KLT received additional support for the conservation project from the Melissa Spearing Memorial Fund, in memory of renowned seed biologist and Bethany native Melissa Spearing.
While over half of the Penryn Forest is mixed and deciduous forests, the property is also home to meadows and wetlands including a 50-acre cedar swamp, a four-acre cattail marsh, and a coldwater creek.
The property supports an abundance of wildlife including amphibians, reptiles, and other wetland species as well as at-risk species including the wood thrush, midland painted turtle, and black ash.
“The diversity of habitats found throughout the forests, meadows, and cold-water creeks provide so many ecological niches for wildlife to thrive in,” said KLT land stewardship manager Hayden Wilson. “When you combine the diversity of habitats with the adjacent protected lands, it becomes really significant for local biodiversity.”
To ensure the preservation of sensitive habitats, neither Pierce-Vigneux Nature Sanctuary and Penryn Forest are open to the public.
“The protection of these two incredible properties is a powerful way to mark the 25th anniversary of the Kawartha Land Trust, an organization with a long standing commitment and track record of conserving nature in the Kawarthas,” said Ontario’s Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks Todd McCarthy.
“Our government is proud to once again support KLT’s important work through the Greenlands Conservation Partnership program, which helps land trusts and community partners protect valuable natural areas for generations to come.”
KLT protected its first property, the Schipper Gamiing Nature Centre, through a conservation easement agreement in 2002 and received its first donated property, Dance Nature Sanctuary, in 2006.
“During this milestone year, we could not be prouder to be a part of such an amazing community of supporters who care about nature and the future of nature in the Kawarthas,” Kintare said. “We’ve had an incredible 25 years and look forward to the next quarter century of conserving and caring for nature for the benefit of all.”
For more information about Kawartha Land Trust, its protected properties, and how to get involved, visit kawarthalandtrust.org.
