Ontario Nature adds Thickson’s Woods to its reserve network

Ontario Nature has added Thickson’s Woods in Whitby to its nature reserve network, protecting 24.86 acres across five parcels in an increasingly urban landscape.

The 10.06-hectare site includes mature mixed forest, coastal wetland, regenerating meadow and 400 metres of Lake Ontario shoreline beside the Waterfront Trail.

The charity describes the woodland as the last remaining old-growth white pine forest on the lake’s north shore.

A migratory refuge

Thickson’s Woods lies at the intersection of two major migration flyways. Ontario Nature says the reserve supports 75 rare species, including 20 provincially at-risk species.

Species recorded there include prothonotary warblers, wood thrushes, eastern milksnakes, monarch butterflies and endangered butternut trees.

The site becomes Ontario Nature’s 27th nature reserve, bringing its network to 3,225 hectares.

Building on local stewardship

Local naturalists first saved the property from logging in 1983, forming Thickson’s Woods Land Trust to protect it. The transfer builds on that long-running community effort.

Support for the acquisition came from the Estate of Hazel May Broker, the Echo Foundation, the Ontario Conservation Accelerator, the Zita and Mark Bernstein Family Foundation, Thickson’s Woods Land Trust and Ontario Nature members.

Further information is available from Ontario Nature.