Huron Expositor, 2014-06-18, Page 2020 Huron Expositor • Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Huron County counts
its lucky salamanders
Colleen Cirillo
Special to the Expositor
Enthusiasm can be curi-
ously catchy. Before heading
out on my first-ever bioblitz
last Saturday (June 7) in
Huron County, I was mildly
interested in reptiles and
amphibians. To be clear, I
wished these critters no
harm. In fact, I worried
about their survival in this
face of habitat fragmenta-
tion, pollution and climate
change, but I did not yearn
for encounters with them.
Enter Rachel, and Tanya,
and a team of reptile and
amphibian experts from the
Huron Stewardship Council,
Ontario Nature and Nature
Conservancy of Canada - all
with an instinctive ability to
engage newbies like myself
in the world of reptiles and
amphibians. These commit-
ted conservationists bravely
led a motley group of curi-
ous folk into the Redmond
and Rodgers County Tracts
in search of secretive sala-
manders, slithery snakes,
tiny toads and more!
We were participants of
Huron County's first-ever
bioblitz, hosted by the
Huron Stewardship Council
and Ontario Nature. A
bioblitz is an event at which
teams of volunteers find and
identify as many species as
possible in a specified area
in a 24-hour period. The
Huron event was a modified
bioblitz that ran for six hours
and focused on reptiles and
amphibians, sometimes
referred to as herpetofauna.
In Huron County, this group
of animals includes eight
frog, one toad, two salaman-
der, one newt, six snake and
five turtle species.
The sun shone brightly -
perhaps a little too brightly
- as 60 people of all ages
and skills scoured the wet
woodlots in search of rep-
tiles and amphibians. We
waded through muddy
water, rolled -over heavy
logs and listened for move-
ment in the leaf litter to
find a total of 189 individ-
ual animals representing 14
herpetofauna species. All
sightings will be entered
into the Ontario Reptile
and Amphibian Atlas and
will inform Huron County
management plans. In
addition, we were treated
to the serenade of a scarlet
tanager flitting about in the
forest canopy and the
beauty of a wildflower gar-
den on the forest floor.
The bugs were a force to
be reckoned with on this
event, but not sufficiently
enough to dampen our new-
found enthusiasm. With a
little guidance and a lot of
encouragement from the
pros, I've embraced my new
role as herpetofauna citizen
scientist. Now if only I could
learn how to say that word
correctly.
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Sr. Patricia McLean (Ursuline), left; Sr. Rosemary Albon (Loretto), Hajir Mohammed, Sr. Jean Moylan
(Sisters of St. Joseph), Sr. Mary VanHee (Loretto), Vince MacDonald, Director of Education; Dawne
Boersen, Superintendent; and former Pastor of St. Patrick's Parish in Dublin Fr. Moe Charbonneau,
take a moment to pose after the anniversary service.
Catholic School board hits 100!
A celebration of Catho-
lic education in Huron
and Perth counties was
held June 8 at St. Patrick's
Church in Dublin and the
adjoining offices of the
Huron -Perth Catholic
District School Board. A
church service attended
by more than 400 people
began the day; followed by
horse-drawn carriage
rides, live entertainment,
lunch and tours of the
board office, which was
once a convent and a Con-
tinuation (high) school
before becoming the
home of Catholic educa-
tion for Huron and Perth
in 1975.
Fr. Moe Charbonneau (left), former Pastor of St. Patrick's Parish in Dublin, gave the
commemorative blessing of the office cornerstone. Fr. Charbonneau was a surprise guest who
con -celebrated the anniversary service.
John DeKroon gave
horse-drawn carriage
rides during the
Catholic centennial
celebration June 8.