The Kensington Conservancy's staff are the backbone of the organization. They work tirelessly every year to ensure that our nature preserves and conservation easements are taken care of and new ones are created. They help educate the local community about good stewardship practices and nature. They complete all the behind-the-scene tasks that are required to keep a charitable organization operating smoothly. We need your financial support to ensure that our staff can continue their conservation work in the St. Joseph Channel area. 

​Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Read below to see what each staff member's highlights were from 2022:

Executive Director
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There were so many highlights for me in 2022, it'll be hard to only list a few. On our first site visit to the Gravel Point Preserve after the acquisition become official, we came across a moose. It was both magical and nerve-racking being so close to one. While Corinne did the heavy lifting with the bat program, I was amazed at how successful it was. We had almost 60,000 records, when I thought a few dozen would have been successful. Being able to use one of the handheld bat recorders to detect bats flying overhead in real time was pretty neat as well. I also got to actually be in a true parade for the first time in my life this year. It brought a smile to my face to see how excited the kids got when they realized I had candy to throw at them.

Some of the most memorable days this summer involved getting out in the boat and exploring the St. Joseph Channel. I've spent my whole life being out on the water around here, but I still never get tired of it. I am thankful that I have the opportunity to help conserve and protect the area so that everyone will hopefully be able to have the same experiences in perpetuity.  ​

Land Stewardship Coordinator
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The biggest highlight for me this year was definitely the acquisition of our new nature preserve at Gravel Point. It was exciting to see the project finalized and come together after many years of planning. To witness the generosity and passion for conservation from the people involved was truly inspiring. I am so happy that we also got a start on the hiking trail network thanks to the dedication of our volunteers. It is so great to be able to have public access to this beautiful property.

Another highlight for me was the development of two brand new monitoring programs, the community based water quality monitoring program and the bat monitoring program. It was a huge learning experience to set up these programs and I was very encouraged by the positive feedback and interest from our supporters. I look forward to continuing these programs and expanding them in the coming year.

Office Manager
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With so many things to choose from its hard to pick just one highlight from the year, but I think it would have to be the acquisition of the Gravel Point Preserve. It's nice to know that such a beautiful piece of land will be protected forever and I can't wait to see how it continues to develop over the coming years as more trails are built so it can be fully enjoyed. This is truly what being a land trust is all about.

Besides seeing land protected, it's also nice to be such a big part of the community. From activities for kids like the Explorer Summer Day Camp and TKC Junior Explorers to educational programming like the webinar series, there is always something interesting happening and I have personally learned a lot over the last couple years since I became a part of the team. Projects like the bat monitoring, water quality monitoring and trail camera study are exciting ways to contribute to wildlife data in the area. I also really enjoy the Christmas Bird Count each year as we watch our feeders as a family recording what we see. I look forward to the future as we continue to grow as environmental stewards in the area.

We had the privilege of having two wonderful students work with us this summer. Roxane joined us a Field Technician in May and Bella joined us as a Community Education Coordinator in July. ​

If you missed it during our end-of-summer newsletter, Roxane and Bella both wrote a recap of their experiences and highlights working for TKC this past summer, which can be read at the link below.

We cannot do this without you. Your financial support gives us the resources to be able to conduct our conservation and education work every year. Please consider donating to our ongoing annual campaign. 

To be eligible for a 2022 charitable tax receipt, all donations must be received (or dated/postmarked) by December 31, 2022. 

In 2022, there were over 1,300 people who participated in TKC events, plus there were likely thousands more who we reached through community outreach and social media. It is great to see how many individuals care about protecting nature and biodiversity in the area and want to be more involved in doing so. You can help us continue to engage and educate by making a donation to our annual campaign. 

​Below are some details of our 2022 education and outreach highlights.

A ton of fun was had during the Explorer Summer Day Camp this summer. This is a week long day camp for youth aged 8 to 12. We had a full group of 20 kids who enjoyed canoeing, archery, crafts, hiking, photography, and more. We can't wait for next year's camp!

The camp is run in partnership with the St. Joseph Island Hunters and Anglers Association. ​

​Throughout 2022, we led over 25 different hikes, snowshoes, paddles, and nature outings. These were all free of charge for anyone to participate in. We were able to take in some fantastic views, see a variety of interesting plants and wildlife, and made many new friends along the way. We'll have many more outings planned for 2023!

​This summer, we participated in as many community events as we could. We entered the parades for the community nights in Desbarats, Richards Landing, and Hilton Beach. We had information tables up at Arts at the Dock and the Hilton Beach Classic Car Show. We had kids activities at The Great Northern Ontario Roadshow in Richards Landing and the St. Joseph Island Lions Club 50th Anniversary Community Celebration in Hilton Beach. All of this allowed us to reach a wide variety of people within the community and introduce them to our conservation work. 

After two years without this program due to COVID-19, we were excited to be able to bring it back this summer. TKC Junior Explorers is for youth aged 4 to 10 and their families. We meet twice a week during July and August and have a variety of fun and educational outdoor and nature related activities. ​

We conducted seven different webinars in 2022. The topics covered included bird counts, local Indigenous history, invasive species, bats, water quality monitoring, growing native plants, and geology. ​

If you have any suggestions for a topic that you would like to see covered by a future webinar, let us know!

​The Sustain Algoma Expo was another event impacted by COVID-19, but returned this year with great success. Over 25 vendors participated and highlighted the work they are doing or products they are offering to make the Algoma District more environmentally sustainable.

We cannot do this without you. Your financial support gives us the resources to be able to conduct our conservation and education work every year. Please consider donating to our ongoing annual campaign. 

To be eligible for a 2022 charitable tax receipt, all donations must be received (or dated/postmarked) by December 31, 2022. 

In 2022, we acquired a new nature preserve and opened a hiking trail on it, launched two new monitoring programs, documented a wide variety of plant and wildlife species in our area, and monitored our protected properties. We were fortunate to have some of this success supported by public and private grants, but much of it is still funded by the generosity of our local community. Please consider making a donation to help us continue our work. Thank you for supporting us!

​Below are some details of our 2022 conservation highlights.

Our biggest conservation highlight this year was the acquisition of the Gravel Point Preserve. This 278-acre property, located just south of Hilton Beach on St. Joseph Island, is a mix of forest and wetlands that is home to an abundance of plant and wildlife species. We encourage you to take a hike on the newly-opened 1.5km hiking trail to see this nature preserve for yourself.

We'd like to once again thank everyone who made this happen. The general support and positive feedback has been tremendous.

Last year, we noticed there were no bat observations recorded on any of our protected properties. This was understandable given their nocturnal behaviour and drastic population declines. We were sure they must be living on our nature preserves, so we put out ten stationary bat recorders in various locations to find out which species might be present. We were blown away with the number of recordings we collected! We ended up with nearly 60,000 recordings, which is tens of thousands more than we ever expected. Once we go through and verify the data, we will host a webinar to go over the results. Stay tuned.

​A big thank you goes out to Evolugen and TD Friends of the Environment for providing funding for this project. We'd also like to thank the Sault Ste. Marie Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry office for lending us three additional bat recorders and to Capstone Infrastructure for donating four bat boxes.

Our location at the heart of the Great Lakes makes us perfectly situated to promote the protection and conservation of the freshwater resources that surround us. In order to know if there are changes to local water quality, we need to have some baseline data to compare it to in the future. This year, we recruited volunteers to collect water quality data at various lakes and streams in the area. Our volunteers tested water temperature, pH, chlorine, hardness, alkalinity, conductivity and clarity with easy to use testing kits. In total, 79 water quality observations were collected from 26 different locations. We look forward to expanding this program in 2023 and will be recruiting more volunteers be a part of it.

​Thank you to Lake Huron North for funding this program.

We use iNaturalist to keep track of plant and wildlife species that we find on our protected properties. iNaturalist provides a great platform for us to organize all of the data. The data also becomes available for other scientists and conservationists to use for their work.

​This year, staff and volunteers submitted almost 2,500 observations for 745 species. We surpassed the 10,000 observation mark this year for all-time observations and have now recorded a total of 1,337 species.

Thanks to funding from Evolugen and Lake Huron North, we now have a total of 18 trail cameras out on our protected properties. Mammals are often hard to detect during in-person monitoring sessions, so trail cameras are a very valuable tool for collecting data. Every time we check to see what's been captured, there's usually something exciting to be found. Below are just a few of the many highlights from this year.

Once we acquire a nature preserve or conservation easement for protection, our work is far from over. We have an obligation to ensure that they stay in great ecological health and are free from any disturbances. Staff and volunteers conduct formal monitoring visits to each protected property a minimum of once a year.

We're happy to report that all of our monitoring obligations were completed for 2022 and no major ecological disturbances were noted. If you are interested in conducting monitoring with us in 2023, you can sign up to be a volunteer here.

We cannot do this without you. Your financial support gives us the resources to be able to conduct our conservation and education work every year. Please consider donating to our ongoing annual campaign.

To be eligible for a 2022 charitable tax receipt, all donations must be received (or dated/postmarked) by December 31, 2022.