2024 FBO Field Trips
The trip list is here! As always, we are so grateful to our trip leaders. Trip capacity is 20 participants for each trip unless the leader requests lower numbers.
We can add attendee information to a waitlist if a trip sells out. For those that register online, we have allowed a refund period of up to one day before the trip. That means you may still sign up for trips ahead of time even if you aren’t sure of your plans and as long as you request a refund through Eventbrite before that time, you will receive your full amount back. But please cancel as soon as you know you won’t be attending. Cancelling your Eventbrite ticket allows us to open your spot on the trip to people who have added themselves to the wait list. If an event is listed as SOLD OUT, you can still register to put yourself on the wait list, and if someone else gives up their spot, we will contact the waitlist to offer the spot(s).
By attending an FBO Field Trip, participants agree to abide by the FBO Code of Conduct.
If you have any questions about this process, please feel free to contact the Field Trip Coordination Team at: fbo.trips@gmail.com
Thank you for your patience and have a great field season!
Spring Flowers of the Central Experimental Farm, Fletcher Wildlife Garden, and Dominion Arboretum, Ottawa, ON, Saturday, April 20, 2024, (9:50 AM)
Leader: Paul Sokoloff
This downtown foray loops through Ottawa’s central greenspaces searching out the spring ephemerals of the area. Depending on the progression of spring we might see Wild Ginger (Asarum canadense), White Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum), Red Trillium (Trillium erectum), Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum), catch late Crocuses (Crocus vernus) and Snowdrops (Galanthus sp.), and the spectacular Magnolia grove. Participants interested in some pre-trip reading can check out the Trees and Shrubs of the Dominion Arboretum. This field trip is open to all but primarily aimed at new and budding botanists. The meeting spot is accessible by transit (OC Transpo Route 88, Prince of Wales/NCC Driveway Stop), and there is parking at the Friends of the Central Experimental Farm building and the Fletcher Wildlife Gardens. (Transit accessible).
Eventbrite Signup Link: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/spring-flowers-of-central-experimental-farm-fletcher-wildlife-garden-dominion-arboretum-ottawa-tickets-879107302607
Vansittart Woods, near Woodstock, ON, Sunday, May 19, 2024 (9:50 AM)
Leader: Gwyneth Govers
Vansittart Woods has a roughly 4 km loop trail, owned by the Thames Valley District School Board for outdoor education. The trail is hard-pack dirt with a gentle slope that runs through hardwood and pine forest, as well as a restored meadow section, and a boardwalk section through swamp. The parking area is next to a large pond in which painted turtles can be seen basking in the spring and summer months. This walk will focus on spring ephemerals, and identifying trees and shrubs in spring conditions. The boardwalk area is very buggy during the summer months - hopefully the early spring conditions don't rush their return as well!
Eventbrite Signup Link: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/vansittart-woods-near-woodstock-on-tickets-879119278427
Lambton County Heritage Forest, Port Franks, ON, Saturday, May 25, 2024 (9:50 AM)
Leader: Pat Deacon
The Lambton County Heritage Forest is an undulating complex of oak and oak-pine forest that makes up the eastern portion of the Port Franks Wetlands and Forested Dunes Area of Natural and Scientific Interest. The site contains 15-20m high dunes, areas of oak savanna and barrens and riparian forest along Mud Creek. We will see a variety of common spring ephemeral wildflowers along with species associated with drier and more open habitat such as Golden Puccoon (Lithospermum caroliniense), Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa), Wild Lupine (Lupinus perennis), and an assortment of interesting grasses and sedges. Both Dwarf Chinquapin Oak (Quercus prinoides) and Dwarf Hackberry (Celtis occidentalis) are found at LCHF, and we'll likely see other distinctly Carolinian tree species like Tulip-tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) and Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis). Listening to Hooded Warblers, we will hike a portion of the approximately 8km trail system which is mostly flat with some rises along the way. Although there is plenty to see at LCHF, we may venture over to the Karner Blue Sanctuary to see the swaths of Lupine in bloom. There are lots of options for staying locally if you would like to make a weekend of it.
Eventbrite Signup Link: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/lambton-county-heritage-forest-port-franks-on-tickets-879195516457
Upland Sedge, Grass, and Rush Identification, near Newmarket, ON Saturday June 8 (9:50 AM)
Leader: Steve Varga
Limited to 10 participants. The meeting place is in the York Regional Forest North Tract. The tract supports 42 sedge species and 31 grass species and a wide variety of communities including sand barrens, conifer plantations, the largest block of Sugar Maple forest in the York Regional Forest tracts, Red Oak forests, Eastern Hemlock forests on cooler valley slopes, and wetlands that include groundwater-fed White Cedar swamps, cattail marshes and herb marshes. We will mainly stay on the trails but there is poison-ivy scattered around so if you react to it please take precautions. With the onset of hot weather mosquitos will be out. As well, ticks carrying Lyme Disease have been found in the York Region Forest tracts. Please bring a hand lens, a clipboard, pencil and a bag lunch and water. We will be having our lunch in a nice shady forest spot.
Eventbrite Signup Link: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/upland-sedge-grass-and-rush-identification-near-newmarket-on-tickets-879231544217
Riverwood, Burnhamthorpe and the Credit River, Mississauga, ON, Saturday, June 9, 2024 (9:50 AM)
Leader: Sarah Mainguy
Riverwood (formerly the Mississauga Garden-park) was once an estate that was a sparkling 1920s social hub, with a tennis court, woodland pool and exquisite gardens tucked into the deciduous woods and ravines above the Credit River in Erindale, now Mississauga. Sarah was involved in researching the ecological aspects of the site for the Master Plan that brought it back to life in the early 2000s. With the help of a vocal and involved group of Mississauga residents, the estate and gardens were restored and re-built for the public, but with a large part of the grounds (including a farm with its own strange history) left natural. Mature deciduous forest on steep ravines and plateaus with tremendous microclimatic diversity dominate the site, above an extensive floodplain with channels and pools creating small depressions that support remnants of wetland and transitional floodplain forest. An intersecting network of trails will provide access to the site. (Transit accessible).
Eventbrite Signup Link: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/riverwood-burnhamthorpe-and-the-credit-river-mississauga-on-tickets-879233449917
RARE Charitable Research Reserve - plant-fungal relationships, near Cambridge, ON, Saturday, June 16, 2024 (9:50 AM)
Leader: Will Van Hemessen
Plants have many unique and ecologically significant relationships with fungi and other organisms. Many trees, orchids, and other plants need mycorrhizal associations to survive, and some fungi require specific plant hosts to grow and reproduce. Fungi may be pathogenic, parasitizing their host plants with both positive and negative ecological outcomes. Saprobic fungi are some of the only organisms capable of breaking down wood and returning those nutrients to the environment. This field trip will explore the plants and fungi of the Rare Charitable Research Reserve, with particular attention to their interrelationships and importance for ecosystem health.
Eventbrite Signup Link: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/rare-charitable-research-reserve-plant-fungal-relationships-cambridge-on-tickets-879247461827
St. Williams Conservation Reserve – Turkey Point Tract, near Turkey Point, ON, Saturday, July 7, 2024 (9:50 AM)
Leader: Pat Deacon
Turkey Point Tract is a diverse mixture of oak woodland, sand barren, Carolinian forest, treed ravines and naturalized conifer plantations that support a unique assemblage of native and introduced plant species. This trip will focus on remnant oak savanna and sand barrens habitats that are being restored by the St. Williams Conservation Reserve Community Council. A snippet of the highlight species we’re likely to see includes Green Milkweed (Asclepias viridis), Britton’s Phlox (Phlox subulata), Swan’s Sedge (Carex swanii), Deer-tongue Panicgrass (Dichanthelium clandestinum), Hairy Puccoon (Lithospermum caroliniense), Hoary Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum incanum) Castor Aralia (Kalopanax septemlobus) and Prairie Willow (Salix humilis). Since the surveys of Stallwood and Soper in the late 1930s, Turkey Point has fascinated Ontario botanists and continues to turn up new and unusual species in recent years.
Eventbrite Signup Link: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/st-williams-conservation-reserve-turkey-point-tract-turkey-point-on-tickets-879248845967
Wetland Sedges Workshop, Saturday, July 13, 2024 (9:50 AM)
Leader: Steve Varga
Limited to 10 participants. This workshop aims to teach skills in identification of wetland graminoids. Meeting place is in the northeast portion of Durham Region, west of Lake Scugog and northwest of Port Perry on a large crown land property in the broad valley of the Nonquon River. We will explore marshes on either side of the bridge and then we will walk west and take a forest trail north from the road to explore treed swamps and thicket swamps in among the upland forests. After lunch we will go to the Durham Environmental Education Centre. A boardwalk trail from the centre loops through a variety of marshes and thicket swamps. These wetlands have a good diversity of sedges (41 species), grasses (27 species) and rushes (5 species). Please bring a bag lunch and plenty of water and we will be having our lunch on a trail. We will be walking on upland trails and getting off periodically to go into swamps and marshes with water at times up to your knees so bring old shoes and quick dry pants. It can get very hot and the sun can be intense in the open marshes especially on a typical muggy July day. To prevent heat stroke please stay hydrated, wear a hat and take it easy. There will be some poison-ivy at the uplands on the way to the wetlands and mosquitos can be numerous in the more forested areas.
Eventbrite Signup Link: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/wetland-sedges-workshop-near-durham-region-on-tickets-879249558097
Ecological Restoration in Rouge National Urban Park, Toronto, ON, Saturday, July 20, 2024 (9:50 AM)
Leader: Mary Anne Young
Toronto and Region Conservation Authority & Parks Canada have completed over 85 restoration projects in Rouge National Urban Park (RNUP) since 2015. These projects include a combination of wetland, stream, meadow, and forest restoration projects to fix ecological impairments and build out the existing natural heritage systems. This field trip gives participants an inside look into the design, implementation, and the conversations around building large, connected wetland complexes throughout RNUP. The tour will visit several different styles of constructed wetlands where participants will receive information on the design choices as well as some information about the current flora and fauna we are seeing around the systems and how that has changed over time. Botanically these areas are early successional habitats including meadows, upland treed habitats, and marsh to shrub thicket wetlands. Most of the tour will be on the formal trail system but there will be a few areas where we go off trail as a group. Participants should bring water and wear appropriate footwear/clothing as well as have insect/sun protection. The tour will be from 9:50 am - 2:50 pm, meeting at the Bob Hunter Memorial Park parking lot. (Transit accessible).
Eventbrite Signup Link: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/ecological-restoration-in-rouge-national-urban-park-toronto-on-tickets-879255134777
Taquanyah Conservation Area, near Cayuga, ON, Sunday, August 4, 2024 (9:50 AM)
Leader: Richard Baxter
Taquanyah Conservation Area is a Grand River Conservation Authority owned property, located just a few kilometres west of the small community of Cayuga in Haldimand County. It is found in beautiful lower Grand River country, well within both the Carolinian Life Zone and Haldimand Clay Plain. A large portion of the property was covered by a reservoir until the early 2000s. Habitats available to explore include the regenerating former reservoir area, various constructed wetlands and a mature deciduous forest with pockets of wetland. A mix of rare and interesting species are present or have been encountered in the past, and hopefully the species list for the property will be expanded based on the results of the trip.
Eventbrite Signup Link: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/taquanyah-conservation-area-near-cayuga-on-tickets-879836022227?aff=oddtdtcreator
Mystery Botany Tour, TBD (Greater Toronto Area), Saturday, August 10, 2024 (9:50 AM)
Leader: Steve Varga
Limited to 10 participants. Meeting place: to be determined. A mystery tour focussed on doing a botanical inventory of either a Nature Conservancy property, a Land Trust property or a Provincial Crown Land Area in the Greater Toronto Area and vicinity. Steve will pick an interesting area that has been poorly botanized. You get to help do a botanical inventory of a critical natural area. You will be given the location particulars at least a month before the visit date. Please bring a clipboard, pencil, lunch, water and mosquito repellant. We may be walking in wetlands so bring old shoes and old pants that you don’t mind getting wet. In previous years we have inventoried Nature Conservancy properties that support prairies and oak savannahs, and another with forests, kettle wetlands and groundwater-fed conifer swamps on the Oak Ridges Moraine. We have found new records for such interesting species as American Ginseng, Autumn Coralroot, Squawroot, Polygala polygama and Linum sulcatum among others and our inventory work has helped in the development of management plans for the properties.
Eventbrite Signup Link: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/mystery-botany-tour-tbd-greater-toronto-area-on-tickets-879856332977
Beverly Swamp, near Cambridge, ON, Sunday, August 11, 2024 (9:50 AM)
Leader: Carl-Adam Wegenschimmel
The Beverly Swamp is one of the largest lowland swamp forest representations in south-central Ontario. The swamp is mainly comprised Freeman Maple forest with some interesting species including Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), Highbush Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum) and White Adder's-Mouth (Malaxis brachypoda). The Flamborough Plain is also found on the property and is inhabited by species that are generally associated with Alvar which includes some interesting lichens such as Bryobilimbia hypnorum and Blushing Scale (Psora decipiens). This field trip is open to all levels of experience and is primarily focused on plants and lichens associated with Beverly Swamp and the Flamborough Plain.
Eventbrite Signup Link: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/beverly-swamp-near-cambridge-on-tickets-879866031987?aff=oddtdtcreator
Alvar Flora & Geo-ecology, Dominion Bay Nature Preserve, Manitoulin Island, ON, Saturday, August 17 (9:50 AM)
Leaders: Tyler Miller and Jenna McGuire
Join Tyler and Jenna on this unique information-packed geo-ecology trip as we explore a newly established Escarpment Biosphere Conservancy Nature Preserve, home to a fantastic assemblage of coastal alvars (some with erratic boulder fields), fens, cold bottom conifer swamps and conifer forests. We will showcase the common and rare bryophyte, lichen and vascular plant biodiversity of these habitats while demystifying their rooted geology that informs the form and function of these habitats. We will also look back 430 million years ago at a handful of plant and animal fossils and the environments they used to thrive in.
Eventbrite Signup Link: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/alvar-flora-geo-ecology-dominion-bay-nature-preserve-manitoulin-on-tickets-879880284617?aff=oddtdtcreator
Bicycle Botany on the Bruce, near Dyer’s Bay, ON, Saturday September 7, 2024 (10:00 AM)
Leader: Walter Muma
Bicycle required! We will visit botany sites on the Bruce in the vicinity of Dyers Bay that are now unreachable by vehicles. We will bicycle 12 km to the sites, with a number of stops along the way. At our destination there are a number of botany sites we will explore on foot. The 12 km ride will be along a paved road, and then along a closed gravel road, and will take about 45 minutes (we will be taking it easy). The roads are fairly level with minor hills. There is a parking fee at the start of our journey - in Sep 2023 I paid $30. This is one of the few sites where the rare Houghton’s Goldenrod is found, and we will see many other alvar and wetland species.
Eventbrite Signup Link: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/bicycle-botany-on-the-bruce-near-dyers-bay-on-tickets-879818188887
Vanishing Stream tree planting and Malcom Bluff Botany Hike, Bruce Peninsula, ON, Saturday, September 14, 2024 (10:00 AM)
Leader: Jeannine Kralt
Join with other volunteers on Saturday September 14, 2024 to help restore a beautiful Bruce Trail Conservancy property on the Saugeen Bruce Peninsula. The property has been degraded by centuries of agricultural use. In the morning, 400 native trees and shrubs will be planted to help restore its biodiversity, sequester carbon and create a sustainable wildlife corridor. The tree planting will be followed by lunch and a guided hike for FBO members on nearby Malcolm Bluff Shores Nature Reserve. Located on the shores of Colpoy’s Bay on the Saugeen (Bruce) Peninsula, this 1045 acre property is co-managed by The Bruce Trail Conservancy and Ontario Nature. The hike will travel along the Bruce Trail through a variety of forested habitats and down a secondary Escarpment slope to the cobble beach below.
Eventbrite Signup Link: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/vanishing-stream-tree-planting-botany-hike-bruce-peninsula-on-tickets-879912531067
Exploring Pelee Island, Canada’s Deep South, Pelee Island, ON, Saturday, September 28 (9:50 AM)
Leader: John Ambrose
Join John Ambrose and explore the unique flora of Pelee Island. Pelee Island is a Carolinian hot spot and candidate Key Biodiversity Area, see the diversity of southern trees, shrubs, wildflowers and graminoids plus diverse habitats from sand spits, alvars (open to woodland) and swamps, plus a diversity of restored meadows and created ponds. Pelee has species of plants and animals found nowhere else in Canada! The island is accessible by Ferry, which leaves the mainland on Friday (September 27) from Kingsville, ON (https://www.ontarioferries.com/pelee-island-ferries/). Accommodation on the island includes an inn, motel, B&Bs, and two campgrounds.
Eventbrite Signup Link: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/exploring-pelee-island-canadas-deep-south-pelee-island-on-tickets-879914847997?aff=oddtdtcreator
Bryophytes of the Land Between, Sunday September 29 (9:50 AM)
Leader: Jennifer Doubt
The 'Land Between' (https://www.thelandbetween.ca/geography/), well-known in Ontario as the ecotone between the Canadian Shield and St. Lawrence Lowlands, supports high biodiversity as a result of its closely-occurring diversity of geological features and habitat types. Knowledge of mosses and liverworts lags behind that of other biota in this region, as it does in many others. Fortunately, autumn is one of the best times of year for exploring and documenting bryophytes. On this trip we’ll dive into details, getting to know a variety of substrates in order to see as many taxa as possible. Identification to species often requires a microscope, but we’ll do the best we can with our hand lenses, and talk about the kinds of measures that can boost chances of finding and documenting something unusual. This ‘Land Between’ field trip will take place somewhere in or near Hastings County (coincidentally the land between the major centres of the National Capital and the GTA!). Some of the terrain may be challenging, but we’ll move (really) slowly, and we will see a lot of great bryophytes without walking too far. Wear sturdy footwear, bring a lunch and – if you have one – a hand lens. There will be lenses available to borrow as well.
Eventbrite Signup Link: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/bryophytes-of-the-land-between-tbd-central-ontario-tickets-879918408647?aff=oddtdtcreator
Cedar Creek Provincial Park, Essex County, near Windsor, ON, Saturday, October 5, 2024 (10:00 AM)
Leader: Graham Buck
Explore a rail trail with tallgrass prairie and oak savanna species, including the provincial rare - Willowleaf Aster (Symphyotrichum praealtum), observed recently and Violet Bush-clover (Lespedeza frutescens), observed in 2004. The trip will also include opportunities to explore Carolinian forest, Cedar Creek valley and Cedar Creek provincially significant wetlands as well as the reforestation area, prairie planting and wetland created on the property if time permits.
Eventbrite Signup Link: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/cedar-creek-provincial-park-essex-county-near-windsor-on-tickets-879909822967?aff=oddtdtcreator
**The AGM & 40th Anniversary Celebration will be held on Friday – Sunday, September 20th to 22nd , 2024 in Ottawa – details to come later!**
Please note that we sent the trip list out by email this year. If you did not receive the email please let the trip coordinators know (fbotrips@gmail.com), as it may mean that we have the wrong email for you.