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Showing posts from 2016

Cootes Paradise talk, Tuesday, Nov. 29/16

Updates from Royal Botanical Gardens, McMaster University, City of Hamilton and others about Cootes and the Dundas Wastewater Treatment Plant. 

West Campus History and Science Hike - Tuesday 12:30pm

Dress for success! We will see ghost trails, pioneer cemeteries, lost ponds, and a whole lot of former parking now turned into a riparian zone beside Ancaster Creek. This event is free. Be ready to go at12:30pm at McMaster University Student centre room 229, Tuesday, November 8/16.

Hiking Wednesday evening with the Hamilton Naturalist Club!

Feel free to join us at 6:30pm - Binkley Crescent at Lakelet.

Outstanding in her field

Reyna Matties (McMaster Biology) took care of visitors to Lot M this week, explaining a brief history of the area, and the current work on the depaved and rehabilitated riparian buffer between McMaster's parking lot "M" and Ancaster Creek. "...around 50 cyclists, a mix of students, professors, and community members, gathered to take part in a bike tour of the city. The bike tour was part of McMaster's Big Ideas Better Cities: Climate Change and Environment week of events. Michael Egan, Associate Professor of History in the Faculty of Humanities, organized and led the event from the Tim Horton's Field in downtown Hamilton through the city to Dundas." http://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/article/hamilton-bike-tour-tells-story-of-hamiltons-past-and-future/

Turtle Watch Time: Volunteers Needed

Snapping Turtle nesting, photo from DTW With spring just around the corner, turtles will soon be on the move again and Dundas Turtle Watch is looking for some new recruits. Volunteers monitor roads and off road locations and maintain accurate records. Volunteers receive training and are always paired with an experienced Turtle Watcher. Turtle Watchers also collect information about other wildlife killed on the roads. Collecting this information tells us the local hotspots for fatalities so we can improve protection for our wildlife in these areas.  Dundas is home to some species of endangered turtles, snakes and frogs and it is particularly important to record this information for conservation efforts. All data collected by Dundas Turtle Watch will be shared with the Royal Botanical Gardens and Hamilton Conservation Authority and Ontario Nature. In recent years, Turtle Watchers have also been protecting turtle nests.  Nests are covered to protect the eggs from predators.

Engineers Without Borders explore McMaster parking lot naturalization

Having visitors from out of province, never mind bright young engaged members of the national Engineers Without Borders (EWB) group, was a real treat and a great way to show-off the changes at McMaster's parking lot "M". No Parking! The 30m buffer displaced car parking to protect Ancaster Creek The EWB crew arrived by city bus at McMaster and were met by Reyna Matties (McMaster biology) and Randy Kay (Restore Cootes/ OPIRG McMaster ). Hamilton is playing host this weekend to an annual national EWB conference, and the tour of Lot M was one of the field trip options. Reyna and I were very happy with the turnout! Reyna (centre) explains the biology of the riparian zone at Ancaster Creek The group had about an hour, so we did a truncated version of our usual tour. It was cold but we ended up spending the entire time outside, resulting in a few cold toes by the end. We walked the length of "Maria's Walk", the last mostly-intact trail from the Ro