Introduction to the Rice Lake Plains

Welcome to the Rice Lake Plains and the world of habitat conservation in Canada's easternmost prairie landscape! This website will be an ongoing source of information on tallgrass prairie and savanna conservation in the area. It is a place to profile landowners and habitat projects and a way to get the word out about local tours, workshops, events and activities.

The website is brought to you by the Rice Lake Plains Joint Initiative - a partnership of local people, conservation groups and government agencies, all of whom share a vision: a landscape of protected, restored and sustainably managed tallgrass prairie and oak savanna ecosystems amid well-stewarded farmland, forest, wetland and riparian habitats of the Rice Lake Plains region. We are committed to being good neighbours in the community and to actively caring for our lands as a contribution towards a sustainable future for Northumberland County.

"A number of exquisite flowers and shrubs adorn these plains, which rival any garden in beauty. The trees, too, though inferior in size to those in the forests, are more picturesque, growing in groups or singly, at considerable intervals, giving a sort of park like appearance." Canadian pioneer writer and early Northumberland County resident Catharine Parr Traill wrote about the natural beauty of the Rice Lake Plains back in the middle of the 1830's. She was writing about a natural prairie landscape that dominated the hills in the middle of the County.

We know these habitats today as tallgrass prairie and oak savanna - ecosystems that thrive in dry, sandy conditions found in this area of the Oak Ridges Moraine. The Rice Lake Plains is home to Canada's easternmost prairie and is now the focus of a multi-partner conservation and stewardship project.

Photo by Alison Clark

Featured Property

Shelter Valley - Cold Creek Headwaters

Spring 2010 will be the one-year mark since members of the Webber family drove up from their home in New Jersey to the hills north of Cobourg, Ontario to help celebrate the creation of two new nature reserves on the Oak Ridges Moraine.  Protecting the headwaters of Shelter Valley and Cold Creeks, the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) properties harbour more than 240 hectares (600 acres) of woodland, savanna and tallgrass prairie and are a known hot-spot for grassland birds.

Last spring, donors, supporters and partners joined NCC staff in unveiling signs (one naming a tract after the Webber Family donors), sharing family experiences of the property, and savouring a steady rain that attempted, quite unsuccessfully, to dampen the high spirits. Tanesh Webber recalled her late mother's love of the property, and the decades of planting projects she tended. She also spoke of the influence the land had on her as a future artist. The family was very happy to have left a legacy in the form of a protected natural area in this beautiful landscape.

NCC’s Todd Farrell led a tour of the site, talking about the history of the landscape and pointing out various prairie species. One highlight was the discovery of one of the largest, most exquisite American Toads (Bufo americanus) ever seen in the Rice Lake Plains. At close to 11 cm from snout to warty behind, it looked almost record size. It was probably a female, as they are generally larger than males, and she was positively radiant as she climbed over raincoats and posed for pictures.

The toad created a "teachable-moment" when Todd produced life-size "scale" model of an Eastern Hognosed Snake to discuss its life cycle and interesting behaviour. Its favourite prey item just happens to be...toads! The new nature reserves will provide habitat, sanctuary and feeding sites for this threatened species. The Shelter Valley - Cold Creek Headwaters property will forever remain a natural area where tallgrass prairie will be restored and where people can get a sense of what the original prairie was like.

For information about access to the property contact Todd Farrell at   todd.farrell@natureconservancy.ca

History of Tall Grass Prairies and Rice Lake Plains

The Rice Lake Plains, one of the most intriguing areas on the Oak Ridges Moraine, is an area of roughly 100,000 acres (40,469 hectares) located at the eastern end of the moraine, southeast of Peterborough. Historically, The Rice Lake Plains were covered with tall grass prairies and oak savanna, dominated by massive Black and White Oak, where grasses like Big Bluestem, Indian Grass and Switchgrass grew more than two metres high and a diverse range of wildflowers blossomed.

Big Bluestem

Today, the oak savanna and tall grass prairie of the Rice Lake Plains are badly fragmented and overgrown with non-native species. Globally these habitats are rare, and oak savannas are considered among the most endangered ecological communities in North America. Grassland Birds and other rare species, including the Eastern Hog-nosed Snake, depend on this rare habitat to survive.

Fortunately, the stewards of the Rice Lake Plains, including private landowners, Alderville First Nation, conservation groups and governments, have taken care of the land. Pockets of natural prairie and savanna seedbed are still intact. Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) is collaborating with private landowners and conservation partners to help restore prairie and savanna in the Rice Lake Plains under the Rice Lake Plains Joint Initiative RLPJI. You can read more about the collaborative's conservation efforts in the RLPJI's publication, the Savanna Sentinel.

Cultural history also abounds on the Rice Lake Plains with links to early pioneer woman and writer Catherine Parr Traill, renowned biologist John Macoun and Canadian poet Archibald Lampman.

History of Tall Grass and Rice Lake Plains

Black Oak Savannah and Rice Lake Plains at NCC