The following excerpt from the Bert Miller Nature Club Website.
Our objective is to preserve, for all posterity, the property known as Marcy Woods; which is the last unprotected remnant of pristine mature Carolinian habitat in Canada. Marcy Woods is a unique and rare resource that is part of the natural heritage of all Canadians and as such must be preserved for future generations.
Update:
Marcy's Woods was sold to a local developer on Thursday July 24, 2003.
What Can You Do To Help? Please contact the politicians on our how to help page!
Marcy's Woods is the largest project being undertaken by the club. On the north shore of Lake Erie lies an expanse of beach front property that has been owned by the Marcy family for more than 70 years. A portion of this 88 hectares (285 acres) of property falls within the Point Abino Peninsula Area of Natural and Scientific Interest (ANSI). The Point Abino area has been studied by scientists and naturalists alike for more than a century. It has been described as very significant, containing nationally, provincially and regionally rare species of plants and animals.
Dr. Marcy like Bert Miller was a man ahead of his time. Marcy's Woods consists of a majestic woodlot, wetlands teeming with life, a meadow community that is any butterfly's dream and on of the last untouched stretches of Lake Erie shoreline. For many years the Marcy's welcomed visitors to their woods. Each spring would find local school children taking part in hikes for the purpose of educating them about the natural environment. The late Dr. George Marcy and his wife Elizabeth had a vision for their home. They wanted it preserved for future generations to enjoy.
The Bert Miller Nature Club "is committed to the preservation of Marcy's Woods and is working with many other conservation organizations to ensure that Dr. and Mrs. Marcy's vision becomes a reality." We need your help. Please contact the club for more information about Marcy's Woods and about how you or your organization can help.
The Bert Miller Nature Club of Fort Erie was founded in the mid 1990s with the primary purpose of protecting and preserving Marcy Woods.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, Marcy Woods is a 116 plus hectare site on the shore of Lake Erie that is unique in being a virtually undisturbed exemplar of a mature, highly diverse Carolinian sand dune forest. It is included in the Point Abino ANSI and is recognized as a Provincially Significant Natural Heritage Site based in part on a study by Larson et al. - a summary of which is published in "Woodland Heritage of Southern Ontario". Marcy Woods contains various ecological communities - ranging from dunes to wetlands - with a broad variety of biota including numerous rare and endangered species.
For many years, the BMNC has worked to broker a sale of this critical site to the NCC. Lamentably, this effort failed and the property was sold to a developer last summer. Although the new owner states that he has no plans to develop this property, we believe that its integrity is at great risk over the long term.
We have come to the conclusion that the only means of assuring the unassailable protection of this property is for the Province to use its power of expropriation. By designating this area as a strictly controlled natural preserve, the pristine and diverse ecology of Marcy Woods can be protected in perpetuity - thus assuring the viability of this critical reservoir of genetic diversity. Furthermore, Marcy Woods will remain accessible for continuing scientific study and naturalistic appreciation.
No doubt expropriation may seem an extreme and even repugnant action to many of you. But, I will remind you that the Province has expropriated tens of thousands of hectares of farmland and woodland for roads - often with highly detrimental environmental consequences. We ask now that the Province use this same power to protect 116 hectares of irreplaceable Canadian heritage!
To secure the permanent protection of Marcy Woods we need the strong support of naturalists, their groups and organizations such as the FON.
David Brower, the founder of Friends of the Earth, once admonished, "Polite conservationists leave no mark save the scars upon the earth that could have been prevented had they stood their ground."
Please join with the Bert Miller Nature Club in standing this ground.
Thank you.
LEARN MORE ABOUT MARCY'S WOODS
