Janet Dassinger Appointed Interim Executive Director

The Board of Directors of the Long Point Biosphere Region (LPBR) is pleased to announce the appointment of Janet Dassinger as Interim Executive Director (E.D.) effective April 9, 2025.

“Janet’s appointment is an important step toward establishing a more robust operating and governance system for the Biosphere,” said LPBR Chair Tom Via. “We are delighted that she has agreed to accept this role and the challenges it embraces.”

The Interim Executive Director will play a key role in developing and advancing a new strategic plan for the LPBR as well as leading Biosphere operations. The creation of the position and the broader initiative it involves is supported by funding from the Ontario Trillium Foundation and by a strategic collaboration with the highly successful Georgian Bay Mnidoo Gamii Biosphere.

Janet, who is passionate about conservation and the Long Point region, is a Senior Research Officer with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).  Over her career, she has worked as a project manager, executive director and fund developer in the not-for-profit sector. She has advanced degrees in Labour Studies and Social Work from McMaster University.  Janet resigned from the Biosphere board and the position of President to assume the Interim E.D. duties.

Janet Dassinger Appointed Interim Executive Director Read More »

Long Point Walsingham Forest Priority Place

Long Point Walsingham Priority Place

The Priority Place project gets local conservation groups working together to boost conservation outcomes in the Long Point Biosphere Region, one of Canada’s high biodiversity ecosystems.

There are five working groups that that governmental and non-governmental organizations are collaborating on: Road Ecology, Invasive Species, Agriculture Runoff, Open Country, and Forest & Treed Swamps

In the fall, we host the Priority Place Research Conference. The conference is a chance for conservation scientists from the five working groups to share their progress and engage local residents.

This project has a dedicated website. Please visit priorityplace.ca to learn more. The staff coordinator is Cynthia Brink. She can be contacted at cynthia.brink@longpointbiosphere.com.

The Biosphere was deeply honored to welcome Carolyn King, C.M., as the Elder leading the opening ceremony at the 2024 Priority Place Research Conference.

Carolyn is a member of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation (MCFN) and has spent over four decades advancing Indigenous recognition, respect, and relationships across Canada. As a trailblazer, she served as the first woman Chief of MCFN from 1997 to 1999. Carolyn’s dedication to advocacy and community development has earned her many accolades, including the Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012 and an appointment to the Order of Canada in 2020.

In 2011, Carolyn founded the Moccasin Identifier Initiative, a project that fosters awareness of Treaties, Indigenous connections to the land, and our collective responsibilities toward reconciliation. Her vision to “cover Canada in Moccasins” aims to ensure Indigenous heritage remains woven into the fabric of our shared spaces.

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OECM

Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures (OECM for short)

 Canada has set a goal to protect 30% of its land and waters by 2030. Achieving this goal requires putting all land that is under conservation management, but not operated by the Federal Government, into a national database.

The Biosphere encourages program uptake by sharing the database with local governments and landowners. This involves creating educational resources, presenting at local council depositions, and meeting with landowners in-person.

If you live in Norfolk County and have land you want to add to the database please contact Sarah Emons at conservation@longpointbiosphere.com—being added to the database does not prevent you from using or selling your land.

Canada is committed to protecting nature through the 30 by 30 agreement, an international effort to conserve 30% of lands and waters by 2030. By safeguarding biodiversity and natural habitats and ensure a sustainable future for wildlife and people. The Long Point Biosphere Region supports conservation efforts by working with landowners and organizations to protect ecologically significant areas. 

OECM Read More »

Wildlife Road Watch

Wildlife Road watch

Crossing roads is a risk wildlife must take to move through their habitat. In partnership with Eco-Kare International, the Biosphere coordinates a Wildlife Road Watch crew to protect these animals.

Wildlife Road Watch staff organize citizen scientists to record roadkill and animal crossings locations—these observations show which roads are collision hotspots. The team then encourages local governments to install turtle nesting mounds, wildlife underpasses and roadside fencing as part of their existing road maintenance master plan. 

In 2024, the Road Watch crew, in partnership Long Point Eco Adventures, also operated a turtle hatchery. A group of 31 Wildlife Road Watch volunteers raised and released over a thousand turtles that year.

The staff coordinators are Kari Gunson and Lauren Nightingale. They can be contacted at kegunson@eco-kare.com and lnightingale@eco-kare.com. 

Fences nudge wildlife away from unsafe road crossings and towards safe underpasses. A mink is pictured using one of these underpasses to safety move through its habitat.

Wildlife Road Watch Read More »

Beach Restoration

Beach REstoration

Human development and warmer winters mean that Long Point is in “sediment debt”—it’s losing more sand and pebbles to erosion that it receives. Over time, the entire spit (and all of its beaches!) will wash away. We’ve been given funding to organize a task force to prevent this fate. 

The task force is a partnership between 7 local governments, 3 conservation authorities, the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, and other conservation organizations. They monitor the region’s “sediment budget” and plant erosion-slowing native grasses on Long Point’s beaches.

This project has a dedicated website. Please visit northshoreresilience.ca to learn more. The staff coordinator is Sarah Emons. She can be contacted at conservation@longpointbiosphere.com. 

In partnership with homeowners and local governments, the Biosphere is planting native grasses to slow erosion.

Beach Restoration Read More »

Collaboration with Georgian Bay on Strategic Planning

The Board and staff of the Long Point Biosphere Region (LPBR) have been working over the winter months to develop new strategies and

Workshop with Georgian Bay Mnidoo Gamii Biosphere

collaboration plans thanks to funding from the provincial government’s Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) Resilient Communities fund.

The funding of $126 has supported LPBR’s strategic planning and organizational review, which has been undertaken in collaboration with the Georgian Bay Mnidoo Gamii Biosphere, which is regarded as a model organization with a “best in class” operating model and expertise in developing new partnerships, diversified funding sources, and stable program staffing systems.

“The Long Point Biosphere is one of Canada’s most important ecological areas with an exceptional agro-ecosystem,” said Biosphere Chair Tom Via, reflecting on the work todate. “The funding from the Ontario Trillium Foundation and the help of partners like Birds Canada and the Georgian Bay Mnidoo Gamii Biosphere will make a vital contribution to our long-term planning which enables support of conservation and sustainable development in the region.”

The funding announced last year (June 2024) at an event in Port Rowan with local MPP Bobbi Ann Brady who said at the time that the “Long Point Biosphere is an important connection between people and nature.”

The Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) is an agency of the Ontario government with a mission to build healthy and vibrant communities across the province.

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Recent Newsletters

Spring 2025 

Biosphere Beacon

In this issue, we invite you to join the Friends of the Long Point Biosphere – at no cost –  to keep up to date on our projects and programs.

Click individual links below.

FALL 2024 Biosphere Beacon

In this issue, we invite you to attend our Annual General Meeting and prepare for the Fall Research and Conservation Conference as well as updating you on recent projects.

Click individual links below.

SUMMER 2024 Biosphere Beacon

In this issue, we review our new projects, look to the future, and remember a special volunteer. 
Click individual links below.

SPRING 2024 Biosphere Beacon

In this issue, we celebrate our recent successes and special partnerships. 
Click individual links below.

FALL 2023 Biopshere Beacon (Highlights listed below)
Click here for the  full newsletter as PDF

  • Parliamentary Secretary’s visit to Long Point
  • Georgian Bay’s Ganawenim Meshkiki’s funding of Long Point Road Ecology
  • Over 50 Area Schools joining Project Feederwatch
  • Nature Canada’s renewal of funding for Long Point Programs
  • New – The Isabella Brink-Read Youth Summit Award

SUMMER 2023 Biosphere Beacon (Highlights listed below)
 Click here for the full newsletter as PDF 

  • Spooky Hollow helps meet national biodiversity goals
  • Join us on Wandering Wednesdays
  • We’re participating in the Birds Canada Birdathon, and we need your help!
  • How many of Norfolk County’s 22 Amazing Places have you visited?
  • We’re helping connect students to nature
  • Announcing a documentary about the Biosphere – we’ll have an extravaganza and fundraiser featuring a special showing, stay tuned!
  • Artists from indigenous and international backgrounds collaborate
  • Protecting turtles, snakes and more from the dangers of crossing the roa

Recent Newsletters Read More »

Volunteers make Long Point Turtle Hatchery a Success

1,112 turtle eggs were excavated from vulnerable nest around Long Point and transported to the Marshview Welcome and Education Centre at Long Point Eco Adventures by a team of dedicated volunteers.  These eggs—collected over the summer of 2024—were the first ever collected for the Long Point Turtle Hatchery!

Lauren Nightingale Turtle Hatchery Coordinator

They include midland painted, snapping, and norther map turtle eggs. Our mentors and colleagues at the Turtle Lab in the London Watershed Conservation Centre graciously took in many more clutches when we reached our processing capacity.  This included all of our threatened Blanding’s turtle eggs.

With your support, thousands of hatching turtles will peck their way out of their shells in the years ahead.  But each  must be health checked, measured, weighed, and finally released into the marsh and this must be within 1 km of where their mothers originally laid them. At the same time, we hope to have a multi-faceted exhibit in place to educate students, visitors, and area residents about the need for road ecology projects. This will help address the core problem facing our turtles (deaths on roads) that make volunteer road patrols and nest excavation necessary.

None of this would have been possible without the generous donations our community contributed alongside support from the Long Point Biosphere Region, Eco Adventures, Scott Gillingwater and his Turtle Lab team in London, our amazing Wildlife Road Watch volunteers, Environment and Climate Change Canada through the LPWF Priority Place’s Road Ecology Working Group, Eco-Kare International, and Eco Canada.

We now have an urgent need for materials and funds to complete the task and, we hope, establish the hatchery as a permanent facility serving the Long Point Biosphere Region.

Please consider contributing to the Long Point Biosphere Region Turtle Hatchery!

Click Here to Donate

If you are not able to contribute financially but wish to help another way, please consider joining Wildlife Road Watch, our volunteer program.  You  will be trained to safely help turtles cross roads and to identify turtle nests for excavation along several key nesting hotspots.

If you are interested, please consider subscribing at wildlifeonroads.com  or reach out to Lauren at lnightingale@eco-kare.com for more information.

For more on what’s happening in the Long Point Biosphere check out our newsletter he

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Promoting Eco-Tourism in Canada

Building on the success of its first ever Eco-Crawl last year, the Long Point Biosphere is looking to expand its promotion of sustainable tourism in Norfolk County over the coming months.  This will include new initiatives to support designated Amazing Places in our area and collaborations with other Biosphere regions in Ontario and across Canada.

The Amazing Places program identifies sites for residents and visitors to learn about physical, biological or historical features that are unique to our region. The initiative, funded by the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport, the Ontario Trillium Foundation, and Mountain Equipment Co-op, was established in 2022 with information materials and special itineraries for those looking to explore the region.

This year this material will be repackaged in formats that make it easier for visitors and local residents to reference and to possibly expand the Long Point Biosphere Eco-Crawl.

Last  year the Eco-Crawl was launched in conjunction with Port Rowan’s Bayfest celebrations with funding under the Norfolk County Community Grants Program. The funding covered bus shuttle services to help visitors and residents learn more about conservation organizations such as Birds Canada, Long Point Basin Land Trust, Turkey Point Provincial Park, and Long Point Provincial Park as well as sustainable businesses such as Long Point Eco-Adventures,  Burning Kiln Winery, Inasphere Winery and Farm, South Coast Gardens, Meuse Brewery. and more.  The Eco-Crawl also showcased the Long Point Turtle Hatchery project and promoted other conservation activities with display and information tables at Birds Canada headquarters.

“We have a rich portfolio of businesses and organizations dedicated to conservation and the natural environment in the Biosphere,” said Tom Via, LPBR Chair. “The Eco-Crawl celebrates these organizations and our partnerships, and it will be great to expand it in the future in conjunction with the Amazing Places program.”

Promoting Eco-Tourism in Canada Read More »

Betty Chanyi

The Long Point Biosphere Region (LPBR) joins the family members, friends and admirers mourning the passing of the former Norfolk County Councillor and active community leader Betty Chanyi last fall (September 2024).

Betty’s career as an educator and work as a member of many local organization are documented in the tributes that have been made by many others in other venues.

We would like to recognize her vigorous support for the Long Point Biosphere and the drive to promote conservation and sustainable communities.

This was recognized with her status as a Life Member of the LPBR.

Betty Chanyi Read More »

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