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The Ontario Wetland Habitat Fund
Program (OWHF Program) will
work directly with private landowners to secure, enhance and restore
wetlands and associated uplands, all priority actions in Ontario
Eastern Habitat Joint Venture (OEHJV) Ontario Implementation Plan,
and all contributing directly to the North American Waterfowl Management
Plan. The program covers the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Key Program
Area, which covers the southern-most third of the province, taking
in Ontario's entire portion of Bird Conservation Region 13 (Lower
Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Plain) and part of Southern Ontario's portion
of Bird Conservation Region 12 (Boreal Hardwood Transition). The
Great Lakes St. Lawrence Key Program Area is the top priority Key
Program Area identified in the Ontario Eastern Habitat Joint Venture
Ontario Implementation Plan.
The
OWHF Program works through the landowner contact experts who provide
an extension service aimed at engaging landowners in wetland conservation.
The OWHF Program will foster the creation of wetland conservation
plans and will secure wetland habitats on private lands through
the signing of 10-year conservation agreements. The OWHF Program
will help landowners develop and implement habitat enhancement and
restoration projects on private lands. Private landowners will develop
and implement at least 100 high-quality projects to enhance 2,800
acres of wetland and 2,200 acres of upland habitat (5,000 acres
in total) on lands secured under conservation agreements. This will
add to the roughly 26,000 acres of enhanced wetland and upland habitat
currently under management by landowners involved in the OWHF Program
to date.
Extension
work will encourage landowners to engage in broader conservation
activities and Best Management Practices, including participation
and involvement in other OEHJV programs, such as Ducks Unlimited
Canada's wetland restoration efforts and the Nature Conservancy
of Canada's securement activities, as well as other stewardship
programs, such as those of Conservation Ontario and Ontario's Stewardship
Councils.
As
a successful stewardship delivery vehicle in southern Ontario, the
OWHF Program will take a leadership role in fostering integrated
stewardship and other recommendations and priorities identified
in Canada's Stewardship Agenda, recent Ontario landowner surveys
and the outcomes of the 2003 Leading Edge Stewardship Conference.
The OWHF Program will also taking a lead role in furthering "all
birds, all habitats" stewardship work on private lands, as
a contribution to the emerging North American Bird Conservation
Initiative.
For more information on this project, please contact Diane
Brunet, Program Administrator, Ontario Wetland Habitat Fund,
Ottawa, Ontario.
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