Sarah Pledge Dickson, LJI Journalist

A small group of volunteers gathered near Lawless Lake in Litchfield on Saturday morning to begin clean-up efforts on a piece of land that was recently donated to Nature Conservancy Canada (NCC).

The property, located off Route 301, is about 80 hectares large and the latest addition to a new protected site that will be managed by the conservation organization.

Marc-André Poirier, project coordinator for NCC’s Ottawa Valley chapter, was organizing the volunteers at the entrance to the property. He said the entire protected site in Litchfield is now upwards of 180 hectares, which he likened to the size of 267 soccer fields.

Poirier said that there are three main reasons land in the Pontiac needs to be protected: to conserve natural habitats for biodiversity, to protect species at risk and to ensure the creation of ecological corridors for species movement.

Portage-du-Fort resident Barry Stemshorn was one of the volunteers. He used to work as an executive at Environment Canada and has worked to help NCC acquire land in Quebec, including the land in Litchfield he was cleaning up on Saturday morning.

He has also donated land to the Nature Conservancy of Canada, which, while not connected to the land being cleared on Saturday, happened to be just across the street. He said it was an easy decision to donate his property to the cause.

“I was happy to be able to do it, and that they were interested and were willing to take responsibility for managing the property.”

One of those responsibilities includes what the volunteers were working on this weekend: cleaning up waste.

Poirier said that on many of these pieces of land that have been donated, there is a lot of human garbage. Sometimes, they even have to bring electric saws to cut through large pieces of metal so they can transport them out of the forest.

Poirier noted that the conservation efforts on this new property are focused on cleaning up, but also on protecting its diversity, the first step of which is cataloging an inventory of the wildlife found there.

He said that often, animals use these protected properties as corridors for travel. When a corridor is recognized, the NCC tries to ensure its protection so animals can safely move about their habitat.

“This effort is important when it’s for diversity and protecting vulnerable species and allowing species to travel through their habitat,” he said.