2012 AGM

Field Botanists of Ontario’s 28th Annual General Meeting Saturday
Sunday September 15 and 16, 2012
Elbow Lake

The AGM will be held at the Elbow Lake Nature Conservancy of Canada Reserve, in eastern Ontario, just north of Kingston. Four trips (two on Saturday and two on Sunday) have been organized for your enjoyment and our leaders will take you to various botanical hotspots of the Kingston area.


Field Trips: Saturday 15 September 2012

Elbow Lake Nature Reserve (Nature Conservancy of Canada)
Leader: Eleanor Thomson 10:00 am – 3:00 pm

The Nature Conservancy's Elbow Lake Nature Reserve is a rugged and beautiful area characteristic of the Frontenac Arch. We will be exploring the northern part of the property, which has high granite ridges and deep wooded valleys. Forests typical of the Frontenac Arch Till Plain are dominated by Sugar Maple, White Ash, Red Oak and White Oak, with strong Carolinian elements such as Shagbark Hickory, Blue Beech, Swamp White Oak, Rock Elm and Black Maple. We will not go either fast or far but there are no trails so we will be bushwhacking on rough terrain.

St. Lawrence Islands National Park
Leaders: Josh Van Wieren and Mary Beth Lynch
9:30 am – 3:00 pm

Experiencing the beauty and uniqueness of the 1000 Islands Region doesn't require a trip off the mainland. We will visit the Mallorytown Landing prescribed fire site and explore the Jones Creek Trail system. The fire site is approximately 0.4 hectares and is a study site for pitch pine management, evaluating the success of alternative methods for pitch pine regeneration. The Jones Creek property provides examples of the Frontenac Arch's rugged landscape and protects an astounding diversity of plant and animal life. We will hike through mature hemlock, pine and oak communities and view Jones and Mud Creek as we cross over an impressive wetland boardwalk.

Field Trips: Sunday 16 September 2012

Menzel Mosses!
Leader: Jennifer Doubt
10:00 am – 2:00 pm

Menzel Centennial Provincial Nature Reserve was created in honour of Oivi Menzel, and protects one of the largest examples of open and treed fen in southeastern Ontario. Although peatlands such as fens are characteristic of Oivi Menzel’s native Estonia, they are rare in southern Ontario, and this is an excellent opportunity to get to know some of the bryophyte flora that dominates much of our Canadian wilderness as well. Fens, well-known as botanically rich wetlands, can be truly sumptuous reservoirs of bryophyte abundance and diversity. Bring your hand lens, or borrow one for the morning. Walk leisurely (and trust us, no-one does leisurely quite like a bryologist) along a 2-km (each way) trail and boardwalk, examining mosses and liverworts and getting to know their character and local ecology as you pass through a series of habitat types. Stay for lunch at Mud Lake, the trail’s turn-around point, if you can spare the time! This nature reserve is about 23 kilometres (by road) north west of Napanee. Depending on the route, it’s 75 – 85 km from Elbow Lake, basically to the west, which should be handy for people heading back to the Toronto area.

Helen Quilliam Sanctuary of the Kingston Field Naturalists
Leaders: Anne and Barry Robertson
9:00 am – 3:00 pm

The 500-acre Sanctuary property has typical Shield habitats with deep woods, beaver ponds and open rocky areas. We will visit all of these on a short trail and also view a bog, check out a local suntrap and take in a view of a typical small lake. Some species we will see are restricted to the granite soils, while others are on the northern edge of their distribution in this transition zone on the edge of the Frontenac axis. Interesting species expected in this location include: Black Spruce (Picea mariana), Shagbark Hickory (Carya ovata), Tamarack (Larix laricina), Bladdernut (Staphylea trifolia), Leatherleaf (Chamaedaphne calyculata), Steeple-bush (Spirea tomentosa), Winterberry (Ilex verticillata), Ditch Stonecrop (Penthorum sedoides), Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata), Cotton Grass (Eriophorum sp.), Sensitive Fern (Onoclea sensibilis), and Reindeer Lichens (Cladina sp).

Annual General Meeting and Dinner
Field Botanists of Ontario 
Saturday September 15, 2012
Elbow Lake Nature Reserve
5:00 pm – 9:30 pm

Directions: From the east: 
Off Hwy 15, take Chaffey's Lock Rd, go through the village of Chaffey's Lock, cross the Rideau Canal Bridge, go west approx. 2km past Indian Lake Rd and turn left onto Queen's University Rd. From the west: 
From Perth Rd, turn right onto Opinicon Rd. (just north of Perth Road Village), follow road for approx. 20km; then turn right onto Queen's University Rd.. Following Saturday’s field trips, we will meet at the pavilion of the Elbow Lake property.

The evening’s program is as follows:

5:00 – 6:00 Social hour: an opportunity to meet and chat with fellow FBO members.
6:00 – 7:00 Dinner buffet (meat and vegetable lasagna), followed by tea, coffee and dessert.
7:00 Feature Speaker: Brenda Van Sleeuwen, Conservation Biologist - Eastern Ontario. Her presentation will explore the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s work in eastern Ontario. The presentation will highlight NCC’s planning process, including land acquisition and stewardship by taking you on a virtual tour of its properties in eastern Ontario.
8:00 – 9:30 2012 Annual General Meeting