The Kemptville Winter Woodlot Conference puts together special forest themed presentations each Wednesday at noon throughout the month of February. All presentations are virtual and free to attend.
Register to receive the Zoom link. Links will be distributed in a reminder email 1-2 days prior to the presentation. Presentations may be subject to change.
Grassland Restoration Best Management Practices
Grasslands provide us with a rich landscape that provides important ecosystem functions, such as cleansing our air, filter and store our water, capture carbon and supply sustainable grazing. Native grasslands support a wide range of wildlife habitats supporting over 200 species of plants, many birds, mammals, and a variety of insects.
Conservation of intact native grassland landscapes and successful restoration practices are critical to maintaining habitat, biodiversity and ecosystem function in a multiple-use landscape.
Val Deziel:
Val Deziel is Forests Canada Director of Restoration Programs. Val brings an incredible depth of knowledge, expertise and experience from her time in the forestry sector and with The Nature Conservancy of Canada.
After completing her degree in Restoration Ecology from Fleming College/Trent University, Val started her career as a tree planter with the Ganaraska Conservation Authority in 2008, adding forest cover to increase forest interior habitat, windbreaks and new plantation blocks primarily on private and corporate lands within the Northumberland and Clarington Municipalities.
In over a decade at The Nature Conservancy of Canada, Val protected, augmented and conserved tracts of forests adjacent to large partner blocks such as the Northumberland County Forest and the Ganaraska Forest. She was also responsible for habitat stewardship, community engagement and partnership building, with a focus on restoring tallgrass prairie communities in the Rice Lake Plains. Val led teams that turned remnant, degraded patches of tallgrass woodland, savannah and prairie into flourishing expanses of native habitat. Along the way, she helped hundreds of volunteers, students and community members explore, learn and protect these amazing natural features and better understand the techniques used to restore these rare ecosystems.
