History and Milestones

About

The Federation of Ontario Naturalists was officially created on May 15, 1931 with a total of 7 affiliated clubs and 28 individual members. We have come a long way since then and are proud of how our legacy has shaped conservation in the province.

Our vision is an Ontario where nature inspires and sustains us for generations to come. We are the voice for the protection of wild species and wild spaces in Ontario.

2022

• Delivered a nature-based climate solutions workshop about Forest Stewardship Council candidate protected areas.
• Won our legal intervention about protecting piping plovers at Sauble Beach.
• Planted more than 750 trees at Sydenham River Nature Reserve, and completed snake surveys at Stone Road Alvar Nature Reserve to monitor the effects of our prescribed burn.
• Made a submission to Kingston’s Planning Committee opposing a proposal to seek a Minster’s Zoning Order (MZO) to enable development on a Provincially Significant Wetland, which influenced the recommendation not to seek an MZO.
• Published our Beginners Guide on Measuring Carbon stocks to Support Conservation and ran a webinar.
• Endorsed a letter promoting National Marine Conservation Areas.
• Stood up against Bill 23, gathering over 14,000 signatures.

2020

• We published a joint report about Protected Areas and Climate Action in Ontario: A Cross-Cultural Dialogue.
• We created of a wheelchair accessible trail, with features for visually impaired people, at Cawthra Mulock Nature Reserve. 
• We purchased our newest property, the Gananoque Lake Nature Reserve.
• Our Youth Council and the Youth Circle for Mother Earth hosted our first virtual Youth Summit for Mother Earth.
• With the Canadian Environmental Law Association and others, we are challenging the government’s non-compliance with the Environmental Bill of Rights in light of the passage of Bill 197.
• Represented by Ecojustice and partnering with Environmental Defence, we are suing the government over its unlawful use of a Minister’s Zoning Order to force through development on the provincially significant Duffins Creek wetlands complex. 

2018

• We took the federal government to court over neonicotinoid pesticide linked to declining pollinator populations.
• Our recommendations helped guide the province’s new wetland conservation strategy.
• Starfish Canada named three members of our Youth Council top 25 under 25 environmental leaders.
• Money Sense ranked Ontario Nature as one of the top 10 environmental charities in Canada for 2018.
• The Ontario Reptile and Amphibian Atlas received 435,236 records from citizen scientists.

2016

• We protected a piece of the Sydenham – one of Canada’s most biodiverse waterways – by creating the Sydenham River Nature Reserve.
• Our Youth Council held 9 planting events, planting close to 2,000 pollinator-friendly plants with the help of over 200 volunteers.
• We saw the Province commit to growing the Greenbelt into 21 Urban River Valleys and seven coastal wetlands.
• We led over 60 outreach and education events in northern and southern Ontario, focused on reptile and amphibian conservation.
• We reached over 360,000 records of reptiles and amphibians in the atlas database and created new dynamic maps to track sightings in real time.
• We played a key role in Forest Stewardship Council processes, including audits of local forests and the development of the new national standard.

2014

• Ontario Nature ensures that the revised Provincial Policy Statement 2014 includes a requirement to identify natural heritage systems across southern and eastern Ontario.
• As part of the Cornerstone Standards Council, a voluntary certification system, Ontario Nature works with industry leaders, environmental organizations and community stakeholders to approve the Responsible Aggregate Standard, setting the bar for sound environmental and social practices.
• Ontario Nature’s Youth Council launches its pollinator campaign and delivers over 1,200 signed postcards to Queen’s Park.
• Ontario Nature adds 40 hectares to its Lost Bay Nature Reserve, a biodiversity hotspot of mature forests and provincially significant wetlands on the Frontenac Arch.
• The Nature Network exceeds 150 member groups.
• Ontario Nature releases the short film Caribou Forever, documenting the need to protect the St. Raphael forest in northern Ontario as caribou habitat.
• In collaboration with partner organizations in Thunder Bay, Ontario Nature launches a short film Energy East pipeline: Our risk, their reward.
• Ontario Nature publishes Beyond the Fields: The Value of Forest and Freshwater Foods in Northern Ontario and Best Practices Guide to Natural Heritage Systems Planning.

2012

• Ontario Nature secures two new properties that together protect almost 80 additional hectares forever: Sauble Dunes Nature Reserve at the base of the Bruce Peninsula, and Reilly Bird Nature Reserve in the upper Ottawa Valley. These acquisitions bring the total number of Ontario Nature Nature Reserves to 24.
• Ontario Nature launches the Ontario Reptile and Amphibian Atlas smart phone app that allows people to easily identify reptiles and amphibians in the field and submit their sightings.
• Ontario Nature leads successful collaborative effort to persuade the government to remove proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act that would have dramatically weakened the law.
• Ontario Nature publishes Protecting Greenbelt Wetlands: How Effective is Policy? with Ducks Unlimited Canada, Ecojustice and Earthroots.
• Ontario Nature publishes The Road To Extinction: A call to end the snapping turtle hunt with the David Suzuki Foundation and the Kawartha Turtle Trauma Centre.

2010

• Ontario Nature hosts its first annual Youth Summit for Biodiversity and establishes the Ontario Nature Youth Council, with members from communities across Ontario.
• In partnership with the Bruce Trail Conservancy, Ontario Nature protects Malcolm Bluff Shores – a 423 hectare property on the Niagara Escarpment.
• Ontario Nature plays a lead role in the collaborative effort to protect Ontario’s boreal forest, resulting in the passing of the Far North Act, 2010.
• Ontario Nature collects more than 5,500 signatures on a Biodiversity Charter for Ontario in the International Year of Biodiversity and submits it to the provincial government.
• Working with Ecojustice, Ontario Nature launches a court case against a property manager whose office building complex killed or injured thousands of birds through collisions with windows.

2008

• Working in partnership with the Boreal Songbird Initiative and other conservation groups, Ontario Nature helps collect 60,000 signatures petitioning the federal government to protect the boreal forest, described as a songbird nursery.
• As part of Campaign Lake Simcoe, Ontario Nature helps to secure passage of the Lake Simcoe Protection Act, 2008 to curb urban development and improve the water quality of the lake.
• Ontario Nature plays lead role in the formation of the ALUS Alliance, to create broad support for the Alternative Land Use Services approach to incentivizing habitat creation on farmland.

2006

• Ontario Nature proudly celebrates its 75th anniversary.
• Ontario Nature plays a lead role in securing the new Provincial Parks and Conservation Reserves Act, 2006.
• Ontario Nature collects 1,500 letters asking the Province for a new Endangered Species Act.
• Ontario Nature submits 1,200 postcards to the provincial government asking for boreal forest protection.

2004

• FON renames itself Ontario Nature to refresh its image.
• Seasons magazine becomes ON Nature.
• Ontario Nature launches the Southern Ontario Greenway Strategy.
• Ontario Nature publishes Birds on the Farm to promote bird-friendly farming practices.

2002

• FON launches its Smart Growth campaign and publishes A Smart Future for Ontario: How to Protect Nature and Curb Urban Sprawl in Your Community.
• FON and allies ensure that mining activities are excluded from hundreds of new protected areas in Ontario.
• Working for Wilderness is relaunched as the Ontario Nature’s Volunteer for Nature program.

2000

• FON’s nature reserve system doubles in size in one year with the expansion of Altberg Nature Reserve near Peterborough and the acquisition of Baptist Harbour on the Bruce Peninsula.
• FON expands its campaign to protect the Oak Ridges Moraine and submits a joint application with other groups for a review of the laws and policies applicable to the development of the moraine.
• More than 2,500 people respond to the Oak Ridges Moraine campaign by joining FON, making a donation or becoming an Advocate for Nature.
• The Nature Network increases to 105 member groups.

1998

• Howard Krug bequeaths Kinghurst Forest, southwest of Owen Sound, to FON. At 240 hectares, Kinghurst is the best remaining fragment of old-growth upland forest in southern Ontario – protected forever as the 17th FON Nature Reserve.
• FON wins an award for Outstanding Leadership in Environmental Education from the Ontario Society for Environmental Education.
• More than 1,500 people arrive at Queen’s Park to participate in the Portage for Wilderness, a call to encourage the government to create new parks and protected areas in northern Ontario.

1996

• FON purchases Lyal Island, off the Lake Huron coast of the Bruce Peninsula, its 16th nature reserve.
• FON launches Working for Wilderness– a conservation volunteer program to protect nature in Ontario.
• FON’s Nature Network expands to 83 member groups.
• FON publishes The Jumbo Book of Nature Science and A Citizen’s Guide to Protecting Wetlands and Woodlands.

1994

• FON and its allies successfully campaign to expand Wabakimi Provincial Park (northwest of Lake Nipigon) from 155,000 to 892,000 hectares in order to encompass vital woodland caribou habitat.

1992

• Ontario’s Wetlands Policy is approved by the government after two decades of FON campaigning.

1989

• FON is instrumental in putting pressure on the government to cancel the duck hunt in Point Pelee National Park.

1987

• FON publishes the first Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Ontario, thanks to the work of more than 1,600 volunteers who contributed 180,000 hours of their time over a five-year period.
• FON’s natural heritage protection campaign results in the establishment of Bruce Peninsula National Park and Fathom Five National Marine Park.

1982

• FON acquires, relocates, and restores Goodwin House – thought to be the oldest freestanding house in North York – next to Locke House as part of its office space.
• FON develops wetlands evaluation model.

1980

• FON renames its magazine Seasons.

1978

• FON founds the Coalition on the Niagara Escarpment (CONE).

1976

• FON grows to 42 member groups.

1974

• FON’s Young Naturalist magazine becomes Owl magazine.
• FON’s Wilderness in Ontario report leads to creation of provincial wilderness parks policy.

1970

• FON grows to 10,000 members.

1967

• The Ontario Naturalist publishes an editorial titled “Polar Bear National Park,” which eventually leads to the creation of the provincial park.

1962

• FON launches the Battle of the Bulldozer campaign and raises $20,000 to purchase one of its first nature reserves, Dorcas Bay, on the Bruce Peninsula.
• FON’s volunteer-run Nature Reserves Committee leads to the creation of the Nature Conservancy of Canada.

1959

• FON launches The Young Naturalist magazine.
• Membership hits 3,000.

1956

• FON champions the protection of natural heritage on Lake Erie’s shore leading to Long Point, Turkey Point, and Hawk Cliff provincial parks.
• FON’s Nature Network grows to 32 affiliated clubs and 1,650 members.

1954

• The Ontario Parks Act is passed, largely due to the efforts of FON.

1941

• At the “Guelph Conference,” FON leaders, along with the Ontario Conservation and Reforestation Association, launch the Conservation Authority system in Ontario.

1938

• FON publishes a study of the Oak Ridges Moraine, calling for its reforestation.

1935

• FON proposes the establishment of a complete system of parks and nature reserves in Ontario.

1933

• At the first field day in Hamilton, participants identify 67 bird species.
• Clark and Nora Locke build Locke House, FON’s future home, on old Leslie Street in Toronto.

1931

• Through the hard work and dedication of early naturalists – especially A.F. Coventry, Henry Carl Nunn, J.R. Dymond, and T.F. McIlwraith – seven clubs and 28 members create the Federation of Ontario Naturalists (FON). The founding clubs were:

1. Brodie Club (Toronto)
2. Biological Club (Toronto)
3. McIlwraith Ornithological Club,  now called Nature London
4. Kent Nature Club (Chatham)
5. Hamilton Bird Protection Society, now called Hamilton Naturalists’ Club
6. Queen’s Natural History Society (Kingston)
7. Toronto Field Naturalists Club

• FON’s first president, W.E. Saunders is selected.
• A special committee urges that wildlife – game or otherwise – be considered the property of all citizens and that wildlife reserves be established.