Nature in the Heart of Our Village
The Dufferin Marsh

The Dufferin Marsh is a remnant feature of the Schomberg River and was isolated when the river was channeled in the 1800’s. Through natural processes and man made disturbances the old river bed developed into a marsh. The land was historically used for farming, and was bisected by the Schomberg and Aurora Railway in 1902. Through the years the Marsh has flourished despite adjacent development.

ORTA Trail Link - Opening scheduled for June 7th

We have been working with The Oak Ridges Trail Association and The Town of King (through the Parks, Trails and Culture Committee) to bring a "side trail" from the Oak Ridges Trail (south of Lloydtown) through Schomberg, into the Marsh.

The Trail Link will have it's official opening on Saturday June 7th. Full details will follow over the next few weeks.

Our thanks to everyone who helped on this project, and in particular Bruce Chambers of The Oak Ridges Trail Association for his efforts to get the side trail in place!

This will link the Marsh to a well recognised and respected organisation.
We hope it will increase visits to the Marsh, recognising that:

• Trail members are likely to be considerate visitors
• Marsh visitors are likely to patronise local business
• Enable us to improve our efforts in education
• Provide a link to the Village in the ORTA guidebook
• Increase the visibility of the Village to potential visitors

Wine Tasting 2008 Our annual wine tasting will be held at Sheena's Kitchen, 357 Main St, at 8pm on Saturday, June 14th at 8:00 pm. This year our wines will be introduced by Hugh Sutherland of Carriage Trade Wines and Spirits of Orangeville. We will be sampling and comparing both reds and whites from Italy, Spain, Australia, Chile and France. $35 per person includes admission to the wine tasting and one year membership to the Dufferin Marsh Committee. Tickets are available in advance at: Sheena’s Kitchen our booth at Cold Creek Day from a Marsh member or at the door

Bird Walk On Sunday May 25th (in the midst of the Schomberg Agricultural Fair) at 6:30am we will be conducting a bird/nature walk around Schomberg. Each year we try to go to a different habitat close to the Dufferin Marsh. If you would like to join us, meet us at the pump house on Dr. Kay Drive. We'll go to the Lions Club Pancake Breakfast after the walk. Bring binoculars or your camera!

Movie Series and Panel Discussions Once again, the Dufferin Marsh Committee, Arts Society King, Cold Creek Forest and Wildlife Area and the King Township Public Library are working together and sponsoring a series of films and panel discussions related to the environment. Our next movie is Aftermath: The World After Humans. Please join us on Thursday, June 19th, 7:00 pm at the King City Library for our screening of "Aftermath: The World After Humans". After thousands of years supporting humankind, what would happen to the world if we all suddenly disappeared? Not dead, just gone. Cars on the streets without drivers, no one to fix the bridges, no one to water the lawns... Using animation and CGI, Aftermath shows us a world no human being will ever see. By exploring how the world would get along without us, we discover surprising insights into how the world works with us - and what keeps it from falling apart. There is no charge for any of the evenings.

Recent Events

We've had a raft of events in the past few weeks and it's time for a roundup. Chimney Swift Monitoring In early May we'll start to monitor the locations we've identified in Schomberg as likely places for Chimney Swifts to live. If you can spare an hour or two, please let us know. Call Mary Asselstine at 905-859-0056 x 5226 during the day or 905-939-7544 during the evening .

Dufferin Marsh Frog Watch The Frogwatch is underway. So far this year we've identified chorus frogs, peepers, leopard frogs, toads and wood frogs. Once the data is collected and analysed (how many frogs, what type and if there was an increase or decrease from previous years) we'll post the information here.

Bird Box Building for Kids On Saturday April 19th (after the cleanup at the Marsh) we worked with the Schomberg Lions to build and mount a number of bird boxes in the Marsh. The Lions provided the wood and tools, as well as help mounting the boxes when the kids were finished. We were delighted to see that less than a hour after mounting the first boxes, birds were already investigating them! A wonderful set of images (taken by Lion Steve Fisher) can be found on the Schomberg Lions website.

Dufferin Marsh Cleanup It's astonishing how much garbage collects on the roads that traverse the Marsh during the winter. This spring was the worst in memory, with huge piles of garbage and (worse) material that could have easily been recyled. We pulled coffee cups, plastic bags, cardboard and many, many 'water bottles' from the ditches and in the Marsh area. We recycled as much as possible, and collected the pop cans for donation to the Lions Club pop can drive. Thanks to everyone who participated, including Mayor Margaret Black, and Councillor Bill Cober. Of course, we offer our special thanks to Grackle Coffee for providing the coffee.

Bird Banding Workshop Despite worrying indications of rain on Friday night, Saturday morning dawned bright and dry, so the bird banding was able to take place. Chris Risley (from the MNR, Peterborough) and Erica Nol (Biology Professor, Trent University) drove in from Peterborough on Friday and were up in the Marsh bright and early on Saturday morning. They set up three nets and over the course of a few hours, caught and banded four different birds.

Looking forward to May and June

We have a busy spring coming up, and here are a few of the events you might be interested in. We'll have more information on each of these in the coming weeks.

• Green Building Workshop at Kortright - May 10th
• Dufferin Marsh meeting at Grackle Coffee Co. on Main St. - May 13th, 8:00 pm
• Oak Ridges Trail, Dufferin Marsh Sidetrail Opening - June 7th
• Dufferin Marsh Wine Tasting - June 14th
• Movie - Aftermath: The World After Humans - June 19th

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