Alderville Black Oak Savanna – Jewel of the Rice Lake Plains

Wild Blue Lupines

Hairy Beardtongue

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Located on Alderville First Nation, the Alderville Black Oak Savanna is the largest intact tract of native grassland in Central Ontario.

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Ecological Restoration - Education - Research

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Grasslands: A carbon sequestration powerhouse.

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BURN NOTICE - OCT 21 & 22, 2024 Please be advised

BURN NOTICE - OCT 21 & 22, 2024

Please be advised that the Alderville Black Oak Savanna (Alderville BOS) is planning to conduct two prescribed burns at the Pamitaashkodeyong restoration site (26-200 Dunnette Landing Road, Roseneath, ON K0K 2X0) between October 21st to November 30th, 2024. The controlled burns will be conducted between 8 AM and dusk, once suitable weather conditions are met for safe and effective fire. For safety reasons, the Pamitaashkodeyong property is not open to the public and the Alderville BOS will be closed during this time.

Prescribed burns at Pamitaashkodeyong are being conducted to progress restoration of the site into Tallgrass Prairie and Oak Savanna habitat. Prescribed burning is key in restoring lands to savanna and prairie habitat. Periodic fire stimulates natural regeneration, slows the growth of woody vegetation, and promotes the growth of fire-tolerant plants including Big Bluestem, Butterfly Milkweed and New Jersey Tea. Historically, fire was an integral part of the landscape and would have swept through the region on large scales. Michi Saagiig people in the Rice Lake Plains today continue to carry out burning on their lands.

We are planning to burn approximately 37 acres, 95% of which is non-native grasses. The timing of these prescription burns is weather-dependent, and the Alderville BOS cannot predict exactly when the burn will take place; therefore, the Alderville BOS is providing this advanced notice of a burn “window”. Pamitaashkodeyong burns organized by trained professionals including Alderville BOS staff. Fall 2024 burn areas are illustrated on the map.

As previously mentioned, burns are only conducted during specific windows, under set conditions, as per a prescription. These conditions include wind speed/directions that allow for a safe and successful burn, while dispersing smoke away from developed areas as much as possible. Closing windows and keeping laundry indoors to avoid smoke is advised.

Sneak Peak!! @ahcentrewarkworth @afn_communication

Sneak Peak!! @ahcentrewarkworth @afn_communications

Our Field Techs found this adorable little Gray Tr

Our Field Techs found this adorable little Gray Treefrog today! Talk about camouflage skills. These guys can morph from gray to brown to bright green in order to blend into their surroundings. Swipe to see the leaf it was on for size context!

Instagram post 18057139918737088

Instagram post 18057139918737088

We’ve been busy this week curating and installin

We’ve been busy this week curating and installing the Seasons of the Turtle Exhibition at AH! Warkworth. On from September 7-Oct 6, Seasons of the Turtle is an exploration of Alderville First Nation, using the 13 Moons to guide viewers through the space. Mark your calendars!

Wild Bergamot, Black Eyed Susan, Sky Blue Aster, Y

Wild Bergamot, Black Eyed Susan, Sky Blue Aster, Yellow Savanna Grass, Canada Wild Rye and more are happy and thriving at our second site! This unit went through a cycle of prescription burning and prairie seeding over the past few years and is now a sea of prairie goodness.

One of the tasks our summer students are responsib

One of the tasks our summer students are responsible for completing each year is our Bumble Bee monitoring. We take part in Bumble Bee Watch, a citizen science project which collects bumble bee population data across North America. To learn more, check out https://www.bumblebeewatch.org/ or download the app!

Join us July 30, 5-7pm! Please pre-register by con

Join us July 30, 5-7pm! Please pre-register by contacting jfanning@alderville.ca

We wrapped up our 3-part invasive species removal

We wrapped up our 3-part invasive species removal volunteer events with a Sweet White Clover pulling event. Luckily Sweet White Clover is one of the easier invasive plants to remove because it pulls out nicely, root and all! As an added bonus, it does smell quite sweet as you move through an area! Big thanks once again to the volunteers who came out and to our field team for hosting these events!

Huge thanks to the volunteers who came out in June

Huge thanks to the volunteers who came out in June to assist in Spotted Knapweed removal! Invasive species management is a never ending task and is critical to restoring and maintaining our native grasslands.

Alderville Black Oak Savanna recently dropped off

Alderville Black Oak Savanna recently dropped off a nature investigation package to the Alderville Daycare, and the preschoolers were so excited to see what was in it! They spent time using the magnifying glass to look at the baby raccoon skull, the turtle shell, leaves and cedar encased in acrylic. Also amongst the items were Oak leaves, some dyed sheep's wool, and braided Sweetgrass. By engaging with the natural world, not only are children expanding their knowledge, they are also nurturing their creativity and imagination, which are crucial for their overall development and well-being!

Wild Blue Lupines #lupinusperennis are in full blo

Wild Blue Lupines #lupinusperennis are in full bloom here at the Black Oak Savanna Site and for the first time (exciting!!) are flowering at the Pamitaashkodeyong site where they were seeded in 2020! These photos were taken in two areas burned this spring; the first 2 photos are from the Pollinator Patch at the BOS Site and the second 2 from a unit at the Pamitaashkodeyong site. Wild Blue Lupines are fire dependent and THRIVE after a fire. Regularly we notice the lupines flower far more after a burn!This means both an incredibly beautiful sight to see this year and the growth of more seeds which allow these plants to spread further and further across both sites.

Bye Bye Buckthorn! Huge thanks to the volunteers w

Bye Bye Buckthorn! Huge thanks to the volunteers who came out this evening to help us remove invasive European Buckthorn! Invasive species management is a never-ending part of ecological restoration and natural area management. If you’d like to attend future events, be sure to sign up on the volunteer list through our website.

We couldn’t let this day fully pass without shar

We couldn’t let this day fully pass without sharing a tribute to our Ecological Restoration & Stewardship Coordinator, Radek Odolczyk, who joined us 10 years ago today! Whether you know him as Radicle Radek, the Rad Man, Mushroom Boy or Radek, almost everyone who has worked at, with or adjacent to the Alderville Black Oak Savanna over the past decade remembers him, and for good reason! While it has taken the minds, efforts and dedication of many over the years to transform the site into what it is today, Radek’s tireless effort has been absolutely pivotal. If you have any special Radek memories, we’d love to read them in the comments! And don’t miss the short video at the end to see the results of all that hard work.

Alderville Black Oak Savanna is hosting a contest

Alderville Black Oak Savanna is hosting a contest for turtle and nest sightings throughout AFN. It's as easy as recording a sighting for a chance to win!

Since 2017, the Alderville Black Oak Savanna team

Since 2017, the Alderville Black Oak Savanna team has been working to restore Sandercock Creek. Efforts to create a more robust buffer between the creek and surrounding farmland, enhance stream morphology, and increase biodiversity have finally started to show signs of success, with fish sitings in the creek both last fall and this spring! Last week the team initiated fish surveys in the creek as part of the Stream to Shore project. 4 fish traps were set and although they each came out empty this time, surveying will continue at regular intervals throughout the season. We hope the ongoing stream restoration efforts will continue improving this cold water creek habitat, allowing it to become a prime habitat for diverse fish species and benthic invertebrates!

Evening Primrose (Oenothera biennis) is a great al

Evening Primrose (Oenothera biennis) is a great ally in prairie restoration. This native, prairie-loving plant can survive low-intensity fire (as pictured with the crispy dried edges). In their first year of growth the plant forms a basal rosette that protects the soil and takes away space from other non-native species. In their second year, they grow a tall flower stalk with yellow flowers that smell like fruit-loops and bloom in the evening, giving it the common name Evening Primrose. It is also the host plant for the striking Evening Primrose moth (Schinia florida), spotted at the Pamitaashkodeyong restoration site last summer. #prairie #plants #pollinators #grassland #tallgrassprairie

It is so exciting to see Wild Blue Lupine seedling

It is so exciting to see Wild Blue Lupine seedlings having germinated and growing in a relatively new management unit! This little Lupine is happily growing at Pamitaashkodeyong in one of this years burn blocks! We are always humbled to be reminded that restoration works!

Come on out to help tidy up our wonderful communit

Come on out to help tidy up our wonderful community next Monday! Lunch provided for participants. Meet at ACC!

With our prescribed burn season complete we seeded

With our prescribed burn season complete we seeded approximately 60 kg of seed (tallgrass species and a small amount of wildflowers) over a total of 44 acres at the Pamitaashkodeyong restoration site! We are seeding these areas to establish more prairie species as these acres are early in the restoration timeline. Species in the seed mix like Canada Wild Rye compete with non-native species and become a great fuel source, allowing us to continue carrying fire through these areas, which is one of our greatest allies in prairie establishment!

Last week we had the lucky opportunity to broadcast into snow. Snow-seeding provides a very easy way to visually track seed covereage and the snow provides moisture to support the seeds in breaking their dormancy, as the snow melts it carries the seeds deeper into the soil, increasing the seed-to-soil contact and giving them their best chance to grow.

We intentionally seeded the final area this past sunny Tuesday before a thunderstorm that evening. The rain, much like the snow carries the seeds deeper into the soil!

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