Black Oak Savanna
Submitted by: Shelley Irving
Hike reference: Hazel Bird Nature Reserve (5.0 km)
The grasses of the Rice Lake Plains belong to one of Earth’s ancient and resilient plant families. Grasses have an evolutionary history stretching back more than 60 million years. By comparison, the Rice Lake Plains are relatively young, taking shape about 12,000 years ago as glaciers from the last Ice Age retreated across what is now Ontario.
The deep, sandy, well-drained soils of the Rice Lake Plains, which encompass the Alderville Black Oak Savanna and Hazel Bird Nature Reserve, provide ideal conditions for native prairie grasses. Over thousands of years, wind, water, birds, and animals helped disperse their seeds across the landscape. Drought, grazing, periodic fire, and Indigenous cultural burning practices helped maintain these open prairie and savanna habitats.
Native grasses play a unique role in these ecosystems. Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), known as the “King of the Prairie,” can grow more than two metres tall. Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), and Yellow Savanna Grass (Sorghastrum nutans), historically called Indian grass, are equally important to the health of the Rice Lake Plains.
Together, these native grasses develop extensive root systems that can extend several metres into the soil. Their deep roots stabilize sandy soils, reduce erosion, improve soil structure, increase water infiltration, and store significant amounts of carbon underground.
Above ground, the grasses provide food, nesting material, and shelter for native bees, butterflies, birds, reptiles, mammals, and countless other organisms. Together, they form the living foundation of one of Canada's rarest prairie and savanna ecosystems.
Today, only scattered remnants of this globally significant ecosystem remain. In the late 1990s, Rick Beaver recognized the rarity and beauty of the Black Oak Savanna, located on a First Nations territory, and consulted with the Alderville Chief and Council to protect it. (Click here for a video on the subject). Guided and unguided visits to the Alderville Black Oak Savanna are possible. Check on the Alderville BOS website for details.
Through the collaborative efforts of the Nature Conservancy of Canada and the Rice Lake Plains Partnership, including the Alderville Black Oak Savanna and the Willow Beach Field Naturalists, work continues to restore, protect, and expand knowledge of this rare ecosystem in Northumberland County.
Visit the Alderville Black Oak Savanna and Hazel Bird Nature Reserve to walk among native plants and experience landscapes helped shaped by ancient grasses, natural forces, and generations of community stewardship.
Sidebar definitions:
Prairies occupy the most open, sandy areas where grasses dominate.
Black oak savannas occur where scattered black oak trees grow among native grasses and wildflowers.
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