Photo by Deb Lehman
Our Latest News
Wildlife Road Watch 2023
Get ready for the second annual Wildlife Road Watch program in Norfolk County! As part of the Long Point Walsingham Forest Priority Place road ecology initiative, we are inviting interested volunteers to patrol roads for turtle crossings from June 1st through to July 15th. You will learn how to help turtles cross the road safely and how to document your observations to contribute to our conservation efforts! Click here to contact us !!!! Unfortunately, turtles consider our gravel roadsides a fantastic place to lay their eggs, which puts them – and their hatchlings – at serious risk of being struck
Special Feature: Wildlife on Roads in Long Point Priority Place
Over the past three years: The Long Point Walsingham Forest Priority Place project adopted Wildlife on Roads as its data collection platform. Observations can be emailed or submitted to our iNaturalist project. In 2022 the Priority Place project launched ‘Wildlife Road Watch’ and upcoming recruitment, and subsequent training and surveys will be held in spring 2023 in partnership with the Long Point Biosphere. We also released baby Snapping Turtle hatchlings safely back to wetlands. In 2022, Jon Everett was our top volunteer and contributed 107 observations. John also helped 67 turtles cross the road safely. We now have a database
Wildlife Road Watch Makes an Encouraging Debut
Photo caption and credit left: Erie Boulevard survey team, Cindy Presant; middle: Front Road survey team, Kari Gunson and right: Lauren Nightingale on bicycle, Kari Gunson…….. The Wildlife Road Watch (WRW) pilot event launched in the late spring of this year was a great success! Undertaken by the Road Ecology Working Group as part of the Long Point Walsingham Forest Priority Project, community volunteers accompanied leaders on road surveys mornings and evenings from June 15th – 18th. Surveys were selected along known reptile road-crossing hotspots that had previously been posted with awareness signage in the Long Point and Turkey Point
Introducing ‘Wildlife Road Watch’: A Pilot Project in the Long Point Walsingham Forest Priority Place-2022
Register Here! Watch Video Here! The Road Ecology Working Group (LPWFPP) is launching a new initiative this spring to help protect turtles and snakes from being hit by vehicles. The group, working in partnership with Norfolk County and landowners, is installing wildlife awareness signage at hotspots. Hotspots mark a road stretch where recent and historical data have shown a higher than expected amount of road-kill. The objectives of the signage are many and primarily include: Reduce wildlife-vehicle road collisions; Reminding motorist to watch for wildlife in these locations and if safe to do so help animals cross the road; Mark
What is ‘Wildlife on Roads’ ?
Wildlife on Roads began with a handbook that was authored by Kari Gunson and Fred Schueler in 2020. The handbook is meant to provide individuals with the tools to accurately document vertebrates on Ontario’s roads (turtles, snakes, birds, mammals, and amphibians). With the handbook we created an iNaturalist project (iNat). We schedule many workshops to provide an overview of the book and to teach and train individuals to collect data. We have since defined a road Worrior as a citizen scientist that is able to collect accurate and standardized data about a wildlife crossing a road. The two most important
Couchiching Conservancy WOR Workshop
We had a successful workshop at the Kris Starr Workshop hosted by the Couchiching Conservancy on September 25th. Keen eyes found several amphibians dead on road (dor). We split into two teams and one team went west and another went east on County Road 45 and we walked about 500 m each way. The west team found a Nashville Warbler of interest. The east team found several dead on red terrestrial juveniles (eft stage; see page 32 in handbook) and also several dor green frogs. Our wildlife technician, Cindy Presant, found a live Red Eft Newt in the Walshingham Forest