The text of this post was originally published in the Winter 2024 Parks & Recreation Newsletter. I made minor changes to the text and added lots of photos to make it more interesting!
When people ask what my job is at Oakland Township Parks, I tell them I’m the Natural Areas Stewardship Manager. That often prompts the next question: “What is natural areas stewardship?” Great question! A concise definition I like is “caring for our land, air and water and sustaining the natural processes on which life depends” (Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, 2012). This sounds a lot like our township motto, Curamus terram!
But why steward natural areas in our township parks? Won’t the beautiful land in our township take care of itself as nature takes its course? Unfortunately, though we’ve made a lot of progress, our land in many ways is suffering “death by a thousand cuts.”
Some of those wounds are easy to see: development converting natural areas to houses, runoff from roads dumping dirt into streams and lakes, or invasive bittersweet choking and toppling beautiful trees. These obvious threats to natural areas drove the establishment of the Parks Commission in 1974, and the approval and renewals of the Parks and Land Preservation millages.
Some wounds are harder to see, or invisible. Nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen from our lawns and farm fields flow into streams, rivers, and lakes. As changing climate shifts the seasons; tree swallows arrive earlier but no insects are out to feed their young. People and animals unwittingly move invasive species around. High deer populations have relegated once-common trilliums and other native wildflowers to rarely-seen treats.
These visible and invisible wounds are fairly new to our natural areas, which functioned for thousands of years under regular cycles of fire, drought, flooding, and other disturbances. But the current changes in our landscapes are happening at such a rapid pace that natural areas can’t adapt fast enough. Without management, invasive plants like Phragmites and bittersweet take over natural areas, making them poor homes for birds and wildlife, and not much fun for park users! The natural disturbances and cycles that once helped the land care for itself can’t function as they used to, and our plants, pollinators, and wildlife are rapidly declining as a result.
We may not be able to stop some of the big problems at the local level, but we CAN care for our township parks and our backyards to make them more enjoyable for us, and healthier habitat for our native plants and wildlife.
Together as stewards and a community we determine the important functions of natural areas, then thoughtfully manage our parks to meet our goals. In some parks we want to protect and restore special natural communities like prairie fen, oak savanna, or bog. In other areas we prioritize improving pollinator habitat on former crop land. And near wetlands, streams, and lakes we always prioritize protecting our water. Through all this we work to provide opportunities for folks visiting the parks to experience and enjoy nature.
One of the most important things we do to care for our land is bringing people together that value and appreciate natural areas. Natural areas stewardship requires an ongoing commitment to caring for the land from everyone: dedicated volunteers, hard-working elected officials, passionate staff, and especially township residents that love spending time in their parks. We host winter speakers, volunteer workdays, birding walks, and other opportunities to help build that community. We’d love to connect with you!
When someone asks me about my job next time, I think I’ll just say “Curamus terram. We care for the land!”