2024 Funded Projects

In 2024, EGBI supported a diverse set of projects that strengthened species-at-risk recovery, advanced long-term research, and expanded community-led stewardship across the region. Several initiatives focused on reptiles and turtles, including expanded START and CARES fieldwork, continued monitoring of Massasauga rattlesnakes, Blanding’s turtles, Spotted turtles, and foxsnakes, and major efforts to identify road-mortality hotspots, nesting areas, and hibernation sites. Partners such as the Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre continued to rehabilitate, release, and monitor injured turtles while preparing to open a new conservation facility to expand treatment capacity, disease surveillance, and public education. Blazing Star Environmental worked alongside HIFN to deepen youth training and community leadership in long-term reptile monitoring, combining western science with Traditional Knowledge to assess post-fire habitat recovery and the effectiveness of artificial overwintering sites.

Projects focused on birds and habitat stewardship also saw meaningful expansion. New and ongoing work to protect the endangered Kirtland’s Warbler included habitat creation at the Featherstone MapleCross Nature Reserve and ecological monitoring in the recovering Parry Sound 033 fire footprint, one of only three known breeding areas for the species in Canada. Broader landscape initiatives included the Georgian Bay Biosphere’s multi-year effort to build an open-source habitat and natural asset mapping database to better identify priority SAR habitats, guide planning, and integrate Indigenous Knowledge into conservation decision-making. Revitalizing Inherited Stewardship continued to support Indigenous-led SAR conservation in Stony Point and HIFN through community involvement, youth engagement, and the integration of Indigenous Ecological and Traditional Knowledge. Collectively, the 2024 projects advanced habitat restoration, species recovery, and Indigenous leadership, reinforcing a collaborative, region-wide commitment to safeguarding biodiversity across eastern Georgian Bay.