A legacy gift is strengthening the conservation corridor in the Rice Lake Plains in Northumberland County.
The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) says 61 hectares of ecologically-significant land in the Rice Lake Plains were left to the organization in a will.
The estate gift of land comes from James Massie.
The NCC says it ensures the permanent protection of a biologically-rich site and expands the Hazel Bird Nature Reserve to 215 hectares.
The nature reserve features four kilometres of walking trails.
The expansion protects a remarkable range of habitats, from restored tall grass prairie to spring-fed headwater wetlands and spans a four-kilometre cross-section of the Oak Ridges Moraine.
The gifted property lies immediately south of the existing nature reserve and includes forest, sand barrens and provincially significant wetlands.
It supports a diversity of native species and contains remnant tallgrass and oak savannah communities that are rich with prairie plants, such as savannah grass, sand dropseed and New Jersey tea.
Its proximity to the Hazel Bird Nature Reserve, a signature site for tallgrass prairie restoration, means its protection helps sustain a large example of globally rare black oak savannah and woodland habitat.
Indiangrass, Rice Lake Plains, ON (Photo by Chelsea Marcantonio)
The project builds on conservation efforts in the Rice Lake Plains and Northumberland County, where NCC and local partners have been working to restore habitats for many years.
The newly-expanded reserve is also being managed as a source of native tallgrass seed to support habitat restoration initiatives across the region, thanks to generous support from the Greenbelt Foundation.
NCC staff first met James Massie more than a decade ago when the organization began habitat restoration efforts at the Hazel Bird Nature Reserve.
In 2022, he informed NCC that he had included a gift of land in his will.
The property also holds personal significance: Massie knew Hazel Bird herself, and remnants of her iconic bluebird box network remain on the land.
The Nature Conservancy of Canada says it is grateful to the late James Massie, whose vision and generosity made this conservation achievement possible, and to the many private donors who also supported the project.
“The Nature Conservancy of Canada is proud and honoured that Mr. Massie has entrusted this property to NCC, and we’re thrilled about its direct connection to the Hazel Bird Nature Reserve. We are looking forward to restoring tallgrass ecosystems, such as oak savannah, on this fantastic property, a conservation outcome we know Mr. Massie wanted for his land,” says Mark Stabb, Central Ontario East Program Director for NCC.
Facts
• This bequest brings the total area of conservation land protected directly by NCC in the Rice Lake Plains and Northumberland County to more than 1,200 hectares.
• Habitat and restoration activities planned for the property include mapping of tallgrass remnants, removal of some trash and debris, controlling non-native invasive species, and planting and seeding projects.
Eastern bluebird, ON (Photo by Mhairi McFarlane)
