Landowner Program - Overview
Landowners are stewards of more than 80% of all wildlife habitat in southern Ontario. If conservation groups want to help wildlife - such as significant and rare bird populations - they must help the landowners who own the habitat.
Inspired by the “all birds-all habitats” thrust of the North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI), conservation partners have converged to focus attention on habitat restoration for significant, endangered and declining bird species. Habitat acquisition, planning, research and monitoring are all part of this initiative.
The Landbird Habitat Program is designed to improve the quality and quantity of land bird habitat (i.e. habitat for song birds, grassland birds) on private lands around significant natural areas. Through this partnership there are site visits and funds available for landowners interested in habitat projects on privately owned land in the identified priority natural areas in central and southern Ontario: Pelee Island, Clear Creek Forest, South Walsingham, Skunk’s Misery, Point Abino, Rice Lake Plains and the Carden Alvar.
Typical new “all birds” landowner projects include:
- Fencing livestock from woodlands. This helps forest floor vegetation recover, enhancing food and cover for ground-nesting birds, insect-eating warblers and other birds.
- Planting projects around fragmented forests. This helps increase woodland size and the deep forest conditions that favour the survival of many bird species.
- Grassland restoration projects. This helps support a number of open-nesting birds, several of which are in serious decline in Ontario and across the continent.
- Projects for species at risk. Special efforts for rare, threatened or endangered birds.
