Federal Funding for Habitat Stewardship Projects in Ontario

On September 6, 2024, Adam van Koeverden, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, announced funding of up to $6.2 million through the Habitat Stewardship Program for Species at Risk. This funding will support 38 conservation projects across Canada aimed at recovering species at risk in local areas.

In Ontario, 12 projects will receive up to $1.3 million, which includes the following Monarch stewardship initiatives:

• Nature Conservancy of Canada: This project will steward habitats for species at risk, including the Monarch and Eastern Whip-poor-will in the Rice Lake Plains Area. The project will expand by an additional 6.2 hectares and will include prescribed burns to enhance native plant diversity and habitat complexity.
• Rural Lambton Stewardship Network: This initiative will focus on recovering the Monarch and Grasshopper Sparrow in southwestern Ontario by creating an additional 116 hectares of tallgrass prairie to provide foraging and breeding habitat.

The Habitat Stewardship Program for Species at Risk is part of the implementation of the Species at Risk Act and aims to protect and restore habitats for species at risk. The government states that these efforts align with the 2030 Nature Strategy, a national plan to meet biodiversity goals established at the Kunming–Montréal Global Biodiversity Framework conference in December 2022.