Little Forests Kingston

Meeting July 31

Saturday July 31: 10:00 am

Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81195507009?pwd=cHdyaVpFUVNrRmVBYmdnR1lWcVZrQT09

Agenda: We’ll be working with the Little Forests spreadsheet during the meeting to help Kelsey, Josh, and Joanne choose their forests & species for the Little Forests planned in 2022. We’ll look at questions like:

• with shallow soils at some sites, are Alvars a possible ecological reference for the forest community

• what % canopy vs tree vs understory vs shrub

• how to choose the 5 dominant species

• how many species to include

Little Forests happenings

HWY 15 & AMHS gardens in YGK news: Kelsey, who is spearheading the 2022 AMHS Little Forest is quoted “From an environmental justice perspective, and even occupational justice in terms of resources of people living in those buildings or who are clients of our team, they’re not the folks who are able to just hop in the car and pack a picnic and go to Frontenac park or whatever.”

Are there forests on alvars?

60% of all the world’s remaining alvars are in Ontario. ~Albert Garofalo

“What alvars have in common is an ancient and unforgiving environment, a set of climatic and geographic parameters that seem designed to make it as challenging to life forms as any habitat on the temperate side of the Arctic circle. . . anything that can grow there is one tough cookie” ~ Dan Brunton

Environments conditions of an alvar are harsh. Alvar describes a natural community, much like prairie and wetland describe grassy or moist areas. They’re globally rare habitats. Alvar savannas have scattered trees that cover between 10 & 25% of the alvar. On Pelee Island in Lake Erie, there is a Chinquapin Oak and Blue Ash savanna community. Alvar woodlands have the densest tree cover, but patches of exposed bedrock or openings are still common.

Plant checklist for Carden Alvar: Carden is situated on a large alvar. This document has a good species list. According to introduction, much of the alvar was covered by forest, including towering white pines, before they were clearcut for their lumber - which resulted in increasing the alvar. Some forests identified in this document include: Bur Oak Limestone Savannah, mixed conifer/juniper woodland, and Sugar Maple Forests.

Management Guidelines: Pelee Island Alvars: a report by Nature Conservancy focused on managing alvars based on Ecological Land Classification (ELC) communities. Some forests identified in this document include: Green Ash-Shagbark Hickory Alvar Type, Swamp White Oak-Chinquapin Oak Alvar Type, Hackberry-Chinquapin Oak Alvar Type, Red Cedar Cultural Alvar Woodland Type. Other species include Kentucky Coffee Tree, Hop Tree, Red Mulberry, Blue Ash, and Pumpkin Ash.

Alvar & grassland species of Napanee Plain: Looks like there’s a lot less research on the alvars in our region, this is an overview of the alvar near Odessa and Napanee.