PBTC Tree Badge Pilot Hike

Hosting Club: Peninsula

Location (Google Maps): Parking lot at the east end of Scenic Caves Road [44.953282, -81.128023]

Hike Leader(s): Saabir Sohrab Click here to contact Hike Leader(s)

Pace: Leisurely
Terrain: Moderate
Distance: 5km

Description

Calling all badge hounds! PBTC will be launching a tree badge in 2024.  The tree badge will be the next in a series of conservation badges that include the birder badges, fern badge and orchid badge. Before we launch, we want to test the badge requirements in a couple of pilot hikes.  This hike will allow you to test the requirements for the badge.  The badge requirements are at the end of this hike description.  The badge requires the use of the iNaturalist app  - if you aren’t already part of the iNaturalist Bruce Trail Conservancy Project, please get the app before the hike, see details here: https://brucetrail.org/what-we-do/#iNaturalist

PBTC volunteer Natalie Mechalko will share her knowledge of trees on the Peninsula to support hikers as they try out the Tree Badge requirement.

We will meet at the parking lot located at the east end of Scenic Cave Road  [44.953282, -81.128023] and hike a loop around the Pease Side Trail and main trail.

Be prepared for variable weather and dress for the conditions on the day of the hike.  Depending on the weather, icers may be required.  As with all winter hikes, we will adjust or postpone the hike if required due to inclement conditions.

Draft Tree Badge Requirements:

There is no time limit for completing the badge requirements. All observations must be from the main trail or sides trails of the Peninsula section or on a PBTC-organized hike.

1. Photograph, identify and document 25 different tree species along the Peninsula section of the Bruce Trail. Your list must include at least 1 tree in each of the following categories:

• Deciduous
• Coniferous
• Mast Tree – produces food for wildlife or human foragers through periodic booms in seed production. A key characteristic of mast trees is that their seed production becomes synchronized across entire populations of the same species, producing an over-abundance of food in some years (also known as bumper crops, which is a crop that has yielded a usually productive harvest), and greatly reduced production in other years. Many mast foods have great storage value, avoiding rot, or freezing on the trees to provide quality food even when everything is dormant. Mast foods also have a high nutrition content, such as fatty nuts, which helps mammals build up fat stores for winter. Periodic booms (typically once every 2-8 years) of mast production trigger a cascade of ecological effects that affects mammals, birds, insects & even diseases like Lyme. Some common types of mast trees include oak, spruce, walnut, butternut and beech.
• Wildlife Tree – standing dead or live tree (also known as snags, den trees or cavity trees) with characteristics that provide valuable habitat for wildlife. Wildlife trees may contain spike, fork or broken tops, cavities, loose bark, large platform limbs and brooms. In Ontario, at least 50 species of birds and mammals rely on snags. Many species of trees make for good snaps, but large conifers such as cedar, fir, larch, and pine, tend to rot more slowly than do deciduous trees such as alder, birch, and cherry. Large deciduous trees such as cottonwoods, big-leaf maples, and oaks can last many years as snags. While alive, large deciduous trees tend to develop cavities in their bulky live and dead branches and trunks.
• Invasive Species – could be an invasive tree species (i.e., Scots pine, Buckthorn, Norway Maple) or identification of invasive pathogen (i.e., Emerald Ash Borer, butternut canker, beech bark disease)

2. Upload photos to iNaturalist.ca and add them to the Bruce Trail Project. New to iNaturalist? Not registered for the Bruce Trail Project? Visit https://brucetrail.org/what-we- do/#iNaturalist for details.
3. For one specimen tree in each of the five categories record the following:

• Deciduous
  • Common name
  • Leaf category: opposite, alternate, simple, compound, pinnate, palmate, lobed, toothed, margins
• Coniferous
  • Common name
  • Leaf category: Short needles in opposite pairs or whorls of 3, needles in bundles or 2, 3 or 5, needles in tufts of 10 or more on dwarf shoots or single on long shoots
• Mast Tree
  • Name of fruit/ seed
• Wildlife Tree
  • Wildlife habitat characteristic (spike, fork or broken top, cavity, loose bark, large platform limbs or brooms) and name species that may use habitat
• Invasive Species
  • Common name of tree or pathogen

4. Once you have accumulated 25 species, and your entries have been verified on iNaturalist, and you have recorded the characteristics of five specimen trees, you may obtain your badge. Instructions for obtaining the badge will be available on the PBTC website at https://www.pbtc.ca/badges  after the badge is launched.