Landowner Leaders Profile
Steve owns 12 acres of former agriculture land sandwiched between 2 abandoned rail lines near Ridgetown in Chatham-Kent. One of these rail lines has been purchased by Chatham-Kent Energy and will be converted to trail use in the near future.
Steve’s motivation was concern that, with the intensive land use for farming in his county and a changing climate that the deck is stacked against native insects and other species. After purchasing his property in 2009 his goal was to establish a tallgrass prairie, with both grass and herbaceous plant species, to provide habitat for butterflies and other pollinating insects, as well as grassland birds and other species.
The property consists of of 8 acres of farmland, 2.5 acres old field and wetland and 1.5 acres- hardwood remnant. The soil is predominately sandy loam and bisected by a stream adjoining the wetland.
In 2010 Steve planted Round-up Ready soy beans, which allowed him to “clean up” the property of perennial weeds and provided income from the soybeans in the Fall. In the Spring of 2011 a locally-sourced 34 prairie species mix was seeded into the soybean stubble using no till planter. Species planted included Big Bluestem, Little Bluestem, Indian Grass, Switch Grass, Butterfly Milkweed, Tall Coreopsis, Showy Tick Trefoil, Pale Purple coneflower, Round-headed Bush Clover, Wild Bergamot, Grey headed coneflower, and Compass Plant.
The results were spectacular, and following heavy Spring rains, the prairie exploded in forbs in the Spring of 2012. Steve also installed a network of 8 Eastern Bluebird boxes and has had one Bluebird pair with 5 fledglings in one box with the remainder occupied by Tree Sparrows.
Surveys of fauna and flora in the non-farmed portion of the property are ongoing with 36 species of birds identified, with approximately half of those species breeding on the property. Fifty-one species of butterflies were recorded on an adjacent “Highgate rail lands”. Steve has also seen evidence of seven mammal species and Common Garter Snakes are commonly observed. Eastern Foxsnake and Eastern Hog-nosed Snakes have been seen on adjacent rail lands by local naturalists.
The non-prairie portion has been augmented by planting approximately 200 shrubs of various species including Button Bush, Spicebush, Nannyberry, Highbush Cranberry, Elderberry and Alternate-leaf Dogwood. These were chosen for their benefit to birds, during breeding season and migration, and also as host plants for butterflies, including the Spicebush Swallowtail. Both Eastern Blue Birds and Tree Swallows have successfully fledged young from eight nest boxes in the spring/summer of 2012. Additionally 6 Wren boxes and a Wood Duck box have been installed next to the back pond.
Future plans include a prescribed burn of the tallgrass prairie in 2 to 3 years, continuing the fauna and flora surveys, and requesting an environmental easement from Environment Canada for donation to a suitable conservation organization. The easement will prohibit future land use changes for at least 1000 years and pave the way for eventual donation of the property itself to a conservation organization without incurring capital gains tax for the property owner. This is necessary because of the escalation of land values in Chatham-Kent in recent years.