Projects
The Escarpment is in the fastest-growing region of Canada. The Niagara Escarpment Biosphere has the highest level of biodiversity among Canada’s 15 UNESCO-designated Biosphere Reserves.
But pressure to expand urban areas may potentially cramp the Escarpment’s rich ecosystem of wildlife and creatures such as this fragile Jefferson Salamander. We can protect biodiversity by working together to conserve Niagara’s biosphere.
Biodiversity is life. It’s health for nature, and health for all.
The Re-sampling of the Biodiversity of the Niagara Escarpment Biosphere Reserve Project
The Niagara Escarpment Biosphere Fund is leading the way to unravel everything we need to know about the Escarpment’s biodiversity with the Re-sampling of the Biodiversity of the Niagara Escarpment Biosphere Reserve Project. This project supports the evaluation of a 30-year legacy of protection that contributes to the life of natural areas in southern Ontario, and which is coming up for review in 2015.
The project supports in-field scientific research that will provide data to conservation practitioners to support decisions by land managers, such as government and conservation authorities, to invest in land acquisition, natural area restoration (wetlands and alvars) and protecting species at risk.
This project is also training young conservation professionals in the most current vegetation inventory and mapping methods, leading to the adoption of standardized state-of-the-art field-work methods. These methods will act as a common platform from which to share future environmental monitoring data. The environmental data will also be used to engage and educate the public to protect the Escarpment through environmental stewardship and to support future land protection policies.
Set for completion in 2013, the research will ultimately help decision-makers make educated, responsible choices about land conservation and environmental sustainability. If we know what we have, we can do a better job protecting it.
To donate to the Inventory of the Biodiversity of the Niagara Escarpment Biosphere Reserve Project, please click here.
Flavours of the Biosphere
Flavours of the Biosphere is an interactive online cooking series hosted by TV personality Anthony Regan and Chef John Cirillo, award-winning founder of Cirillo’s Culinary Academy in Toronto. Together, the dynamic duo take viewers on a culinary journey of Niagara’s greenbelt, exploring the finest ingredients the region has to offer.
In each episode, Chef Cirillo proves that all it takes is fresh local ingredients and a little bit of passion to create a flavourful and memorable dish.
Put on your apron, roll up your sleeves and get started with Webisode 1 – Potatoes a la Boulangere.
The story goes that at the end of the working day the baker would prepare this dish from the humble potato for his dinner. Chef Cirillo creates this classic dish for you with potatoes from Hillsburgh Ontario. Meanwhile flavours visits the Owen Sound Farmers Market and talks to President, Birgit Wright.
Join our Twitter feed @EscarpmentBR.
Flowing Waters Information System (FWIS)
The Escarpment contributes water to the Great Lakes, the largest store of fresh water in the world. Managing and accessing information about water is essential to coping with our increasing need for drinking water and water for industrial applications.
Flowing Waters Information System (FWIS) is a data gathering and mapping tool that standardizes the way information is collected for flowing waters feeding the Great Lakes. Many different agencies at all levels of government collect fish and benthos (organisms) that live on or in the bottom of bodies of water. Analyzing these organisms can assess the “health” of that body of water, including habitat, discharge, temperature and water chemistry (e.g. dissolved oxygen, bacteria, fertilizer/phosphates and other toxins).
The Niagara Escarpment Biosphere Reserve was selected as a demonstration area for the development of FWIS. The program will eventually be rolled out across Ontario and potentially adopted by others nationally and abroad.
FWIS will provide a common, freely-accessible tool that will provide critical information to planners, scientists and researchers to help them make informed, sustainable decisions about protecting or restoring flowing waters.