In danger: Canada's Deep South
Carolinian Canada's site includes a more extensive list of the plant and animals species typical to this ecosystem. Many other resources are available there, including further definitition of the Carolinian forest type, an extensive list of links and courses of action, and commercial sources of native plants for use in landscaping.
Visit and learn
Perhaps the most famous tract of natural habitat in Carolinian Canada is Point Pelee National Park (See this satellite image), which boasts such botanical rarities as prickly-pear cactus (Opuntia sp.). But even this area is recently reclaimed from what was mostly farmland a century ago.One of the largest tracts of pristine woodland remaining is Backus Woods, which was privately owned until a few years ago. Now it is a conservation area, open to the public for hiking and cross-country skiing, with interpretive information available at the site.
Where East meets West
A remarkable variation of the Carolinian ecosystem is that it existed in close relationship with large tracts of tallgrass prairie. In the extreme southwest, around Windsor, sister city to Detroit, historical records indicate grassland once dominated the landscape. As recently as 1900, greater prairie chickens bred near Windsor. But the species has been extirpated from Southern Ontario, and agriculture has obliterated most of the prairie.A surviving tract of tallgrass prairie is protected at Ojibway Nature Centre in Windsor. The annual butterfly count here has recorded 65 species over the past six summers, and regularly records the second highest diversity of butterfly species in Canada.
Lost treasure?
More than half of all Canada's threatened or endangered species make their home in the Carolinian zone. Its sparse woodlands are the only Canadian nesting grounds of notable species like red-headed woodpecker, prothonotary warbler and golden-winged warbler. Yet there is no legislation protecting what remains of this ecological treasure.Education and advocacy have started mobilizing local communities and
governments. Next week I will highlight current efforts to protect one
tract which is privately owned. Soon, it will become the next victim of
careless development, or a nature reserve to be preserved in perpetuity.