Ontario's threatened plant - Goldenseal - now has a recovery strategy

Over the past couple of years EARTHQUEST staff worked diligently with other plant species experts to write a recovery strategy for Ontario's population of threatened Goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis).

                                                      Three year old plant                                                       Photo: Dave Jolly

Goldenseal is one of 72 vascular plant species listed on the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) Species at Risk in Ontario (SARO) site; https://www.ontario.ca/environment-and-energy/species-risk-ontario-list.  A recovery strategy is a provincial document that identifies the challenges facing species of plants and animals listed on the Ontario SARO list and provides recommendations for their recovery.

The MNRF recovery strategy for Goldenseal was published in May, 2016.  The document identified 24 naturally occurring populations with 79 colonies within the province of Ontario amounting to a total of 76,053 stems.  Two populations with 2 colonies were considered to be non-native in origin and, therefore, not protected under the Ontario Endangered Species Act and Ontario Regulation 242/08.  Two populations with 2 colonies were not assigned an Element Occurrence (EO) by the Natural Heritage Information Centre (NHIC) in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.  The "element" is defined as an element of biodiversity.  This is the basic taxonomic unit on which NHIC compiles information: species (including subspecies, varieties and some hybrids), ecological communities, and wildlife concentration areas.

At least 2 out of 20 natural populations are threatened by illegal harvesting for their medicinal properties.

Details about the recovery strategy were also posted on the EARTHQUEST (Canada) for the Environment website.

Dave Jolly, the author of the provincial recovery strategy, was contacted by the author of the federal recovery strategy with Environment Canada in August, 2016.  Mr. Jolly was notified that 12 NHIC EO populations with at least 12 colonies were unaccounted for in the provincial recovery strategy.  All unaccounted EOs were historical records with 1 extant - last visited on June 10, 2010.  One population was in Essex region, 6 in Halton region, 3 in Huron county, 1 in Middlesex county, and 1 in Niagara region.

Beginning in August, 2016 Mr. Jolly endeavoured to conduct site visits to all EOs missed in the MNRF provincial recovery strategy.  On August 22, 2016 he visited the Niagara region site which yielded no results.  Subsequently, on May 13, June 28, and August 19, 2017 he visited 3 out of 6 sites in Halton region.  Talia Plaskett and Mr. Jolly visited another site in Halton region on September 23, 2017.  None of these historical sites confirmed Goldenseal.  Lastly, on October 14, 2017 Talia and Mr. Jolly visited the Middlesex county population and located 65 stems (17 plants).  One of these had a 3-leaved plant (i.e., at least 6 years old).  This confirmed this site as extant.  This data was shared with Environment Canada and will later go to the MNRF.

Talia Plaskett surveying Goldenseal population in Middlesex county
Photo: Dave Jolly

The remaining 7 historical populations of Goldenseal are planned to be visited in 2018.  It is hoped that future recovery strategy writers will contact Mr. Jolly to receive the most up-to-date information on these populations.

Talk at Norfolk Public Library & Chapters in London: Aster & Goldenrods of Ontario

Scheduled for Saturday October 28, 2017 from 1:30 pm to 3:00 pm at the Norfolk Public Library, 46 Colborne Street, Simcoe, Ontario, will be a talk and signing for our Asters and Goldenrods of Ontario book.  This will be a free event and open to the public.  Families with children welcome.

Another talk is scheduled for Sunday October 22, 2017 at the Chapters on Wellington Road South in London, Ontario.  The time will be from 12 N to 4 pm with book signing and a presentation on how to attract butterflies to your garden by planting asters and goldenrods.

Dave Jolly at Chapters Store in London, Ontario, Canada

The speaker will be Dave Jolly of EARTHQUEST (Canada) for the Environment and the EARTHQUEST Biological Field School.  Armed with 22 years of field experience and his B.Sc. degree from the University of Western Ontario Dave spent the last 13 years studying and photographing asters and goldenrods in their natural environment.  As a professional Ecologist he is considered a botanical expert on vascular plants and habitat restoration projects for insect pollinators and butterflies.  He has written several field guides on flora and fauna and was commissioned by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry to write the recovery strategy for threatened Goldenseal.  To add to his botany porfolio on Ontario asters and goldenrods he has personally observed 53 taxa (5 hybrids, 1 variety) of these unique plants, including 5 Species at Risk, and 8 provincially rare.

In addition to Dave's contributions, a total of 252 plant records were recorded since April, 2006, collected by 26 students, volunteers, and staff from EARTHQUEST (Canada) for the Environment and the EARTHQUEST Biological Field School.

The Asters and Goldenrods of Ontario book showcases 34 species, 2 varieties, including 6 Ontario Species at Risk (SAR) based on visual cues.  It includes a binomial key for differentiating this confusing group according to flower colour, flowerhead arrangement, leaf width, venation and habitat characteristics.

The talks will cover topics in propagation for bee pollinator and restoration projects, how to select plants for butterfly gardens, as well as how to field identify plants as you walk through a woodland, forest, meadow, or wetland.

For those interested in purchasing a copy of our book the cost is $35 Canadian dollars plus shipping and handling.  Simply click on the Paypal link on the Asters and Goldenrods of Ontario book page, or contact us at: earthquestcanada@yahoo.com. Tel: 226-926-1470.

May 2017 plant hunt summary

A total of 2291 records were contributed by Dave Jolly and Brian Popelier for the month of May.

The beginning stretch of the Bruce Trail was hiked at Queenston Heights revealed 6 Butternut (Juglans cinerea) that have not been assessed.  These records will be shared with the Bruce Trail Conservancy and Niagara Region Conservation Authority.

Hiking along the Bruce Trail (McCormick Road Trail) near Dundas by Dave and Talia Plaskett also revealed 2 Butternuts needing assessment.

Nine new records were contributed to the database; Crawe's Sedge (Carex crawii), Inflated Narrow Leaved Sedge (Carex grisea), Northern Red Currant (Ribes rubrum), Peck's Sedge (Carex peckii), Pubescent Sedge (Carex hirtifolia), and Wood Witlow-grass contribtued by Brian and Muhlenberg's Sedge (Carex muhlenbergii var. muhlenbergii), Swamp Pin Oak (Quercus palustris), and Yellow Cordyalis (Cordyalis flavula) from Dave.

While leading bird hikes at Point Pelee National Park Dave discovered provincially rare Yellow Cordyalis in full bloom - a new record for the database.  This plant was first observed by Dave on Middle Island in June, 2008 when he was sent to survey rare plants, but it was not flowering at that time.

Photo: Dave Jolly

A total of 9 Species at Risk (SAR), and 17 species of special concern vascular plants were surveyed.  Four records of special concern Shumard Oak (Quercus shumardii) were observed flowering in Essex region between May 6th and 17th.

To view the monthly summary go to May, 2017 summary

April 2017 plant hunt summary

The month of April began with a couple of warm days, which brought an early spring with some trees and shrubs documented several weeks ahead of previous years.  Historically, April was one of the most biodiverse since 2010 with a total of 126 species recorded across 10 counties and municipalities.  This month's records were, however, surpassed by the all time record of 210 species set in 2012.

We would like to welcome back Talia Plaskett for the 2017 Field Botany Mentorship Program.  We were introduced to Talia in the April 2016 plant hunt summary article.  Talia shall be joining Senior Botanist Dave Jolly while surveying vascular plants along the Bruce Trail in the Hamilton and Dundas areas.  To date, Talia and Dave explored the Sulphur Springs Road section (managed by the Iroquois Bruce Trail club) of the Bruce Trail on April 29th.  This beautiful 5 km section wraps through undulating topography of rock and deciduous forest.  Together, Talia and Dave documented 21 flowering date records and applied Ecological Land Classification (ELC) methodology to classify the vegetation, soil, hydrology and geology into distinct vegetation units.

The rarest plant observed in the month of April was Harbinger of Spring (Erigenia bulbosa).  Interestingly, the first EARTHQUEST (Canada) for the Environment record of this species was documented by Mr. Brian Popelier, Land Stewardship Coordinator & Terrestrial Ecologist with the Bruce Trail Conservancy and a good friend of EARTHQUEST (Canada).  To add information to knowledge gaps on this species the population that Brian observed on April 9, 2010 in Elgin county has been inventoried every year since 2014.  Insect pollinators have been recorded since 2015 and include Tachnid flies (Tachnidae family) and Sweat bees (Halictidae family).  This population has remained relatively stable between 107 and 288 total stems.  The good news is that the number of seedlings has been steadily increasing with 19 found in 2017 surveys.

A significant contribution to the month of April was the completion of an ELC and vegetation survey for Port Burwell Provincial Park.  This project was initiated on May 14,2016 with assistance from the Otter Valley Naturalists and Park staff.  A total of 420 species of vascular plants, including 3 Ontario Species at Risk, 4 species of special concern (S1 - S3 ranked), 20 regionally rare within the Carolinian forest region, and 25 locally rare within Elgin county were recorded.  The report was submitted to Ontario Parks on April 30th.

View the summary for the April, 2017 plant hunt summary

March 2017 Plant hunt summary

The spring started roughly two weeks ahead of normal flowering times with the earliest flowering date records for Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum) to date, documented on March 2nd.  Bouts of colder weather , however, have now delayed spring considerably.

Only a total of 11 species were recorded, falling short of the all time record set in March, 2012 with 80 species.

One new record was documented for Elgin county - Yellow Woodland Anemone (Anemone ranunculoides), which brought the total number of vascular plant species documented by EARTHQUEST staff, volunteers and students, for Elgin up to 803 taxa.

To view the monthly summary for March simply go to this link March 2017 summary

Help celebrate the 150th birthday of Canada by joining courses, ecotours, guided hikes, or workshops.  This ad will appear in the Rondeau Provincial Park 2017 Information Guide.

I am pleased to announce that Talia Plaskett has returned in 2017 to gain field botany skills through the Field Botany Mentorship Program.  I greatly look forward to working with her again as we explore the Bruce Trail, and some other EARTHQUEST projects cataloguing the unique flora of the region.