– Conservation group donates new guide to local schools for Earth Week –
(Port Rowan, Ontario.) In celebration of Earth Week and International Biodiversity Year, the Long Point Basin Land Trust has launched a new publication tailored specifically to southern Ontario’s Carolinian Region. Gardening with Native Plants: A Biodiversity Handbook is a 24-page, full colour booklet written with local gardeners and nature enthusiasts in mind. The guide features plants, gardening tips, and ways to attract butterflies and songbirds to gardens in Norfolk County and surrounding Elgin, Haldimand, Brant and Oxford Counties. Over 60 colour photos and a sample garden plan are included, as well as a listing of over 150 plant species ideally suited to our region.
To recognize environmental efforts by youth, Long Point Basin Land Trust is donating copies of the new handbook to local schools. During Earth Week, the Land Trust presented copies of the new guide to Port Rowan Public School and Valley Heights Secondary School. The schools are depositing the guide in their libraries and using them as prizes for environmental activities. Long Point Basin Land Trust is pleased to be able to make copies of the guide available for free to other local schools. Schools interested in obtaining copies should contact the Land Trust through their website: www.longpointlandtrust.ca.
The Land Trust congratulates local schools for their extensive efforts to help the environment. For example, Port Rowan Public School’s Save the Earth Week events included: litterless lunch programs, clean-ups, planting native trees, working in a paperless classroom, and Earth Trivia contests. Valley Heights Secondary School’s Enviro Club hosted information displays, inviting Long Point Basin Land Trust and the Kids for Turtles to participate. The school also undertook clean-ups, educational projects and is distributing the Land Trust’s plant booklet as a fundraiser.
Gardening with Native Plants is available to the public through the Land Trust or the following groups:
- Bird Studies Canada (115 Front Street, Port Rowan; 519-586-3531)
- Long Point Bird Observatory Field Station/BSC (Old Cut Boulevard, Long Point; 519-586-3531)
- Port Rowan Good News (8 Church Street, Port Rowan; 519-586-2291; weekday mornings)
- Acorus Restoration Native Plant Nursery (722, 6th Concession, Walsingham; 519-586-2603)
- St. Williams Nursery & Ecology Centre (885, Hwy 24, St. Williams; 519-586-9116)
- Long Point Eco-Adventures (1730 Front Road near Turkey Point; 1-877-743-8687)
- South Coast Gardens Nursery (1634 Front Road near Turkey Point; 519-586-8657)
- Hobo Vintage Guitars and The Robot Café (243 Main Street Port Dover; 519-583-3878)
- Hobo II Vintage Guitars (75 Norfolk Street, Simcoe; 519- 428-2277)
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Long Point Basin Land Trust is a charitable non-government organization which protects and restores natural habitats in the Carolinian Region. The Land Trust promotes conservation through outreach, research, habitat restoration, and species at risk recovery. LPBLT owns and stewards two reserves, the Jackson–Gunn Old Growth Forest and the Arthur Langford Nature Reserve.
Long Point Basin Land Trust acknowledges with thanks the financial assistance of the Shell Environmental Fund. Additional support provided by Long Point Basin Land Trust and volunteers. For more information about the Handbook or the Land Trust, please contact Gregor Beck: phone: 519-718-2910; email: nature@longpointlandtrust.ca; web: www.longpointlandtrust.ca
