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Nature Link

With Blake Mann

Trees in Bickford Oak Woods

Tuesday, March 11, 2003

The recently acquired woodlot near the intersection of highway 40 and Bickford Line is an ecological gem. At over 300 hectares in size, it provides interior forest habitat that is now rare in southern Ontario. It is home to many uncommon flora and fauna. It has swamps, sloughs and thickets that harbour a diverse array of wildlife. The removal of this type of habitat in the past (and present) is the reason why so many of our wildlife species have dwindled or disappeared from the local natural world. That is why Bickford Oak Woods was an important acquisition by the Nature Conservancy of Canada for preservation.
Some good quality maple-beech forest, oak-hickory forest, buttonbush and silver maple swamps are found within. One can walk for hours through the woods, and not pass through the same spot twice.
It is important for birds such as the Cerulean Warbler, Wood Thrush, Veery, White-breasted Nuthatch, Tufted Titmouse, Yellow-throated Vireo, Ovenbird and Rose-breasted Grosbeak. These species need mature interior forest to thrive. One birder recently commented that this woodlot contained the most breeding Rose-breasted Grosbeaks he had ever seen in one area.
The slough area within is quite extensive. Beavers inhabit these wet areas, and Wood Ducks have ample habitat. There is suitable habitat for the endangered Prothonotary Warbler. There is a small Great Blue Heronry, appropriately-located in a rather inaccessible site. The frogs (many species) are just "thick" in the wet spots. There is lots of room for snakes such as Fox and the various Garter.
Regarding trees, there is a wide variety and number of them. Bickford is especially known for the oaks, hence its name. Most oak species recorded in the area are in Bickford. These include Pin, Red, Bur, White, Swamp White, Chinquapin, and even Shumard. These trees are not very large in Bickford because is has been extensively logged in the past. Some day, they will be very large as long as no logging occurs. Other trees include Sycamore, the ashes, maples and several other species.
Last summer a new species was discovered. By new, I mean a new record for Canada. It is called the Swamp Cottonwood, Populus heterophylla. There are several of them in a group within a wet area. They probably grew from suckers originating from a single tree. They differ from our common Eastern Cottonwood in the shape of their leaves and characteristic bark. The Swamp Cottonwood is found in the southern States, and is not an abundant tree. A distribution map shows it mainly along the eastern seaboard, and up the Mississippi valley into Ohio and Indiana. There are some isolated records in southern Michigan. It grows in swampy areas, hence its name. The accompanying photo shows a group of Sydenham Field Naturalists members standing among the Swamp Cottonwoods in Bickford this past winter.
A website complete with distribution map and information is at:  HYPERLINK "http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/silvics_manua...la.htm"; http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/silvics_manua...ophylla.htm
Hopefully BOW will be preserved for what it is, and be managed appropriately. Destructive ATV activity is now suspended, and it will not be open as a free domain for hunters as was in the past.
As more species inventories and explorations are done, I am sure more surprising finds will be revealed in Bickford Oak Woods.