Eastern Ontario Pilot

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Eastern Ontario Pilot

• 1. Species Habitat Relationships
• 2. Ecosystem Types
• 3. Conservation Direction

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1. Information on Species Habitat Relationships
for Eastern Ontario

• Habitat Suitability Matrices
• Eastern Ontario Matrices Linking Wildlife to
  Habitat a biodiversity management tool
• Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Habitat
  Suitability Matrices for the Mixedwood Plain
  Ecozone
• Significant Wildlife Habitat Technical Guide
  Wildlife Habitat Matrices
• WILDSPACE (presentation this afternoon)
• Species at Risk paper and database (distributed
  to working group)
• Regional and local studies
• Variety of technical guidelines for habitat
  requirements from OMNR

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Eastern Ontario Matrices Linking Wildlife to
Habitat a biodiversity management tool

• Matrix identifies which wildlife species should
  predictably occur in each pre-defined habitat
  type or structure
• Includes forested and non-forested habitats along
  with structural features
• Identifies habitat use for amphibians, reptiles,
  birds and mammals
• cover and feeding habitat during breeding season
• cover and feeding habitat during non-breeding
  season
• Prefered, utilized, unused or rarely used habitat

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Eastern Ontario Matrices Linking Wildlife to
Habitat a biodiversity management tool
preferred habitat
unused habitat
rarely used habitat or habitat used outside the
model forest
utilized habitat
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Eastern Ontario Matrices Linking Wildlife to
Habitat a biodiversity management tool

• Non-forested habitats
• Field/Savannah/Orchard
• Upland fields cultivated, grass, forb, old
  field/shrubland, pasture
• Savannah
• Orchard
• Wetland/Deep Water
• Palustrine wet meadow, shallow marsh, deep
  marsh, shrub/swamp, bog/fen, pond
• Lake
• Riverine stream, river
• Riparian
• Miscellaneous stable bank, ledge/cliff, cave,
  structure/building, derelict building/debris

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Eastern Ontario Matrices Linking Wildlife to
Habitat a biodiversity management tool

• Structural Habitat Features
• canopy (70)
• Midstory (woody vegetation at 3-9 m)
• Shrub layer (deciduous, coniferous, mixed,
  ericaceous, wetland)
• Ground vegetation (herbaceous, wetland)
• Duff/ground (litter, DWD, rocky, basking sites)
• Underground
• Overstory (deciduous, coniferous)
• Perch sites
• Tree Bole (waterside, non waterside, live and
  dead by size class)
• Other (springs, gravel/soil, woods road, slash
  piles, mast)

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AAFC Habitat Suitability Matrix for the Mixedwood
Plain Ecozone

• Habitat types assembled around Census of
  Agriculture database
• Species using agricultural land and adjacent
  habitats to meet one or more specific habitat
  requirement
• Birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians
• Use for breeding, feeding, cover, winter, staging
• Habitat Use Primary (critical habitat),
  Secondary (used habitat), Tertiary (occasionally
  used), not typically found, actively avoids

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AAFC Habitat Suitability Matrix
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Significant Wildlife Habitat Technical Guide
Wildlife Habitat Matrices

• Provides information about plant and animal
  species associated with general habitat features
• General habitat description for each species with
  a yes/no description of use of broad habitat
  categories
• Additional columns identify animals as
• seasonally concentrated/colonial
• cavity user
• area sensitive
• provincial rarity (based on NHIC rankings)

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Significant Wildlife Habitat Technical Guide
Wildlife Habitat Matrices
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2. Broad level classification of ecosystem or
habitat types for the region

• Based on
• 3 Matrices
• Census of Agriculture data (2001)
• Ecological Land Classification for Southern
  Ontario
• Silvicultural Guide to Managing Southern Ontario
  Forests
• Other studies

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Broad level classification of ecosystem or
habitat types for the region

• Forest Cover Types
• Upland Tolerant Hardwoods
• Upland Oaks
• Lowland Hardwoods and Swamps
• Early Successional Hardwoods
• Pines
• Cedars and Cedar Swamps
• Hemlock

• Agricultural Cover Types
• Corn (30)
• Soybean (16.3)
• Other oilseeds (
• Other grains (wheat, oats, barley) (9)
• Winter cover (
• Tame hay (21)
• Alfalfa (21.2)
• Fruit trees (
• Other Crops
• Summerfallow
• Tame or Seeded Pasture
• Natural Land for Pasture (grassland/shrubs
  woodland)

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Broad level classification of ecosystem or
habitat types for the region

• Aquatic
• Lakes, rivers, streams
• Wetland
• wet meadow, marsh, swamp, bog, fen, pond
• Shoreline
• Riparian

• Other Habitat Types
• Alvar
• Savannah
• Cliffs/ Talus Slopes/ Cave/ Ravines
• Seeps
• Rock Barren

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Broad level classification of ecosystem or
habitat types for the region

• Linear Habitats
• Shelterbelt
• Hedgerow with trees
• Hedgerow with shrubs
• Ditches/drainage
• Pipelines/ hydro/ abandoned rail lines
• Forest edge
• Roads

• Other Developed Lands
• Pits/Quarries
• Industrial
• Urban
• Suburban
• Parkland

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Broad level classification of ecosystem or
habitat types for the region

• Summary
• In the end, the level of detail in this
  classification, depends on the data available and
  questions asked (e.g. from representation to
  species use)
• It will be important to consider identified
  (mapped) habitat features
• E.g. rare communities, wildlife corridors,
  waterfowl staging areas, significant wetlands
• We also need to consider issues of land ownership
  (crown, county, private)
• Change through time and social/economic pressures
  will differ depending on ownership

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3. Conservation Direction in Eastern Ontario

• Example Riparian Guidelines
• 75 stream length naturally vegetated
• Streams should have a min. 30 m wide naturally
  vegetated adjacent lands area on both sides,
  greater depending on site-specific conditions
• Where possible TSS CCME guidelines
• should maintain stream water quantity and quality
  and preserve aquatic biodiversity 30 is upper
  limit threshold for degraded systems

• How much habitat is enough? CWS for the Great
  Lakes Areas of Concern
• guidelines for conservation to ensure there is
  adequate wetland, riparian and forest habitat to
  sustain minimum viable populations and help
  maintain ecosystem functions and attributes
• 18 wetland, riparian and forest habitat
  guidelines intended as minimum ecological
  requirements

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Conservation Direction in Eastern Ontario

• Ontario Landbird Conservation Plan PIF
• Identifies priority species and sets objectives
  for abundance and distribution of species using
  BBS as a benchmark
• Guilds include
• Forest landbirds
• Grassland/Agriculture landbirds
• Shrub-successional landbirds
• Aerial foraging insectivores
• Land birds breeding in other habitats

• Example Priority Grassland/ Agricultural
  Landbird BOBOLINK
• General objective halt decline
• Abundance objective maintain current population,
  BBS index of 26.0, 1,000,000 birds
• Distribution objective maintain current
  distribution of 96 atlas squares
• Conservation Focus Outreach promote the
  adoption of BMPs for grassland birds

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Conservation Direction in Eastern Ontario

• Big Picture 2002
• Identified high value core natural areas and the
  most likely areas for linkages among them and
  generated a map of a landscape scale natural
  heritage system for Southern ON
• Represents at least 30 of each ecological
  district and is achieved using minimum core size
  of 200 ha south of the Cdn Shield and 500 ha
  north of the Shield
• Cores are connected by corridors of a minimum of
  200 m in width

• NAWMP Population Targets
• Breeding Population objectives, recent status,
  and long term trends monitored
• Example American Black Duck
• Population Objective 640,000
• Recent (Avg Pop 1994-2003) 533,000
• Long term trend (1970-2003) decreasing
• Eastern Habitat Joint Venture Habitat Objectives
  
• Protect/secure 1,435,230 acres
• Restore/enhance 1,221,550 acres

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Conservation Direction in Eastern Ontario

• How do BMPs fit in?
• Along with setting objectives for native
  habitats, we need to consider the quality of the
  matrix and its impact on habitat value and
  biodiversity
• Ability of farm landscapes to provide ecological
  services depends on both quantity and quality of
  variety of habitats
• Issues of agricultural intensification
• Conversion of pasture to cropland
• Loss of valuable linear features providing
  connectivity
• Larger field area, less diversity in crop cover