Conservationist of the Year
Lambton Shores Nature Trails wins Conservationist of the Year Award at Partner Appreciation Evening
Close to 100 people attend Partner Appreciation Evening on March 20; Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority presents award to Lambton Shores Nature Trails
Lambton Shores Nature Trails (LSNT) is the winner of the Conservationist of the Year Award. Close to 100 people attended the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA) Partner Appreciation Evening on March 20, 2025 at Ironwood Golf Club east of Exeter. The Chair of the ABCA Board of Directors, Ray Chartrand, presented the award to LSNT directors Mary Lou Tasko and Diane Smith.
“We’re honestly overwhelmed and very humbled in being recognized with this award,” said Mary Lou Tasko, after the group received the award. “Thank you for this award tonight. We really appreciate it and we look forward to many more years working with the ABCA to do good things for our community.”
She also thanked ABCA staff for their positive approach and collaboration. “We all know we’re working from the same point of view which is, ‘Let’s make this incredible place we live protected but also allow the public to enjoy the trails and make them accessible.’ ”
Nathan Schoelier, ABCA Stewardship, Lands and Education Manager, introduced the award winners. He has worked closely with LSNT in recent years. He said their volunteers have devoted thousands of hours to protecting the natural environment and providing recreational opportunities. “They really balance the environmental need with the community need,” he said.
A group of local residents – passionate about nature and hiking – started Lambton Shores Nature Trails in 2011. The group has a large and active membership and completes important projects with a number of community partners. The work of LSNT volunteers has included trail maintenance, roadside and garbage cleanup, tree planting, invasive species control, and turtle nesting protection.
Volunteers from LSNT help to maintain local conservation lands including L-Lake Management Area and Ausable River Cut Conservation Area. LSNT engages the community, including youth, in trail and environmental enhancement projects. LSNT has recognized the value of nature and outdoor recreation to physical and mental well-being. They have worked to protect, restore, and make accessible the biodiversity and uniqueness of Lambton Shores and its natural areas. Those areas include Carolinian Forest, Oak Savanna, Dunes and Swales.
These volunteers are also active erecting signs, marking trails, repairing fences. They also add amenities such as benches, viewing platforms, accessible trail loops, boardwalk extensions, story walks, and more. “Those kinds of things allow more people to enjoy the natural environment,” Tasko said. The group has initiated projects such as the wind phone and accessible docks at Ausable River Cut Conservation Area and has assisted other groups in community projects.
Ausable Bayfield Conservation presented the winner with a hand-crafted gift and is making a donation towards a tree and plaque at a Commemorative Woods site maintained by Ausable Bayfield Conservation Foundation. Each year, since 1984, Ausable Bayfield Conservation has recognized outstanding achievements in conservation and stewardship with a conservation award. Award winners have included rural landowners and residents, agricultural producers and farms, service clubs, community organizations, companies, nature groups, and municipalities. To learn more about the award, visit the abca.ca website’s Conservation Award web page link.
PHOTO: LAMBTON SHORES NATURE TRAILS WINS CONSERVATIONIST OF THE YEAR AWARD – Close to 100 people attended the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA) Partner Appreciation Evening on Thursday, March 20, 2025. Ausable Bayfield Conservation presented Lambton Shores Nature Trails (LSNT) with the Conservationist of the Year Award. Shown in photo, from left to right, are Nathan Schoelier, ABCA Stewardship, Lands and Education Manager; Ray Chartrand, ABCA Chair; and (receiving the award) LSNT directors Diane Smith and Mary Lou Tasko. The active community group was recognized for its work since 2011 to protect biodiversity, plant trees, to control invasive species, to protect turtles and their habitat, and to support, grow and maintain a network of well-maintained trails. The volunteers with LSNT have worked countless hours maintaining and enhancing trails and conservation areas and engaging the public, including youth, in environmental enhancement and trail projects. The awards event was held at Ironwood Golf Club east of Exeter.
Wetland at Serenity Nature Reserve in Grand Bend is growing collaboration, speaker David Carter says
David Carter, director with Phil McNamee Charitable Foundation, spoke to close to 100 guests, at Ausable Bayfield Conservation’s Partner Appreciation Evening on March 20, about collaboration to create Serenity Nature Reserve wetland
A new wetland, at Serenity Nature Reserve in the Grand Bend area, is a growing community collaboration, said David Carter, a director on the Board of Directors of Phil McNamee Charitable Foundation (PMCF). He spoke to close to 100 guests at Ausable Bayfield Conservation’s annual Partner Appreciation Evening on March 20, 2025.
The work of PMCF includes scholarships and protecting the environment through the acquisition and enhancement of two nature reserves. PMCF scholarships are for graduating secondary-school students, who have overcome an obstacle but maintain good grades, to help them pursue post-secondary education.
The PMCF properties are 35-acre Solitude Nature Reserve, near Port Stanley, and 40-acre Serenity Nature Reserve, at 70050 Corbett Line, near Grand Bend. Serenity Nature Reserve was purchased in 2023 and established in 2024.
The grand opening of the reserve is in summer of 2025. It will have free, accessible day use and 2.3 kilometres of hiking trails. “Look for an announcement of a grand opening, sometime this summer,” Carter said.
The guest speaker recognized the work of PMCF founder Phil McNamee. Richard Louv’s book, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder, had a big influence on McNamee, Carter said.
Nature reserves are important, the presenter said, to improve physical and mental well-being, to provide free and accessible hiking, and to encourage more outdoor time in nature and less time inside on screens and devices. The nature reserves provide habitat for species such as the Green Heron. During his presentation, Carter shared photos of wildflowers and young people exploring nature in the great outdoors at the properties.
More than 70 per cent of southwestern Ontario wetlands (including open-water wetlands, marshes, swamps, fens, and bogs) have been lost, the presenter said. Wetlands are important as they provide diverse habitat for species; recharge groundwater; improve water quality; reduce flooding and erosion; and provide recreation.
The wetland at Serenity Nature Reserve is relatively new, Carter said. The wetland there has a marsh with a depth of 5-6 feet. The wetland is graded to collect runoff. Earthworks and seeding took place at the property in the autumn of 2024 and trees are being planted at the site in the spring of 2025.
Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA) staff worked with PMCF to construct the wetland and sow native wildflower seeds at the Nature Reserve. There are more than 20 species of native wildflowers sown at the site. ABCA staff plan to plant 5,000 trees over seven acres in spring of 2025. The tree species include White Pine; Cedar; Oak; Birch; Black Cherry; Hickory; and Tulip Tree. Later in 2025, ABCA staff plan to plant 500 plants, to stabilize berms at the site. Species include Marsh Marigold; Blue Flag Iris; and Blazing Star.
Technical support from wetlands experts at ABCA, combined with the important support of funding partners, is allowing PCMF to create progress at a faster pace than it could without those partnerships, the keynote speaker said. “We’re really grateful to have the collaboration we do have with Ausable Bayfield Conservation … and we’re really grateful for the funding we have received, from various funders, for this project.”
Financial support has come from Forests Canada’s 50 Million Tree Program; Great Lakes Local Action Fund; ABCA; and Huron Clean Water Project, among others.
PMCF was established in 2010. To learn more about Serenity Nature Reserve, at Phil McNamee Charitable Foundation, visit the PMC Foundation website.
The ABCA partner appreciation event was held at Ironwood Golf Club east of Exeter. ABCA presented Lambton Shores Nature Trails (LSNT) with the Conservationist of the Year Award during the event. ABCA directors Adrian Cornelissen; Dave Jewitt; and Marissa Vaughan received awards for Six Years of Service and ABCA staff member Rosalind Chang, Healthy Watersheds Technician, received a Five-Year Service Award.
PHOTO: GUEST SPEAKER DAVID CARTER SPEAKS ON WETLANDS THEME – Angela Van Niekerk, Wetlands Specialist with Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA), presents a copy of Living with Nature (a local guide to planting native species of plants), and a donation to Phil McNamee Charitable Foundation (PMCF), to ABCA Partner Appreciation Evening guest speaker David Carter, a PMCF director, following his talk on Thursday, March 20, 2025. The keynote presenter spoke about Creating a Wetland: A Growing Collaboration at Serenity Nature Reserve in Grand Bend. Close to 100 people attended the event, held at Ironwood Golf Club east of Exeter.
Conservationist of the Year Award
The Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA) has presented the Conservationist of the Year Award since 1984 to recognize significant conservation efforts.
Ausable Bayfield Conservation plants a tree and installs a plaque at a Commemorative Woods site maintained by the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Foundation.
Individuals, organizations or companies who have completed conservation work within the ABCA region, can be nominated for the Conservationist of the Year Award. Current ABCA staff members and directors are excluded.
The Conservation Award acknowledges one individual or group per year who demonstrates positive conservation principles. The nominee must have undertaken conservation efforts over a number of years that have shown long-term benefits for the natural environment and society.
Examples of conservation work that protects soil, water, and living things, include:
- Improving local water quality
- Conservation farming
- Reforestation
- Environmental education
- Providing wildlife and fish habitat
- Promoting environmental awareness and action
Nomination Form
Thank you for all your nominations, for this award, in 2025!
Nominations are now closed and we look forward to honour this year's winner on March 20, 2025 at the Partner Appreciation Evening.
The 2025 Nomination Form, including details about the award and past winners, is located here:
- Download the 2025 Conservationist of the Year Nomination Form – 300 KB (medium-sized) PDF file
Please send the nomination form prior to the deadline to:
Tim Cumming, Communications Coordinator,
Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA), 71108 Morrison Line,
RR 3 Exeter, ON N0M 1S5 at tcumming@abca.ca ... Facsimile: 519.235.1963
Award Winners
The Conservationist of the Year Award winner, in 2024, was Michael and Lindsay Groot and family.
Congratulations!
A list of previous award winners is included in the nomination form.
A winner for this year will be announced at the Partner Appreciation Evening on Thursday, March 20, 2025.
Inquiries
Please contact Communications Coordinator Tim Cumming or 519-235-2610, or toll-free 1-888-286-2610, extension 248 for additional information about the awards.
New Web Page
Ausable Bayfield Conservation has made some changes to the website.
This web page, for the Conservationist of the Year Award and Partner Appreciation Evening, is located in our new Get Involved Section.
It replaces the former conservation award web page on our former Community and Volunteers section.