Volunteers will plant native trees, shrubs and wildflowers with WWF-Canada and Friends of Rouge Watershed

Toronto, Oct. 03, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Friends of Rouge Watershed (FRW) and World Wildlife Fund Canada are teaming up to protect endangered Carolinian forest near Rouge Park with conservation events on Saturday, Oct. 6 and Saturday, Oct. 20, 2018.

 

Community volunteers will plant hundreds of native trees and wildflowers that will contribute to the health of the Rouge Watershed and provide habitat for at-risk wildlife such as the monarch butterfly, bobolink, eastern meadowlark, milk snake and Blanding’s turtle. The events will add to the 720,000 trees and flowers planted by FRW and its partners since 1991.

 

Media are invited to attend both public events.

 

About the events

Oct. 6: Warbler Circle greenspace (Scarborough, Ont.)

• What: Habitat restoration and tree planting with dozens of community volunteers.
• Where: Please meet and park at the end of Warbler Circle, just off Staines Road. Parking will be marked with orange cones (map).
• When: 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• Community members can still register online to join this event. 
  
  

Oct. 20, 2018: Rouge National Park bus tour

• What: Participants who register for a spot on this tour of Rouge National Park will visit sites that are part of the nationally endangered Carolinian forest and species as well as recently restored wildlife habitat.
• Where: Registered participants meet at the Rouge Hill GO Station parking area. The tour will include the Rouge Marsh, Oak Ridges Moraine in the eastern GTA and end at the headwaters of Rouge River and Little Rouge Creek, which flow to Lake Ontario and supply our drinking water.
• To RSVP (space limited), contact Danielle Marcoux-Hunter

About Rouge National Park and Rouge Watershed

• Rouge National Park encompasses 79 sq. km of protected public land from the shores of Lake Ontario through Scarborough, Markham and Pickering and all the way to the regional forests and trails of the Oak Ridges Moraine in Uxbridge.
• Despite its urban location, the park and surrounding areas are home to more than two dozen species at risk.

 

Jim Robb, general manager, Friends of Rouge Watershed, says:

“With more than 1,700 species of flora and fauna, Rouge National Park is one of Canada’s most biologically diverse parks and it is the largest remaining tract of public land within Canada’s Carolinian zone – a region that is home to one-third of Canada’s species at risk. Less than 1 per cent of Canada’s Carolinian forests have been protected in national and provincial parks.”

 

Devika Shah, senior manager of strategic initiatives, WWF-Canada, says:

“We should all be working to restore lost and fragmented habitat, which are key drivers of wildlife loss in Canada, where 50 per cent of monitored species are in decline. Habitat restoration efforts like this, especially in vulnerable ecosystems like the Carolinian zone, are key to helping wildlife thrive. WWF-Canada is partnering with groups like Friends of Rouge Watershed to improve habitat and give wildlife a fighting chance.”

 

About Friends of Rouge Watershed

FRW is a charitable organization that co-ordinates hands-on environmental projects with visible, lasting ecosystem, watershed and community benefits. We implant environmental knowledge, skills and values within the minds and hearts of youth and community leaders. Since 1991, FRW and our volunteers and partners have helped to:

• Create Rouge Park, Watershed and Greenbelt plans, which protect and improve watershed, ecosystem and community health.
• Educate and empower more than 62,000 youth and community volunteers to plant and maintain more than 720,000 native trees, shrubs and flowers.
• Restore 3.5 sq. km of native forest, wetland and meadow habitat to support natural beauty and biodiversity, clean water and air and climatic stability.

 

In 2016, FRW received the J.R. Dymond award from Ontario Nature for its “tireless and inspirational role in the creation of Rouge National Park” and “exceptional work on the ground with stewardship and restoration projects.”

 

About World Wildlife Fund Canada:

WWF-Canada creates solutions to the environmental challenges that matter most for Canadians. We work in places that are unique and ecologically important, so that nature, wildlife and people thrive together. Because we are all wildlife. For more information, visit wwf.ca.

Emily Vandermeer
WWF-Canada
5196161556
evandermeer@wwfcanada.org

Danielle Marcoux-Hunter
Friends of Rouge Watershed
416-208-0252
danielle@frw.ca