Ontario Nature

Nature Network News

November 2022 conservation updates for Ontario Nature’s 155-plus member groups and their supporters. Together, we are the voice for nature. Please share this monthly newsletter with members of your group. sprawl

Nightmare Bill Proposed

The Government of Ontario is proposing disturbing law and policy changes through Bill 23. These changes will undermine environmental protection across the province and will severely constrain our collective ability to engage in municipal planning decisions. This Bill 23 backgrounder summarizes our chief concerns.

As if Bill 23 wasn’t bad enough, the provincial government is now proposing to open lands in the Greenbelt for development. See this joint statement from the Ontario Greenbelt Alliance Steering Committee opposing the proposal.

We would appreciate your help in raising awareness about these law and policy proposals. They spell disaster for the farmland and natural areas that sustain us, and will stymie societal efforts to address the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss through enlightened environmental planning and decision-making.

Please sign and share our Action Alert that will send your concerns to the ministers involved and your local MPP. You may also want to read and share our blog: Bill 23 – What You Need to Know.

Nature Network groups, we are drafting letters to respond to each of the elements of the proposed bill that we will be circulating for your support over the next month, so please keep your eyes on your inboxes for those.

Environmental Defence has also collated this list of rallies being held against the bill and associated greenbelt changes that you may want to attend to show in person that this matters!

Ojibway National Urban Park

The Ojibway Prairie Complex in Windsor is a true gem – no other site in Ontario supports such a high concentration of rare species. Significant effort over several decades has led to an opportunity to create an Ojibway National Urban Park. There are currently two processes being proposed for this, one through a private members' bill (Bill C-248) and the other through a process started by Parks Canada to create 30 national urban parks across Canada by 2030. Local nature groups, including Nature Network members The Friends of Ojibway Prairie, the Essex County Field Naturalists’ Club and the Canada South Land Trust, have been actively participating in both processes in hopes of steering collaboration toward an outcome that everyone can be proud of. Creating the park through strong legislation that prioritizes ecological integrity, maximizing the park boundaries, fostering partnerships with Indigenous communities and robust community consultation are among the objectives being advocated for.

1. Friends of Ojibway submission to the Standing Committee on the Environment and Sustainable Development regarding Bill C-248
2. Ontario Nature’s submission to the Standing Committee on the Environment and Sustainable Development regarding Bill C-248

Story submitted by the Friends of Ojibway Prairie.

Youth Summit: Thank You for Your Support!

We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to the Nature Network groups that sponsored a young person to attend the 2022 Youth Summit for Mother Earth. This year, 31 member groups sponsored youths across Ontario. Held September 24 and 25, the re-imagined summit brought together 36 young leaders and four youth mentors virtually or in-person at one of our four hubs to network with each other, learn about important topics such cultural humility and discuss environmental issues in their communities.

Your generous support made this possible! Sponsoring groups can expect to receive their sponsor packages, including information about the youth they sponsored, in December.

Let’s De-Phrag the Marsh!

Friends of Second Marsh received $35,000 from the provincial Great Lakes Local Action Fund in support of their Let’s De-Phrag the Marsh! project. The funding will be used to help in the fight to eradicate invasive phragmites from Second Marsh in Oshawa, the adjacent McLaughlin Bay Wildlife Reserve and their watersheds. Phragmites is an invasive, non-native plant that requires human intervention to control its impact on the environment and prevent its spread. If left unchecked, it squeezes out native plant biodiversity, grows to up to five meters high, obscures views, creates fire hazards and offers little food or shelter to native wildlife.

Article submitted by Friends of Second Marsh

Help Us Protect Wetlands

Mark your calendars! November 29th is Giving Tuesday, a day for Canadians to give to the causes that mean the most to them. If you give to Ontario Nature this Giving Tuesday, you will be helping us to protect wetlands, which are vital for conserving biodiversity and adapting to the impacts of climate change. But you don’t have to wait until November 29th! When you donate today your gift will be matched with a donation from our friends at Quest Nature Tours (up to $7,500). Together, we hope to raise $30,000 towards protecting our essential wetlands in Ontario.

To learn more about Ontario Nature's wetlands campaign, please consider joining us November 22 at 2:00 p.m. for our "Working Together for Ontario's Wetlands" webinar. This session will highlight the immense value of wetlands, the threats they are facing and the work being done by Ontario Nature, local groups and dedicated individuals to protect these critical ecosystems. Register for the webinar.

Interesting Links and Opportunities

1. Ontario Nature Protected Places team developed this amazing report on measuring Carbon Stock Assessments to Support Conservation. You can also watch the webinar about this work.
2. See all our information and resources on Bill 23 and Greenbelt proposals on our Bill 23 campaign webpage.
3. FLAP and Nature Canada are doing a Rally for Bird Friendly Ontario on November 15.
4. The annual Christmas Bird Count is just around the corner! Make sure you are signed up to participate in your area.
5. Miss an issue of the Nature Network News? No problem, you can still read past issues of the Nature Network News on our website!

Events

See our events calendar for a complete listing of events organized by Ontario Nature and Nature Network groups.

To submit your public events for the online calendar, send them to noahc@ontarionature.org at any time and allow up to a week for posting. Please send only events that are open to the public and no more than three events per month.

Submit and Share!

We want to include more content from the network and will feature a story or two each month from network groups, as well as other resources. We encourage you to share your stories and links by sending to naturenetwork@ontarionature.org.

Ontario Nature publishes the Ontario Nature Network News every month with contributions from our member groups and staff. We grant permission for use of the information above in member group newsletters. Please credit either Ontario Nature or the member group when appropriate.

Climate Action Team

Climate Connections

Hope you have had a good and relaxing summer. We have taken some time to take a bit of a break, rejuvenate and to plan ahead for a busy fall season. As it turns out, it became a rather busy summer!

Our "Electrify Your Ride" event in June was amazing, with 17 electric vehicles, including cars, bikes and a truck. Thanks to everyone who came out to participate with CCAT in Collingwood's first Pride Parade in July - what a colourful group we were and what fun it was! It's been lovely to connect with many of you at the Farmers' Market on a Saturday in June and one in August. And in breaking news: read in Collingwood Today about a CCAT presentation to the Town made this afternoon urging them to set more ambitious targets for carbon reduction.

Now that Fall is approaching, there is so much to talk about. In this newsletter, we'll fill you in onsome of the events coming up this fall such as:
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3- Online Fundraising Art Auction - This is a great opportunity to help CCAT and brighten your world! Local artist, Chris Marin, has generously donated thirty paintings, as well as fifty pieces of handcrafted jewelry to our first ever fundraising event! Thanks to Chris, we’ll be holding an online Art Auction in early November. More details will be featured on our website as well as sent out in the weeks to come. Please help us spread the word, so we can reach a broad range of people to participate in this fundraising event, in time for Christmas gift giving.

Speaking of fundraising, we are now a registered charitable organization and in need of funds to continue our work. Please consider making a tax deductible donation directly through our website Donate button or through an e-transfer to collingwoodcat@gmail.com. Your financial support is most appreciated.

4- Collingwood Municipal Election Guide – The municipal election is October 24th. The actions of our municipal government have more impact on our day-to-day living than any other, yet fewer people vote when it matters the most. We are preparing some questions which will be sent to all candidates so we know where they stand on issues important to the future of our town. If you have a question you would like included, please contact us asap at collingwoodcat@gmail.com, with "Municipal Election" in the subject line. We will be publicizing the responses closer to election day so we can all be better informed voters.

In the meantime,you may want to sign up for a webinar sponsored by the Ontario Climate Emergency Campaign and Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment on Wednesday September 14th at 8:00 p.m. on "Hope and Climate Action at the Local Level: 2022 Ontario Municipal elections". For more information and to register for this webinar Click Here

5- Carbon Conversations – We will be continuing our popular workshop series to raise awareness about personal carbon emissions and what we can do about them. These are lively facilitated discussions where we learn from each other and make plans to make a difference. If you haven’t already done your Carbon Footprint, Click Here to get started. If you have done your footprint and are ready for more in-depth discussion about what it all means, sign up for the six workshop series Click Here. Feedback from these workshops has been very positive, with people feeling personally empowered and hopeful when they are able to take some small, and not so small, steps on their own. You can do these workshops as an individual or as part of a neighbourhood group, as an employment team building exercise, or a way to get to know others in a social group. There are lots of possibilities and we will be happy to help you get started and explore the best way and dates which will work for you. We have received a small grant from the Town of Collingwood to cover some of the costs of these workshops and are thankful for their support.

Well, that's it for now. There are other events in the works for which we are still finalizing details, so stay tuned for more news to come. We always love to hear from you, so please be in touch with us at: collingwoodcat@gmail.com.

Collingwood Climate Action