A LINE – ORANGEVILLE-FERGUS 1 WEST-CENTRAL (GARAFRAXA WOODS AND AREA)

County of Dufferin NAI Area # 143 Credit Valley Conservation Authority Township of East Size: 84 hectares Watershed: Credit River Garafraxa Con B, Lots 1-3 Ownership: 70% private, Subwatershed: Shaw’s 30% public (Credit Valley Creek Conservation)

General Summary Much of this large natural area is swamp with groundwater seepages that join together to form the headwaters of a tributary stream feeding into Shaw’s Creek. The area is generally compact in shape although there are some interruptions in the natural vegetation. Until recently, the natural area was larger, having been fragmented by residential development at the expanding edge of Orangeville. This fragmentation has isolated several small natural habitat patches. Thus this area serves as a source for recolonization when damage occurs to smaller more isolated areas. This area has excellent connectivity with other large natural areas to the west and south. Species here tend to have northern affinities. Breeding bird biodiversity is high and the area supports rare vegetation communities and species. Additional rare plant species would likely be encountered when full botanical inventory work is done.

NAI ELC surveyors and ornithologists inventoried vegetation communities and breeding birds and made incidental observations of other fauna and flora (Table 1), covering 36% of the natural area (determined by access permission). With respect to the NAI core inventories (vegetation communities, plants, breeding birds), this area is not considered data-complete. A full botanical inventory remains as a data gap. However, the ELC crew recorded plant species they encountered during their work. Fish species were not inventoried.

Table 1: NAI Field Visits Visit Date Inventory Type 16 June 2008 Fauna 19 June 2008 ELC 17 June 2008 ELC 20 June 2008 ELC 18 June 2008 ELC 09 July 2008 Fauna

Natural Feature Classifications and Planning Areas This natural area is part of: ESA - Caledon Lake ESA PSW - Caledon Lake Wetland Complex Greenbelt Plan – Natural Heritage System

Physical Features This area is in the Hillsburgh Sandhills physiographic region; characterized by large, rolling hills of coarse glacial sediments that deeply bury the bedrock. Soils tend to be sandy loams that support high rates of recharge to groundwater aquifers.

A tributary stream with several branches drains this natural area, flowing into Shaw’s Creek.

Date of this Site Summary: October 2011 A LINE – ORANGEVILLE-FERGUS 2 WEST-CENTRAL (GARAFRAXA WOODS AND AREA)

Human History In 1818, County of Dufferin lands were acquired as part of the second Mississauga purchase from the Mississauga First Nations. Shortly thereafter the land was laid out for land registration. The Township of East Garafraxa is today a predominantly rural community (Amaranth-East Garafraxa, 2002; County of Dufferin, 2003).

The treed vegetation communities at this site are mid-aged, indicating potential historic clearing disturbance by logging or for agriculture.

Part of this area is undeveloped Credit Valley Conservation Authority lands, known as Garafraxa Woods. The area is broadly bordered by A Line on the west and by Orangeville-Caledon Townline to the south although extension of the natural area to the roads is interrupted by residential clearings in several places. A grass airstrip protrudes deeply into the natural area. Surrounding land use is residential estate subdivisions. The lots of these subdivisions are large but the development is recent so landscaping is not yet well-established. The subdivisions have fragmented what was a larger natural area, creating eight small isolated natural patches, each surrounded by residences with manicured lots.

Vegetation Communities The general community types present are coniferous forest (11%), deciduous forest (3%), mixed forest (5%), marsh (7%) coniferous swamp (21%), deciduous swamp (3%), mixed swamp (12%), thicket swamp (6%), open aquatic (1%), cultural meadow (3%), cultural thicket (1%), cultural savannah (5%), cultural woodland (10%) and plantation (12%).

A total of 12 vegetation communities of nine different types were mapped over the 36% of this area to which the NAI ELC crew had access (see Table 2). The White Cedar - Conifer Organic Coniferous Swamp (SWC3-2) community is regionally rare.

Table 2: ELC Vegetation Communities Map Vegetation type Size in % of natural reference * hectares area Dry-Fresh White Cedar Coniferous Forest FOC2-2 (2 communities) 1.95 2.32 MAM3-1 Bluejoint Organic Meadow Marsh 1.77 2.10 MAS3-1 Cattail Organic Shallow Marsh (2 communities) 2.05 2.42 White Cedar Organic Coniferous Swamp SWC3-1 (2 communities) 6.87 8.15 SWC3-2 White Cedar - Conifer Organic Coniferous Swamp 4.11 4.87 SWM1-1 White Cedar - Hardwood Mineral Mixed Swamp 9.25 10.96 SWMM4-2 Black Ash - Conifer Mineral Mixed Swamp 0.95 1.13 SWT3-1 Alder Organic Thicket Swamp 0.85 1.01 SWT3-5 Red-osier Organic Thicket Swamp 2.35 2.79 TOTAL AREA INVENTORIED 30.15

* Note: The map reference code refers to the vegetation type shown on mapping for this area and also to the Appendix list of species typically encountered in this vegetation type.

Species Presence Vascular Plants A total of 106 vascular plant species are recorded as incidental observations in this area, of which 91 (86%) are native. Five of these species are regionally rare (Table 3).

Date of this Site Summary: October 2011 A LINE – ORANGEVILLE-FERGUS 3 WEST-CENTRAL (GARAFRAXA WOODS AND AREA)

Breeding Birds A total of 47 species of birds are recorded for this site, of which 46 (98%) are native. One of these is believed to be a visitor but the remaining 46 bird species showed some level (possible, probable, confirmed) of breeding evidence.

Interior forest habitat is present at this site, supporting four species of area-sensitive forest interior birds, namely Pileated Woodpecker Dryocopus pileatus), Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis), Black-throated Green Warbler (Dendroica virens) and Black-and-white Warbler (Dendroica caerulescens). The area also supports one species of colonial-nesting bird, Bank Swallow (Riparia riparia). Open and successional communities here provide habitat for two species of grassland birds, Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rufum) and Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus).

Butterflies and Skippers Eight species of butterflies and skippers were recorded as incidental observations, of which 7 (87%) are native. None are Species at Risk or rare.

Dragonflies and Damselflies Six species of dragonflies/damselflies were recorded as incidental observations, all of which are native. None are Species At Risk or rare.

Herpetofauna Four herpetofaunal species were recorded at this site as incidental observations, all of which are native. Wood Frog and Green Frog were heard calling during breeding season. The remaining species are a frog and a snake species.

Mammals Six common, native species of mammals were detected incidentally at this site.

Table 3: Regionally Rare Vascular Plant Species (Kaiser, 2001) Scientific name Common name S rank G rank VASCULAR PLANTS Geum rivale Purple Avens S5 G5 Lonicera oblongifolia Swamp Fly-honeysuckle S4S5 G4 Moneses uniflora One-flower Wintergreen S5 G5 Sagittaria graminea var. graminea Grassleaf Arrowhead S4S5 G5T5 Symplocarpus foetidus Skunk Cabbage S5 G5

Site Condition and Disturbances Treed vegetation communities are mid-aged and may have been historically cleared for logging or agriculture. Some ongoing fuel wood logging is evident.

This natural area is at the expanding edge of suburban Orangeville and its recent growth has resulted in subdivisions with large lots being built recently adjacent to this natural area. These subdivisions have isolated small patches of natural vegetation from the larger natural area. This fragmentation has created edge habitat out of what would have been interior forest habitat and, as the landscaping on these lots has not matured, the manicured properties may inhibit species movement.

Non-native species are occasional. There are localized occurrences of some problematic invasive species, Manitoba Maple (Acer negundo), Common Buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica) and Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria).

Date of this Site Summary: October 2011 A LINE – ORANGEVILLE-FERGUS 4 WEST-CENTRAL (GARAFRAXA WOODS AND AREA)

Trails within the CVC-owned portion of the natural area sustain light recreational use.

Some dumping of yard waste was observed associated with residences.

Ecological Features and Functions This natural area is included in Caledon Lake ESA (wetland type) and the provincially significant Caledon Lake Wetland Complex.

With forest communities greater than 4 ha and wetlands over 0.5 ha in size, this natural area has the potential to support and sustain biodiversity, healthy ecosystem functions and to provide long-term resilience for the natural system. The riparian area provides a transitional zone between terrestrial and aquatic habitats, helping to maintain the water quality of the creek and its tributaries and providing a movement corridor for plants and wildlife.

By containing a relatively high number of habitat types, this natural area has the potential for high biodiversity function, particularly for species that require more than one habitat type for their life needs. This natural area contains a regionally rare vegetation community and thus has the potential to support additional biodiversity above and beyond that found in common community types.

Linkage with the very large natural area associated with Caledon Lake, to the south across Orangeville Caledon Townline, is excellent. There is also connectivity from this natural area to the west across A Line with the highly fragmented eastern portion of the natural area associated with Wilcox Conservation Area. The eastern side of the adjacent natural area has been fragmented by recent estate residential development. The relatively close proximity of other areas of natural habitat creates above-average potential for wildlife movement between natural areas, species dispersal and recovery from disturbance, creating additional resilience for the ecosystem.

This natural area is in the upper watershed and protects the water quality and quantity of Shaw’s Creek by maintaining cool water temperatures, reducing erosion and siltation and providing flood control. It is linked to other natural areas including the large Caledon Lake natural area opposite the Townline and is part of a species movement corridor in this region.

This area contains seeps.

This area contains a regionally rare vegetation community.

This area supports five regionally rare vascular plant species.

Interior forest habitat is present here, supporting four species of area-sensitive forest interior birds. The area also supports one species of colonial-nesting bird and two species of grassland birds.

Wetlands in this natural area provide suitable habitat for amphibian breeding.

Based on the above features, this area should be evaluated to determine if significant wildlife habitat is present in accordance with the Provincial Policy Statement.

Opportunities Expanding residential development from Orangeville in this area and the nearby countryside have fragmented large natural areas and created some isolated natural habitat patches. If allowances for retaining natural corridors to link isolated natural patches are not made during these land-use

Date of this Site Summary: October 2011 A LINE – ORANGEVILLE-FERGUS 5 WEST-CENTRAL (GARAFRAXA WOODS AND AREA) changes, then opportunities can be created to raise awareness and provide guidance and support for landowners in the area to provide cover for wildlife and create habitat corridors with their landscaping. In addition, these opportunities can also deliver educational messaging about other ecological issues including invasive species.

Given development pressures in this general area, maintenance or enhancement of existing natural linkages between natural areas across roads is encouraged.

Data gaps exist for plant and fish species. A full botanical inventory of this area would complete the NAI cores inventories. Additional data gaps exist for butterflies, dragonflies/damselflies and herpetofauna. Targeted inventories for these groups, given the northern affinities of the vegetation here and presence of cold-water seepage, would likely be productive.

Literature Cited Amaranth-East Garafraxa Township and Originals – Web Design. 2002. Township of East Garafraxa. A Place To Be. Available at http://www.amaranth-eastgary.ca/ Last Accessed 06 December, 2010.

County of Dufferin. 2003. A Brief History of Dufferin County. Available at http://www.dufferincounty.on.ca/ Last Accessed 06 December, 2010.

Kaiser, J. 2001. The Vascular Plant Flora of the Region of Peel and the Credit River Watershed. Prepared for: Credit Valley Conservation, the Regional Municipality of Peel, Toronto and Region Conservation Authority.

Date of this Site Summary: October 2011 A LINE – ORANGEVILLE-FERGUS 6 WEST-CENTRAL (GARAFRAXA WOODS AND AREA)

Date of this Site Summary: October 2011 A LINE – ORANGEVILLE-FERGUS 7 WEST-CENTRAL (GARAFRAXA WOODS AND AREA)

Date of this Site Summary: October 2011