The Field Guide to the OCDSB Outdoor Education Centres Fall/ Winter/2016-2017 BILL MASON AND MACSKIMMING OUTDOOR EDUCATION CENTRE

“Getting OCDSB Students Outside!” The TD Friends of the Environment Foundation has given a generous donation to the OCDSB Outdoor Education Centres for a great “Getting Students Outside” project. The objective of this project is to give OCDSB elementary students an opportunity to explore the forests at MacSkimming Centre one day a week over a period of 6 weeks by using the Forest School Canada concepts. The Forest School Canada’s concept involves inquiry and place-based education which taps into the local environment to teach numerous curriculum subjects by exploring, learning by doing and outdoor free play. The program will be delivered by OCDSB Outdoor Education Centre educational staff who are certified with the Forest Schools program and are familiar with what the centre’s forest has to offer. TD Friends of the Environment Foundation have made possible that there will be no cost to the students attending this program. Visit us on Twitter @OCDSBoec to see what the students are doing during this project.

Photo taken by Bill McMullen at MacSkimming 2016

Cross-country Skiing & Snowshoeing Program @ Bill Mason Centre This winter day program introduces Grade 4 to 12 students to these two great winter activities. Students have lengthy opportunities to actively explore the forests of Bill Mason Centre while gaining their comfort level on the groomed trails. They will probably feed a chickadee or two along the way. The program is available from January to March Break. For information, availability or to book a program, please call the OCDSB Outdoor Ed Centres’ office at 613-833-2080

Bill Mason Centre’s “Open Trails” event will take place on April 29th, 2017.

Explore, Experience, Appreciate and Learn

Les Mycologues & Ottawa Field Naturalist’s Fungus Hike During MacSkimming’s “Open Trails” event on October 1st , Ottawa Field Naturalist Club (OFNC) worked in conjunction with Les Mycologues amateurs de l'Outaouais (MAO) to guide a fungus hike and explore. The MAO is a mushroom-specific club that is primarily active on the Quebec side of the Ottawa River. Their main mandate is the education of the fungi flora of the area and the recognition of the importance of fungus to the maintenance of environmental sustainability. Brett Stevens led for the OFNC & MAO and Yolande Dalpé led for MAO. After exploring the woods for a couple of hours, participants returned with baskets overflowing with mushrooms. It was a stunning harvest! The MAO group had placed laminated images of mushrooms on the tables which facilitated grouping and the initial identification of the harvest. Yolande and Brett worked with the participants to identify the mushrooms. The two club members and the public found and identified over 118 species of fungus from the forests of MacSkimming Centre. The species list was organized by Yolande Dalpé. Thank you to the members of the Ottawa Field Naturalist Club and Les Mycologues amateurs de l'Outaouais for organizing, identifying and leading this popular event! ofnc.wordpress.com/2016/10/21/mushrooms-of-macskimming-2/

James McDonald

Bill McMullen

James McDonald

Fisher taken by photographer Bob Orpana on September 6th, 2016 at Bill Mason Outdoor Education Centre

Unfortunately after three great years at the OCDSB Outdoor Education Centres, The Environmental Leaders of Tomorrow Program has come to an end! The purpose of the program was to inspire and develop the next generation of environmental leaders by engaging students in immersive, hands-on, environmental experiences. Over the last three years, 339 OCDSB Grade 6 students (22 classes) participated in this wonderful program. As part of this program, a biodiversity grant was included to give financial support for OCDSB schools to increase the plant and animal biodiversity around their school and create natural learning areas. The following OCDSB elementary school successfully applied The Environmental Leaders of Tomorrow biodiversity grant to their school yards: W.E. Gowling Public School planted several large trees around their school yard Hawthorne Public School created a pollinator garden beside their school York Street Public School built bird houses, pulled Jerusalem artichoke and planted a butterfly garden Regina Street Public School naturalized their courtyard and also planted native plant and shrub garden Special thank you to the The W. Garfield Foundation, The Living City Foundation and the Toronto Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) and the Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG) for providing so many great opportunities for many Grade 6 students in the OCDSB. Thank you also goes out to the following individuals who made this program a great success: Amy Thurston-TRCA

Mary Anne Dugmore-OCDSB

Nancy McGee-TRCA

Karen Wittwer-OCDSB

Pino Buffone-OCDSB

Kim Lebrun-OCDSB

Chris McGarvey-OCDSB Nicole Hamley-TRCA

Gordon Carter

Darryl Gray-TRCA

Morlen Reynolds

Cheryl Land– Bytown Catering

Tom Thistle-OCDSB

Karin Davidson Taylor– RBG

Betty Vaillancourt-OCDSB

It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Harris Gibson on June 6th, 2016. Harris Gibson was one of the co-founders of MacSkimming Outdoor Education Centre and taught as a teacher for a number of years at the Centre. He also made a name for himself here at the Centre and across the former Ottawa Board of Education, for his love of bird banding & honey bees. Harris

Eunice He kept a large number of hives around the Centre. That is why one of the MacSkimming Centre’s small classroom is called

“The Harris Gibson Apiary”. Harris passed away unexpectedly in hospital in Perth surrounded by his wife Eunice and his loving family.

He was an excellent teacher! He had such a gift of knowledge and was so patient with the children. His contribution to MacSkimming Centre was unmeasurable!

This spring and summer, local photographers Bill McMullen and James MacDonald visited MacSkimming Centre when the students were away, to take pictures of the site and its wildlife. Here are a couple pictures that they took around the Centre:

James McDonald

Bill McMullen James McDonald

Bill McMullen

James McDonald

Bill McMullen James McDonald

James McDonald

James McDonald

From top left to bottom right: Blue heron, gilled fungus, snapping turtle, meadow hawk dragonfly, pine warbler, bullfrog, barn swallow, common yellowthroat & blue-winged teals.

What happened this summer & fall at the Centres! On June 7th, Grade 3 students from Steve MacLean Public School were interrupted during their soil horizon activity by two very curious snowshoe hares in the meadow at Bill Mason Centre. The hares were very interested in what the students were doing. On June 15th, Grade 1 students from Kars on the Rideau P.S. found all three stages of eastern newt during their Needs of Living Things program at Bill Mason Centre. On June 21st, Grade 3 students from Broadview P.S. discovered and examined a rare colony of wood lilies in bloom during their Plants and Soils Program at Bill Mason Centre. On June 23rd, Grade 3 students from Kars on the Rideau P.S. picked and ate wild strawberries during their Plants and Soils Program at Bill Mason Centre. On July 21st, Adventure campers from Dovercourt Recreation Centre got a close look at a bald eagle through a spotting telescope as it sat on a dead tree over the Ottawa River at MacSkimming Centre. The campers tried to paddle up to the eagle in canoes but it flew away.

Red eft stage of an eastern newt

On September 13th, two Glebe Collegiate Institute's Outdoor Education class's students were pursued by a monarch butterfly during their orienteering activity. The butterfly was determined to follow them through most of the orienteering course. The students are OK! On September 19th, while practicing their canoeing at MacSkimming Centre, an Outdoor Education class student from Lisgar Collegiate Institute accidentally startled a large long-nosed gar fish with their paddle. The fish was so surprised, it jumped into their canoe. On September 23rd, Grade 7 students from Ahlul-Bayt Islamic School found this weird colored large-toothed aspen leaf while exploring during their Interactions within Ecosystems program at MacSkimming Centre.

Wood Lilies at Bill Mason

On September 30th, Grade 6 students from Sir Winston Churchill Public School did a great job on developing their own classification system of the fungus they found while exploring the forest at MacSkimming Centre.

On October 3rd, Ottawa Technical Secondary School students took part in the leadership program at MacSkimming Centre. They started their day with a smudge ceremony led by Kris Meawasige from the OCDSB's FNMI Education Team. Large-toothed Aspen

On October 12th, Grade 2/3 students from Centennial Public School discovered a small puff ball, touched slimy orange jelly fungus, ran through the woods and howled like coyotes during their visit to MacSkimming Centre. On October 19th, Grade 7 students from Huntley Centennial Public School made the discovery of wolf slime mold, and how fun it is to squish the immature fruiting bodies to make them squirt pink slime during their Interactions within Ecosystems program at Bill Mason Centre. On October 24th, OCDSB staff in the Personal & Professional Leadership Program tested their team-building skills by bobsledding and guiding each other, blind-folded through the forest at MacSkimming Centre. Sir W. Churchill P.S.’s

On October 26th, the secondary students from the OCDSB Student Senate performed Fungus Classification Chart trust falls from a tree stump during their team-building workshop at MacSkimming Centre.

Fuzzy

Fuzzy and Spinny During the spring and summer of 2016, Bill McMullen and James McDonald followed a pair of barred owls named “Millie & Mac“ and their family of two owlets around the Pioneer Village at MacSkimming Centre. The owlets were called Fuzzy and Spinny, Bill and James named the owls. The owlets grew at an astonishing rate, nurtured by MacSkimming Centre’s bounty of short-tailed shrews, hermit thrushes and wood frogs. During this spring’s Nature Canada Bioblitz at MacSkimming, Bill McMullen guided about 40 excited individuals to the location of Millie & Mac’s nesting site. Bill showed the group how to call for barred owls and called a number of times over a 15 minute time frame. But to the audience surprise and Bill’s keen eyes, the crowd have watched by the owl family, the entire time of their visit. One evening this summer, James McDonald was collecting owl feathers near Millie and Mac’s nesting tree. Millie must have been watching because a few moments later, she flew across his path and perched a short distance away with a feather in her bill to donate to his collection! Around mid September, a very large great horned owl moved into the forest at MacSkimming Centre and shortly after its arrival, one of the barred owl owlets disappeared. Millie, Mac and one of the this year’s owlets are still continuing to make unscheduled appearances to the students visiting the centre. To see some more pictures of the barred owl family go to: www.billmcmullenphotography.com

Millie with her donation

The Field Guide to the OCDSB Outdoor Education Centres WILD ROOTS NATURE & FOREST SCHOOL @ MACSKIMMING CENTRE Wild Roots Nature and Forest School Program begins at MacSkimming Outdoor Education Centre on Monday, November 7th, 2016! The Forest School philosophy will be used as the mentoring model, allowing for a complete nature immersion program for preschool children ages 2.5-5 years. The six week session runs until December 14th. The Wild Roots program is looking forward to sharing adventures in the forest with your child.! For registration information check them out on Facebook or email at [email protected] Special thank you to Jeewanthi Mendis (member of the Ottawa Field Naturalist Club) for donating a series of beautiful field guides and nature-based books to the OCDSB Outdoor Education Centres. The books will be available for students to use as learning tools when they attend and explore the outdoor education centres.

Yellow Ladyslippers at BMC

These unique items below were donated by Ann Alexander and her family for the Grade 3-Life in Early Canada Program at MacSkimming Centre These items are from their family farm next door to MacSkimming Centre and were donated just before they moved from their farm to Malawi, Africa. We wish them luck in their new adventure! Wooden pulley

Ice saw Bow saw Wooden sled Gisele Moreau from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada donated a French and English copy of A Biodiversity Treasure –official plant emblems of Canada to the OCDSB Outdoor Education Centres This book discusses the biodiversity of plants across Canada and how familiar plants are important symbols to our culture as a country. Each provincial and territorial flower and tree is analyzed on their ecology, classification, conservation status and how the plant was used by the First Nations, Metis and Inuit.

Small purple fringed orchid at BMC

This past school year, Bill Mason & MacSkimming Centre received the Ontario Ecoschools certification of Silver.

The OCDSB’s 497 Acre Classroom OTTAWA-CARLETON DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD

Family Snowshoeing Workshops at MacSkimming Centre Family Snowshoe and Animal Tracking January 28th, 2017- (10:30am to 1:00pm) Explore the snowy forest with your family on a guided snowshoe hike. Along the trails we will look and listen for signs of animals and stop for lunch around an outdoor fire. 4 km total distance will be covered. Snowshoes are provided or you can bring your own. Hot dogs are provided. Fee is $15.00 per person. Please bring water/hot drink, and a snack. Snowshoe Under the Stars February 25th, 2017-(6:00pm to 8:30pm)

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Experience the outdoors at night during a guided moonlit snowshoe and s'more cookout. The evening will begin with an introduction to snowshoeing before we head out onto the forest trail. 4 km total distance will be covered. Snowshoes are provided or you can bring your own. Adults and children welcome (best suited for those age 8 and older, and must be accompanied by an adult). Fee is $15.00 per person. S'mores are provided. Please bring a headlamp or flashlight, water/hot drink, and a snack. Look at the OCDSB Outdoor Education Centres website for registration: www.ocdsboutdooreducationcentres.ca “To catch the reader's attention, place an interesting sentence or quote f rom the story here.”

BLACK– LEGGED DEER TICKS! On September 29th, Teams from Ottawa Public Health searched for black-legged deer ticks around the forest & trails at both OCDSB Outdoor Education Centres (Bill Mason & MacSkimming Centre). The black-legged tick carries the Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria which can cause Lyme disease. At both Centres, the Ottawa Public Health team found no deer ticks upon their inspection. Even because of this, the OCDSB Outdoor Education Centres strongly encourages all students, volunteers and teachers to wear long pants, high socks and long sleeves shirts when visiting the Centres during all seasons. When visiting the Centres, you will notice that the Centre instructors will introduce the students on how to perform “Tick Checks” and why the students should check when they spend time outside.

The deer tick population has greatly increased around the City of Ottawa so it is important to educate ourselves and what to do when we find them. For more information about Lyme disease please call Ottawa Public Health at 613-580-6744 or visit www.ottawa.ca/health OCDSB Outdoor Education Centres- Bill Mason and MacSkimming Centres Phone: 613-833-2080, Fax: 613-833-0770 Email: [email protected] Website; www.ocdsboutdooreducationcentres.ca Twitter: @OCDSBoed