Our Southern Ontario area plays a special role in the development of what we now call the environmental movement. Few of us know much about this pivotal role. Starting in the Spring of 1864, the young Scotsman turned American, John Muir, spent several months botanizing through Southern Ontario. This was his first real exploratory trip beyond his adopted home farm in Wisconsin. It was over in the Pottageville Swamp area (what was then part of the much larger Holland Marsh) that he had one of his most significant events of his lifetime, seeing a rare northern orchid, Calypso borealis. This epiphany started him on his way to dedicate the rest of his life to the preservation of the natural world. “The rarest and most beautiful of the flowering plants I discovered on this first grand excursion was Calypso borealis (the Hider of the North). I had been fording streams more and more difficult to cross and wading bogs and… Read more »
(Check the Speakers page for more details and for updates!) Thanks to the work of your club executive, here is the quick listing of the speakers who will be presenting to us this coming year! September 27, 2016: John Muir in Ontario, including in our Headwaters area!: Robert Burcher October 25, 2016: Orchids of Ontario: our own member, Kevin Tipson! November 29, 2016: Astronomy 101: Jason Tabroff, Dufferin Astronomy Club) January 3,1 2017: A Botanist Traces Spring Northwards along the Bruce Trail: Mark Whitcombe, our President February 28, 2017: UCFNC Member’s Night March 28, 2017: Bees, Identification and Pollination: Victoria Macphail April 25, 2017: Ontario Coyotes: Erica Newton is a scientist who works for the Ministry of Natural Resources, and has engaged in research about a variety of animal species, including wolves and coyotes. Erica will explain the differences between wolves and coyotes, and talk about the animals that we see in our area. What is… Read more »
A virtual tour of the Minesing Wetland – presented by Dave Featherstone from the NVCA on Tuesday April 26t at the Orangeville Seniors’ Centre at 7:30 p.m. Designated as a wetland of international significance and spanning an area of more than 6,000 hectares (15,000 acres), the Minesing Wetland is home to a diverse array of habitats. The unique assemblage of fens, marshes, swamps and bogs supports a network of sensitive flora and fauna, some rare or endangered.
