Protected conservation lands in the limestone landscape of the Napanee Plain just got a bit bigger.
The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC), with the support of government partners and private donors, has now permanently protected a large natural property near Stoco Fen, a significant wetland located near Tweed. This project expands the organization’s conservation efforts in eastern Ontario.
Encompassing 81 hectares of forest, wetland and rocky habitat, the Stoco Karst Forest nature reserve is in the Napanee Plain, a unique landscape where limestone lies close to the surface and water slowly erodes limestone underground. On the surface this supports rare, sparsely vegetated habitats known as alvars. Below ground the water creates caves, crevices and unique landforms that are known as karst. Due to these tough conditions, alvars are home to distinctive species that have adapted to life on alvars. The new nature reserve protects both these types of features and builds on and creates a buffer for nearby Stoco Fen Provincial Park, a 350-hectare nature reserve class Provincial Park.
The protection of the new NCC nature reserve provides habitat for interesting plant and wildlife species. It also connects with a large intact forested area, sustaining wide-ranging mammals such as black bear, moose and bobcat which require large expanses of habitat, as well as many species of birds.
Protected areas also provide important ecosystem services for communities. The alvars, forests and wetlands within the Stoco Karst Forest nature reserve and the neighbouring provincial park provide flood regulation and water purification services for downstream communities such as Belleville, while the forests store carbon from the atmosphere and filter the air we breathe.
This project was made possible by the Government of Ontario through the Greenlands Conservation Partnership program and the Government of Canada through the Nature Smart Climate Solutions Fund. Numerous private donors across Ontario who support the work of NCC also contributed to the protection of this land.
This project showcases how NCC is accelerating the pace of conservation in Canada. In the past two years alone, NCC has influenced the protection of more than 1 million hectares (almost twice the size of Prince Edward Island), coast to coast to coast. Over the next few years, the organization will double its impact by mobilizing people and delivering permanent, large-scale conservation.