Our Work
While the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) has ambitious goals for the protection of natural areas, that is only the beginning. Good stewardship and restoration ensure these protected lands include enough quality habitat to allow a healthy variety of native plants and animals (biodiversity). Habitat loss and degradation is an ongoing concern, with increased pressures from invasive species, habitat fragmentation and climate change. Habitat restoration provides us with a means to help stop and reverse degradation, enhancing ecosystem resilience and improving biodiversity. Intact ecosystems do a better job of filtering drinking water, reducing flooding, sequestering carbon and supporting common and rare species alike.
NCC’s habitat restoration team in Ontario collaborates with partners to restore conserved lands through habitat creation (upland and wetland), invasive species management and succession management, such as conducting prescribed burns.
Habitat restoration
The re-creation of habitats that were once lost, such as wetlands, forests, grasslands and shrublands, is important in the protection and recovery of at-risk species. Restoring lands by planting native wetland plants, trees, wildflowers and grasses is one of the first steps in allowing for these various habitats to regrow and establish.
Succession management
Succession is when plant and animal communities change over time in response to changes in climate, competition and disturbances. In certain cases, NCC’s restoration team performs techniques such as prescribed burns to restart this succession process to encourage open meadow and grassland communities, which otherwise might continue to succeed to shrubland and forest. Succession management is conducted to maintain a matrix of habitats that represent the full biodiversity of an area.
Invasive species
Managing non-native invasive species is a cornerstone of habitat restoration. Non-native plants support substantially less wildlife overall than native species and, as a result, can have a devastating impact on ecosystems. We focus on the most damaging species — usually those that spread the fastest and form the densest of patches. Read below to learn about each species.
Phragmites (common reed)
This is Ontario’s worst invasive species. Often found in wetlands, roadside ditches and along shorelines, it grows in dense stands and reaches heights of up to six metres.
Garlic mustard
Garlic mustard is a highly invasive plant found throughout southern Ontario’s forests and green spaces.
Dog-strangling vine
Also known as European swallow-wort, this invasive vine-like plant has become established throughout southern Ontario and continues to spread at an alarming rate.
European buckthorn
Native to Eurasia, this invasive shrub is becoming abundant in Manitoba and Ontario. It tolerates a wide range of moisture and light conditions, and can successfully invade a variety of habitats.
Featured stewardship and restoration projects
Lathrop Nature Preserve
NCC’s recent restoration work on the Lathrop Nature Preserve has improved trail safety, habitat connectivity and downstream water quality for brook trout, American eel and other aquatic species.
Pelee Island
For more than 10 years, NCC has been working to transform former agricultural fields into thriving native meadows and wetlands on Pelee Island. We recently created our biggest wetland yet!
Rice Lake Plains
Grasslands are among the most endangered ecosystems in the world. Within Ontario, only 1 per cent of the province’s former grasslands remain, including those within the Rice Lake Plains. NCC helps lead the Rice Lake Plains Partnership, which collaborates to protect and restore these areas.
Long Point Phragmites Action Alliance
The Long Point Phragmites Action Alliance is a community group made up of partnering organizations all with a common interest in eradicating invasive phragmites.
Saugeen Peninsula Invasive Species Collaborative
The Saugeen Peninsula Invasive Species Collaborative is a community group made up of a wide range of organizations, including the Oliphant Fishing Islands Phragmites Community Group and other environmental groups with a common interest in eradicating terrestrial invasive species.
How you can help
Everyone can help manage the spread of invasive species by:
- Avoid planting non-native invasive species in your garden.
- Disposing of garden waste responsibly.
- Following clean equipment protocols to avoid the spread of invasive species between properties.
- Removing plant fragments, seeds and mud from your clothing, shoes, tires and pets when you leave an area populated by invasive species.
- Learning to identify some of the invasive plant species that are threatening your area.
- Reporting invasive species sightings at eddmaps.org/Ontario.
- Signing up to volunteer with NCC to remove invasive species at conservationvolunteers.ca.
- Supporting our work. NCC monitors and controls invasive species on properties across Ontario. By donating today, you will help prevent the spread of invasive species our province’s most significant natural places.
Indigenous engagement
NCC partners with Indigenous communities across Ontario to support Indigenous-led conservation and restore key habitats for native and at-risk species. In the Rice Lake Plains, we work with the Alderville First Nation to care for rare tallgrass prairie and oak savanna through activities like prescribed burns, native seed collecting and planting, and mapping plants to support endangered pollinator species. On the Saugeen Bruce Peninsula, we also collaborate with the Saugeen Ojibway Nation to monitor species at risk, map invasive species and document culturally significant plants.
NCC would like to thank all our valued donors and partners who make this work possible, and would specifically like to thank The Tree and Tomorrow Foundation (Fundacja Drzewo i Jutro). The Tree and Tomorrow Foundation have committed to supporting Indigenous engagement initiatives all across Ontario over the next three years. This kind of multi-year commitment and funding allows for consistency and longevity in our efforts.