News from Niagara, Ontario’s Bert Miller Nature Club
Jim Bradley the Environment Minister will be celebrating Earth Day this Tuesday, April 22th at an event with the Bert Miller Nature Club. This club has been awarded $24,791 through the Great Lakes Guardian Community Fund to help protect globally rare ecosystems along Lake Erie‘s coast.
A stretch of beautiful Lake Erie shoreline in the Point Abino area. Photo couresy of the Bert Miller Nature Club
Lake Erie’s coast is a hot spot for biodiversity and home to globally rare ecosystems like the northern shore that boasts sand dunes that can exceed 100 feet in height. It’s also a critical migration stop-over area for waterfowl and shorebirds such as the Tundra Swan and habitat for the provincially endangered Fowler’s Toad. The club will use the funds to restore and protect these ecosystems along several beaches. Volunteers will plant beach grass to restore natural beaches and sand dunes. Boardwalks will be built to keep foot traffic off of fragile dune habitats. Landowners and visitors will also be informed of the importance of protecting this unique coastal environment with interpretive signs.
“Congratulations to the Bert Miller Nature Club for helping to protect the Lake Erie shoreline. Everyone in Ontario benefits when people band together to clean up their own corner of the Great Lakes,” said Environment Minister Jim Bradley.
“I appreciate the work being carried out by the Bert Miller Nature Club and our local high schools. Their partnership with the City of Port Colborne contributes to our collective responsibility of ensuring the ecosystems of Niagara’s South Coast are restored and protected for future generations to enjoy and be proud of,” said Mayor of Port Colborne Vance Badawey.
“Thanks to this grant, we are now able to make significant progress towards protecting these unique and fragile Lake Erie sand dunes in partnership with our volunteers from local high schools, the City of Port Colborne and local cottage associations,” said Mr. Albert Garofalo, project coordinator/ecologist for the Bert Miller Nature Club.
Ontario is again helping communities protect their part of the Great Lakes through the Great Lakes Guardian Community Fund which offers grants to grassroots community groups for activities such as:
- planting trees to restore stream banks
- protecting and improving water quality by managing storm water runoff
Learn more about the Bert Miller Nature Group by clicking on http://www.bertmillernatureclub.org/ .
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