Why does this matter?
2015
Amphibians are very sensitive to environmental stresses, such as air and
water pollution, thus their decline or disappearance in a region may be
indicative of environmental degradation. Consequently, the presence or
absence of amphibians in marshes is a good indicator of marsh habitat
health. Similarly, certain marsh bird species require specific habitat
conditions (e.g., minimum marsh size, plant community diversity) in order
to meet their functional needs, such as breeding and foraging. These
species tend to be less tolerant of human disturbances, and so their
presence and abundance in a marsh is often indicative of the quality of
that marsh. Their sensitivity to habitat change also makes them good
indicators of the success of regional or site-specific wetland habitat
management activities.
In 2015, marshes monitored as part of Conservation Halton’s Long-Term
Environmental Monitoring Program produced varied results compared to
2014 results. The 2015 bird surveys recorded 38 species of which six were
identified as marsh obligate species (species that only occur in marshes).
The same surveys in 2014 resulted in 50 species, five of which were
identified as marsh obligate species. 2015 amphibian surveys produced
similar results, with Wood Frog, a very early breeding species, being
missed due to early spring warm up. Although the 2015 marsh monitoring
results showed a decline in species, this can likely be attributed to early
spring temperatures and survey timing required by the protocol and may
not be cause for concern at this time. Long-term monitoring will provide
further details with respect to major changes in the sites, species and
populations over time. Continued monitoring through varying climatic
conditions (i.e. early spring temperatures) will help provide further insight
as to how marsh species are adapting with climate change.
How can you help?
Wetlands provide habitat for a variety of species and various
opportunities to enjoy nature. To help protect and enhance marsh
and wetland habitats you can:
•Leave wetlands in a natural state. Don’t alter wetland features or
remove vegetation.
•Do not harass birds or frogs in the marshes, as harassment may lead
the birds to abandon their nest site or may interfere in their breeding.
Keep your dog on a leash near wetlands with breeding birds to avoid
harming nests or chasing birds from their nest site.
Take action and be part of the solution!
Be a good neighbour…Be a steward of your land.
Collectively, private landowners own the majority of natural areas in Conservation
Halton’s watershed. Each parcel of land and each individual action can make a real
difference to the health of our natural environment. Whether you own or live close to
a forest, wetland, meadow, or stream, what you do on your property can benefit or
impact these features. Good stewardship practices on your own property benefit you,
your community, and the watershed.
Conservation Halton’s Stewardship Program encourages and assists with stewardship
initiatives towards the protection, improvement, or rehabilitation of natural
areas, streams and groundwater resources on private lands. Our stewardship
program can provide technical assistance, advice and guidance, and may be able
to provide financial and volunteer assistance to private landowners for restoration,
naturalization, and environmental activities on their property. To find out more about
Conservation Halton’s Stewardship Program projects and initiatives, or to arrange a
site visit on your property with one of our Watershed Stewardship Technicians, please
call 905.336.1158 ext. 2263.
•Don’t play recordings of bird calls unless you are doing so as part of an
official survey or study. Hearing the calls of an unknown intruder too
often may cause the birds to think an intruder has moved in to claim
the area for nesting and cause them to abandon the habitat.
MONITORING
Conservation Halton’s Long-term Environmental
Monitoring Program
Conservation Halton’s Long-term Environmental Monitoring Program
(LEMP) was developed in 2005 to assess the long-term health of the
Conservation Halton watershed. The results of the program will help
guide environmental protection efforts to ensure that the watershed’s
health will be maintained or enhanced while meeting the current and
future needs of local communities.
Ecological monitoring conducted as part of Conservation Halton’s
Long-term Environmental Monitoring Program is conducted across the
entire Conservation Halton jurisdiction including the major watersheds
of Grindstone Creek, Bronte Creek and Sixteen Mile Creek as well
as fourteen smaller watersheds. It focuses on both the aquatic and
terrestrial ecosystems using biological, physical and chemical indicators of
watershed health.
This factsheet provides the details and results of marsh monitoring
completed by Conservation Halton in 2015.
•Report any alterations or destruction of wetlands to your conservation
authority.
•Get involved! Contact the Marsh Monitoring Program by visiting the
MMP website: http://www.birdscanada.org/volunteer/glmmp/ to
acquire volunteer information for monitoring a wetland near you! This
information will help our overall understanding of wetlands in our area
and the bird and amphibians that live there.
Marsh
2596 Britannia Road West
Burlington, Ontario L7P 0G3
conservationhalton.ca
40
e
3
_
^
Yaremko
Fuciarelli
Hilton
Falls
Marsh Wren


Swamp
Sparrow


Mountsberg
Robertson
Bronte
Marsh
Twiss
Road
Kerncliff
Park
Sheppard
Quarry


Virginia Rail


Sora

7
40
e


Northern Leopard Frog
American Toad

Green Frog

Fuciarelli
Waterdown
Bronte-Burloak
_
^




_
^
_
^

Clappinson Woods
Speyside
©
e
40
1
40
e
7
Red-necked
Grebe
Drumquin
MMP AMPHIBIANS
Hilton Falls
40
e
Ecological Site District
Area 2
Watercourse
Municipal Boundary
Area 3
Conservation Halton
Land Holdings
Conservation Halton
Iroquois
Watershed Areas
Burns
Area 1
Yaremko
Rattlesnake Point
Mountsberg
Glenorchy
_
^
40
e
7
This mapping was produced by Conservation Halton and should be used for information purposes only. Data sources used in its production are of varying quality and accuracy and all boundaries should be
considered approximate. Conservation Halton disclaims all responsibility for any and all mistakes or inaccuracies in the information and further disclaims all liability for loss or damage, which may result from
the use of this information. This mapping is provided as a public service and does not constitute advice or endorsement by Conservation Halton of any specific product, service, organization or agency. This map is
protected by copyright (© 2014) and may not be reproduced without written consent from Conservation Halton. Any copying, redistribution or republication the content thereof, for commercial gain is strictly prohibited.
Produced by Conservation Halton GISP under license with Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Copyright © Queens Printer 2016.
Twiss
Bronte-Burloak
Fuciarelli
6
MN
40
Clappinson Woods
_ Marsh Monitoring Sites
^
©
_
^
Marsh Monitoring Sites
Ecological Site District
Area 1
One Least Bittern, a rare
marsh obligate species that is
designated as threatened both
provincially and nationally,
was recorded at Bronte Marsh
during MMP surveys
0 0.751.5
American Toad
e
_
^
3
Waterdown
_
^
• Green Frog was heard at Mountsberg in 2015 where it had not been heard in 2014.
Leopard Frog
_
^
_
^
• Six amphibian species were heard across all MMP stations in 2015.
• One Least Bittern, a rare marsh obligate species that is designated as threatened
both provincially and nationally, was recorded at Bronte Marsh during MMP surveys
for the second year in a row.
Wildflower
North Oakville
_
^
• Due to an early spring warm-up Wood Frogs were not heard at any station in 2015.
Wood Frogs are one of the very first frogs to breed in the spring and they have a small
time frame so they were missed in 2015 because they bred and then went silent after
the weather turned again.
MMP BIRDS
3
_
_^
^
Amphibian monitoring was conducted at Conservation Halton’s four established marsh
_ EMAN Monitoring Sites
^
monitoring sites (Bronte Marsh, Hilton Falls, Mountsberg and Fuciarelli) in 2015 following
the MMP protocol. Each amphibian station was visited on three nights during the spring^
_ Forest Bird Monitoring Sites
and early summer, at which time the species present and their respective level of calling
is recorded. This gives us an understanding of what species are present at each marsh
monitoring site and the level of calling for each species during the visit. Staff can then 0 0.751.5 3 4.5 6 7.5
Kilometres
determine if species are being lost from the MMP sites, identify whether new species are
appearing, or if the level of calling is increasing or decreasing over time.
• Gray Treefrog was not heard at Hilton Falls in 2014 or 2015 although it is usually heard
there. This may be due to the weather conditions however if this species continues to
be absent in future surveys there may be cause for concern.
• The Mountsberg MMP site had the highest IMBCI score of all sites in 2015 making it
the richest monitored wetland in the watershed this year.

40

• A Bullfrog was heard at Fuciarelli where it had not been heard in 2014.
• A family of secretive Virginia Rails (marsh obligate) were observed at the newly
added Sheppard Quarry stations.

e
6
Least Bittern
What we found:
Marsh monitoring was conducted at all of Conservation Halton’s established marsh
monitoring sites in 2015 (Bronte Marsh, Hilton Falls, Mountsberg, Robertson Tract,
Twiss Road, Fuciarelli and Kerncliff Park) and one new site, Sheppard Quarry, added
in 2015. Each marsh bird monitoring station was surveyed twice during the peak
breeding season following the Marsh Monitoring Program (MMP) protocol. Data from
these visits was then used to assess a variety of metrics including richness of marsh
obligates and proportion of marsh obligates, and to determine the Index of Marsh
Bird Community Integrity (IMBCI) score for each site. Marsh obligates are species which
breed exclusively in marsh habitats. The IMBCI uses species characteristics (nesting
habitat, foraging habitat, migratory status and breeding range) and the richness of
marsh obligates to determine the health of a marsh ecosystem (DeLuca et al. 2004).

3

MN
In 2000, the Marsh Monitoring Program (MMP) was established in Conservation Halton
properties at Mountsberg, Hilton Falls and Fuciarelli. Since then the program has expanded
to Robertson, Bronte Marsh, Twiss Road, Kerncliff Park and Sheppard Quarry. Each site is
visited six times throughout the amphibian and birds breeding season; two times for bird
and three times for amphibians.
Bronte Marsh

Glenorchy
6
The Marsh Monitoring Program (MMP) is a protocol jointly developed and used by the
United States and Canada to monitor marsh ecosystems in the Great Lakes area. The Marsh
Monitoring Program uses auditory) surveys to detect the presence, absence, or relative
abundance of calling amphibians (frogs and toads). The MMP protocol is used because it is
a standardized survey method used bi-nationally around the Great Lakes region and data
gathered can be pooled to provide information about the presence and abundance of bird
and amphibian species in Great Lakes marshes. This contributes to our understanding of
these species and their habitat needs. The methodology for the frog surveys is a timed call
count during conditions when frogs are most active and expected to be calling. For birds,
a timed survey is also used in the evening when weather conditions are ideal for observing
and listening to bird calls. A five-minute call broadcast period (using a Broadcast CD) is also
performed to elicit calls of the normally secretive Virginia Rail, Sora, Least Bittern, Common
Moorhen, American Coot and Pied-Billed Grebe.
Mountsberg
_
_^
^
NM
What do we do?
North Oakville
Hilton Falls

Twiss
Bull Frog



Spring Peeper
_
^
_
^
_
^
Rattlesnake Point
Mountsberg
Gray Treefrog
Marsh obligates detected at each site
Wildflower
_
_ ^
^
Iroquois
6
Marshes are the most common type of wetland within Conservation
Halton’s watershed and are good indicators of environmental
stressors. Marshes also provide many benefits to humans and the
natural environment; they play key roles in water quality, water
regulation and provide habitat to a large variety of plants, animals and
other life found only in wetlands. Over the last few decades, wetlands
have been rapidly disappearing from the Great Lakes Basin landscape
due to land development.
• 38 species were recorded during MMP surveys across all sites, of which six were marsh
obligates.
Burns
Amphibians
detected at each site
_
^
_^
^
_
^
_
^
_
Fuciarelli
^
_
NM
Why do we monitor wetlands?
• The Robertson MMP site had the greatest diversity of marsh obligate species of all sites
in 2015 with four species.
3
4.5
6
7.5
Kilometres
Area 2
Watercourse
Municipal Boundary
Area 3
Conservation Halton
Land Holdings
Conservation Halton
Watershed Areas
This mapping was produced by Conservation Halton and should be used for information purposes only. Data sources used in its production are of varying quality and accuracy and all boundaries should be
considered approximate. Conservation Halton disclaims all responsibility for any and all mistakes or inaccuracies in the information and further disclaims all liability for loss or damage, which may result from
the use of this information. This mapping is provided as a public service and does not constitute advice or endorsement by Conservation Halton of any specific product, service, organization or agency. This map is
protected by copyright (© 2014) and may not be reproduced without written consent from Conservation Halton. Any copying, redistribution or republication the content thereof, for commercial gain is strictly prohibited
Produced by Conservation Halton GISP under license with Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Copyright © Queens Printer 2016.