Canada South Land Trust's guiding document, the Natural Heritage Preservation Strategy, was published in June 2005 and presented to the Land Trust's directors at the Land Trust's July 7th, 2005 board meeting. The Natural Heritage Preservation Strategy compilation was funded through a generous grant from The Ontario Trillium Foundation. During the document's preparation, author and Consulting Ecologist Gerry Waldron gathered material from many sources as well as drawing upon his experience related to our natural heritage in Essex County and the Municipality of Chatham-Kent.
Artist Mary Celestino was instructed by author Gerry Waldron to prepare a series of sketches to illustrate our local natural heritage in the Natural Heritage Preservation Strategy. Graphic artist Scott Hughes designed the Natural Heritage Preservation Strategy.
The cover of the Natural Heritage Preservation Strategy features an aerial photograph by Scott Hughes of the Cedar Creek water shed which illustrates the fragmented character of our landscape in Essex County. On the back cover, a photograph of the Clear Creek Provincial Nature Reserve in early spring captures the beauty of that significant natural area in the eastern portion of the Municipality of Chatham-Kent. Photographs of Wild Hyacinth and Woodland Sunflower from Ontario Nature's Stone Road Nature Reserve illustrate the beauty of our native flowering plants.
The introduction to the Natural Heritage Preservation Strategy discusses land trusts and how these charitable conservation organizations are important as a means to protect natural heritage in perpetuity. The document describes natural heritage in Essex County and the Municipality of Chatham-Kent and efforts to identify and promote good environmental planning to preserve and restore natural heritage within Southern Ontario.
Various criteria are available to evaluate natural habitat and these have been drawn together within the Natural Heritage Preservation Strategy so that the Land Trust is able to make informed decisions regarding lands that would be appropriate for the Land Trust to have an interest in.
Various land securement options including Conservation Easements may be employed by the Land Trust to protect natural heritage with a reminder that the Land Trust embrace the Ontario Land Trust Alliance's Standards and Practices as the Land Trust works on its land transactions.
The Natural Heritage Preservation Strategy emphasizes the importance of management plans, suggesting references and resources, and monitoring to ensure that natural heritage is indeed protected.
Appendices included in the Natural Heritage Preservation Strategy are the Ontario Land Trust Alliance Standards and Practices, addresses and websites of various agencies that could aid the Land Trust in its work and maps identifying natural heritage locations in Essex County and the Municipality of Chatham-Kent.