Preliminary Pages
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Recommended citation: Parks Canada Agency. 2011. Recovery Strategy for the Common Hoptree (Ptelea trifoliata) in Canada [Proposed]. Species at Risk Act Recovery Strategy Series. Parks Canada Agency. Ottawa. vi + 61 pp. For copies of the recovery strategy, or for additional information on species at risk, including COSEWIC Status Reports, residence descriptions, action plans, and other related recovery documents, please visit the Species at Risk Public Registry (www.sararegistry.gc.ca). Cover illustration: Parks Canada Agency collection. Également disponible en français sous le titre « Programme de rétablissement du ptéléa trifolié (Ptelea trifoliata) au Canada » © Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, represented by the Minister of the Environment, 2011. All rights reserved. ISBN ISBN to come Catalogue no. Catalogue no. to come Content (excluding the illustrations) may be used without permission, with appropriate credit to the source. Recovery Strategy for the Common Hoptree 2011 PREFACE The federal, provincial, and territorial government signatories under the Accord for the Protection of Species at Risk (1996) agreed to establish complementary legislation and programs that provide for effective protection of species at risk throughout Canada. Under the Species at Risk Act (S.C. 2002, c.29) (SARA), the federal competent ministers are responsible for the preparation of recovery strategies for listed Extirpated, Endangered, and Threatened species and are required to report on progress within five years. The Minister responsible for the Parks Canada Agency and Environment Canada (the Minister of the Environment) is the competent minister for the recovery of the Common Hoptree and has prepared this strategy, as per section 37 of SARA. It has been prepared in cooperation with Caldwell, Walpole Island, and Six Nations First Nations; Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, including Ontario Parks; Long Point Region Conservation Authority; Nature Conservancy of Canada; Ontario Nature; Carolinian Canada Coalition; and experts John Ambrose, Jane Bowles, and Peter Kevan. Success in the recovery of this species depends on the commitment and cooperation of many different constituencies that will be involved in implementing the directions set out in this strategy and will not be achieved by Parks Canada Agency and Environment Canada, or any other jurisdiction alone. All Canadians are invited to join in supporting and implementing this strategy for the benefit of the Common Hoptree and Canadian society as a whole. This recovery strategy will be followed by one or more action plans that will provide information on recovery measures to be taken by Parks Canada Agency and Environment Canada and other jurisdictions and/or organizations involved in the conservation of the species. Implementation of this strategy is subject to appropriations, priorities, and budgetary constraints of the participating jurisdictions and organizations. i Recovery Strategy for the Common Hoptree 2011 RECOMMENDATION AND APPROVAL STATEMENT The Parks Canada Agency led the development of this federal recovery strategy, working together with the other competent minister(s) for this species under the Species at Risk Act. The Chief Executive Officer, upon recommendation of the relevant Park Superintendent(s) and Field Unit Superintendent(s), hereby approves this document indicating that Species at Risk Act requirements related to recovery strategy development (sections 37-42) have been fulfilled in accordance with the Act. Recommended by: ___________________________________________________ Marian Stranak Superintendent, Point Pelee National Park of Canada, Parks Canada Agency Recommended by: ___________________________________________________ Geoffrey Hancock Field Unit Superintendent, Southwestern Ontario Field Unit, Parks Canada Agency Approved by: ___________________________________________________ Alan Latourelle Chief Executive Officer, Parks Canada Agency ii Recovery Strategy for the Common Hoptree 2011 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS A detailed species description, following recovery strategy guidelines of the day, was prepared by Dougan & Associates (2006) as part of recovery planning for Lake Erie Sand Spit Savannas in Canada. Additional background information was gathered and assembled into the recovery strategy template by James Kamstra, Melanie Croft and James MacKay of AECOM Canada (formerly Gartner-Lee). The recovery components of the recovery strategy were developed during a two-day recovery strategy writing workshop involving the following participants who provided significant input into the formation of this document: Vicki McKay, Lindsay Rodger, Gary Allen, Kim Borg and Dan Reive (PCA), Josie and Lonnie Dodge (Caldwell First Nation), Clint Jacobs and Aimee Johnson (Walpole Island First Nation Heritage Centre), Paul General (Six Nations/ Haudenosaunee Confederacy), Sandy Dobbyn and Jennifer Hoare (Ontario Parks, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources [OMNR]), Amy Brant and Karine Beriault (OMNR), Paul Gagnon (Long Point Region Conservation Authority), Mhairi McFarlane (Nature Conservancy of Canada), Maria Papoulias (Ontario Nature), Jane Bowles (University of Western Ontario), Jarmo Jalava (Carolinian Canada Coalition), John Ambrose (botanical consultant), and James Kamstra and James MacKay. Thanks are also due to workshop facilitators Steve and Cobi Sauder (KAYAK Consulting). A draft document was then assembled by James Kamstra and James MacKay. Mike Oldham, Wasyl Bakowsky, Don Sutherland, Martina Furrer, and Mikhail Paramonov (Natural Heritage Information Centre, OMNR); Rob Tervo, Amy Brant, Donald Kirk, and Allen Woodliffe (OMNR); Sandy Dobbyn; Mhairi McFarlane; Maria Papoulias and Mark Carabetta (Ontario Nature); John Ambrose; Robert Ritchie (formerly Niagara Parks Commission), Dan Lebedyk (Essex Region Conservation Authority), and Graham Buck (Ontario Stewardship) provided significant records, data layers, and/or insight into species observations. Marie Archambault (PCA) and Sandy Dobbyn, Laura Bjorgan, and Melody Cairns (Ontario Parks) are thanked for their contributions to critical habitat development on PCA and Ontario Parks’ properties respectively. Josh Keitel and Kevin Leclair (PCA) completed critical habitat and Canadian distribution mapping and extent of occurrence calculations, while Richard Pelltier (U. S. Geological Survey) determined the Canadian range extent. Allan Harris (Northern Bioscience) is thanked for his contributions to the Insect Herbivores section. Valerie Minelga (PCA) reviewed the strategic environmental assessment, now part of Appendix A. Thanks are also extended to the following reviewers for their valuable input: Marie Archambault, Briar Howes, Kent Prior, Marian Stranak, and Kara Vlasman (PCA); Lisa Isaacman, Ken Tuininga, Madeline Austen, and Krista Holmes (Canadian Wildlife Service – Ontario Region); Marie-Jose Ribeyron (Environment Canada, Headquarters); Rhonda Donley and Anita Imrie (OMNR); John Ambrose; Mark Carabetta; Sandy Dobbyn; Clint Jacobs; Jarmo Jalava; Peter Kevan (University of Guelph, Environmental Biology); Mhairi McFarlane; James MacKay; and Maria Papoulias. The recovery strategy was edited and placed into its current format by Vicki McKay. iii Recovery Strategy for the Common Hoptree 2011 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Common Hoptree (Ptelea trifoliata), designated as Threatened in Canada, is a short-lived, shade intolerant tree of diminutive stature. It is found primarily on sandy, well-drained, often dry, naturally-disturbed shorelines, in adjacent open areas, and on alvars. These habitats are naturally limited in their distribution and thus Common Hoptree is always believed to have been rare in Canada where its range is primarily restricted to the north shore of Lake Erie and the western Lake Erie islands. A few inland populations occur along historic shorelines in southern Ontario. Male and female trees, usually separate, do not occur at all sites. Pollinators are required and although the seeds are wind-borne, they do not typically travel far. The species, at the northern edge of its range, occurs in seven, naturally-fragmented core areas (Middle Island, Pelee Island, Essex County [including Point Pelee National Park], Walpole Island First Nation, Rondeau Provincial Park/Erieau, Port Burwell Provincial Park, and the Regional Municipality of Niagara). The largest occur at the east and west ends of Lake Erie, as well as on Middle and Pelee Islands in the western basin of Lake Erie. Smaller populations are scattered along the intervening Lake Erie shoreline, as well as at Walpole Island, along the Niagara River, and on historic beach ridges near Thamesville and Brantford. Thirty-five of 39 populations are extant. Of those remaining, one has been transplanted, one has been lost, and two are considered historic. Many others are of cultivated origin. The majority (possibly 96%) of Canadian trees are found in a 1.75 km2 area within the mainland portion of Point Pelee National Park. The remaining individuals can be found within a relatively small area of occupancy. Range-wide, populations appear to be in a slight decline. Primary threats include the impacts of landscape management; hyperabundant, nesting Double-crested Cormorants; insect herbivores; altered coastal processes; habitat succession; and invasive, exotic plants. The Common Hoptree population and distribution objectives are: to maintain Common Hoptree populations in the seven core areas previously mentioned, within suitable habitat types (sandy shoreline and alvar),