Today, I walked a 72 acre property ... in the freezing - 15°C cold. Somewhere around 30 other folks were there too. What kind of nuts are we?
This 72 acre property will be called the Rae Blackwell Nature Reserve and is one of 6 future reserves that are "in the pipeline" to be part of the Northumberland Land Trust. Our walk had a name: Winter Tracks Walk.
Would we see any tracks? We were not disappointed. We had hardly stepped on the property when there were wild turkey tracks everywhere.
Wild Turkeys are sponsoring this letter.
This gentleman, Graeme, and his partner are one of a growing group of local landowners who will change the future for you. On the surface, they look pretty ordinary. You can't tell by looking at them that they have a vision. It's a vision of a future time when there still will be many natural tracts of land where native animals, birds and vegetation will thrive. Places where you will be able to walk with your grandchildren and see what we saw today.
And, if you and your grandchildren are lucky, you will have someone with you like Doug. Whenever someone saw an animal track or an uncommon tree, Doug and a few other knowledgeable folks enlightened us about what we were seeing.
It wasn't a fast walk, but it was an interesting walk.
Those 72 acres are similar to a lot of land in Northumberland. Varied. There were sandy areas that can't support a tree if they tried.....
.... and wetter areas where cedars thrived.
The previous owners made trails throughout the property. They should still be there when you have grandkids because the Land Trust stewards will maintain them - for you. Grandpa has helped out on many Land Trust sites - cutting down invasive Buckthorn trees, Scots Pine, Black Locust and other invasive trees as well as the horrible Dog Strangling Vines. There are many other ordinary folks who help out every year to maintain the reserves - for you.
I was excited to see the old growth forest.
I think everyone else was excited too. They were all was looking up when I got there. I believe that they were looking at a 200 year old hemlock tree.
I did look down for a while. Cool boots, Mike!
And, looking downward, we saw tracks of rabbits, squirrels, fishers, deer, coyotes, and ,,, our sponsors, wild turkeys.
These are either mink or fisher tracks.
One man carried a walking stick he made when he was a boy.
We stopped under some tall pine trees where the wild turkeys sleep at night. They fly up in the branches to be safe from predators. Graeme told us that he walks in these woods every day. He told us that these 72 acres will be open for anyone to walk on forever. That means you and your grandkids. And, wild turkeys. It pays to be a sponsor.
We all stood as silent as a forest with no people in it when Doug did his owl call. Sadly, no owl responded today.
But, someone did find a wild turkey's beard.
Because these ordinary visionaries are saving precious land from development, salmon may still be able to swim the 17 km from Lake Ontario, up the Shelter Valley Creek and to these headwaters to spawn.
I hope you enjoyed your virtual walk with me, dear grandkids. And, I hope you will come back many, many times with your own children and grandchildren.
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