A nice grove of hemlocks.
Dale building the footbridge, June 2003. The logs spanning the creek were from beaver-felled ash trees.
Some dedicated volunteers working on an outdoor turtle pond during the spring 2004 volunteer weekend.
Our first artificial snake hibernation site, or hibernaculum. Although it looks like a pile of rocks, it extends over two metres below the surface, providing a space for snakes to get below the frost line for the winter.
These two photos show the house before we moved in. Very large, but in need of a great deal of work. The upper flat roof leaked badly, among other problems.
After removal of the leaking upper flat roof deck, a crane lifted the steel beams from the flat roof out to extend the new pitched roof. Trusses were placed on top of the steel beams, sheathing, shingles and a few odds and ends were added, and the new roof was complete. Of course, it was a lot more complex than it sounds. We hired Belson Construction to do this project — it was a little more than we wanted to tackle ourselves.
We installed an outdoor wood furnace which supplies heat to the house, including the domestic hot water and the pool. The large firebox heats water which is circulated through underground lines into the house to various locations. So far, we have been able to heat entirely with waste wood—an environmentally friendly source of fuel! Many thanks to Ashville Hardwood Floor Manufacturing for providing most of it: kiln-dried oak off-cuts.
The classroom under construction. The water damage from the leaky roof and windows had ruined much of the insulation and parts of the framing. Now it has R28 walls, R43 ceiling, new wiring, and triple-glazed Low E windows.
The completed classroom, now occupied by the animal collection. Once the lower-level renovations are complete, most of the animals will move back down so that groups will be able to use this space.
1,500 cubic metres is a lot of dirt! For scale, consider that the excavator is three metres wide. When finished, the driveway should be wide enough to allow two school buses to pass each other.
Eastern Milk Snake found on the property in fall 2002
Future green iguana cage nearing completion
The central cluster of enclosures in the main exhibit area
Welcome to the short virtual tour of our planned public educational facility. If you have any questions about our plans, feel free to contact us.
Our intention is to create a nature centre with a focus on Ontario’s herpetofauna, and to a lesser extent, fish. Essentially, the property would be a privately owned conservation area. For those familiar with any of these places, we imagine combining elements of the Muskoka Wildlife Centre, Wilds of Pelee Outdoor Centre for Conservation, Indian River Reptile Zoo, Eastern Ontario Biodiversity Museum and others.
The property is comprised of 53 acres, entirely within the Township of Oro-Medonte. It is roughly triangular-shaped, with irregular boundaries due to previous severances along roads.
The northerly portion of the property is dominated by a large residence and former aggregate pits that are now ponds/wetlands. The residence will be partially converted to a nature interpretation centre.
The central portion of the property is bisected by Bluff’s Creek, which is a healthy cold water stream. A wetland area borders the creek, and a portion of this is designated as Provincially Significant Wetland, as part of the Bluff’s Creek Wetland Complex.
The southerly portion of the property slopes up gently from the creek, and features second-growth maple/beech/hemlock/oak forest. There are some large, mature tree specimens remaining from the last time the area was selectively logged in the 1980s.
A smaller creek bisects the southern portion, merging with Bluff’s Creek on the property just before the eastern edge. At the western side, this creek features a steep, narrow valley.
An asphalt airstrip is a dominant feature of the southerly portion, along with two sizable buildings formerly used as aircraft hangars. These two buildings are not currently planned to be part of the operations of “Scales Nature Park”; rather they will be rented or otherwise utilized to finance the development of the nature centre programs and facilities.
A trail network exists throughout the property, though it is in need of restoration and improvement. Trail planning and pruning were undertaken in 2002. Further trail enhancements are planned for the near future. Planting of native tree species at the north end was commenced in 2002, and continues today. Plantings are intended to create a visual and acoustic barrier along the highway corridor, in addition to their wildlife habitat value. More plantings are planned for the future.
Two volunteer weekends were hosted in 2003, one in June and one in October. Projects included a footbridge over the creek (completed), a snake hibernation site (completed), two outdoor turtle ponds (completion in 2004), bridge truss placement, a retaining wall, seed collection, transplanting, and more. We are planning to host similar weekends this year, so if you’re interested in helping out, just let us know.
Aside from the official volunteer weekends, we’re always interested in assistance, so if you’ve got time or materials that might be useful, drop us a line! In particular, for upcoming projects, we could use help with plumbing, painting, phone/data wiring, masonry, and lots more.
Near-term active management goals for the property include the removal of exotic species, and various habitat restoration or enhancement projects such as reptile hibernation sites, nesting sites, and others.
In a regional context, Bluff’s Creek provides an important natural corridor between the Oro-Medonte moraine and Lake Simcoe. To the north and west lies some of the best remaining habitat and a significant portion of the distribution of many herpetofauna species, along with major areas of cottage and recreational development. One of our primary goals is to preserve the ecological integrity of the property, and to foster an increased awareness of the significance of the Bluff’s Creek corridor and surrounding natural areas.
The large residence (approx. 7000 sq. ft. total area) will be divided between the nature centre facility and our residence. On-going renovations are restoring and upgrading various portions of the structure with this goal in mind. Completed in 2002: the new roof over the planned exhibit and educational program areas, new energy-efficient windows, upgraded insulation, attic ventilation, new soffit fascia, pool restoration, and the installation of an outdoor wood-fired central heating system, along with various other projects.
Completed in 2003 were additional new windows, three new doors (including the public entrance outswing door with panic hardware), more insulation, wiring, two bathrooms, and the finishing of the classroom area.
We also started on the new driveway which will be the entrance used by the public in the future. It will access the 15th Line of Oro-Medonte so that merging with Highway 11 is not required! Unfortunately, the route traversed one of the old sand pits, so to mitigate the steep hills we moved approx. 1,500 cubic metres of sand to build up the driveway (basically digging in one sand pit to fill in the other). Of course, this made the pond in the bigger pit much deeper, which is an improvement in many ways.
The restoration of the main exhibit area was completed in 2004, along with the removal of another door and several windows to facilitate a better use of space and for greater energy efficiency. The driveway and parking lot rough-in was completed, but gravel surfacing remains to be done this spring.
Now in progress are most of the public display animal enclosures — finally we’re getting to the most fun parts of the project!
So far we have observed various species of wildlife on the property. From the herpetofaunal perspective, 11 species have been found to date: Spring Peepers, Gray Treefrogs, Leopard Frogs, Green Frogs, American Toads, Wood Frogs, Painted and Snapping Turtles, Garter Snakes, Red-bellied Snakes, and so far, 2 small Eastern Milk Snakes!
That’s all for now — we hope you enjoyed the tour!