McCarthy Woods Nature Corridor – Launch, Updates and Upcoming Events

Thank you everyone for continuing to share this petition. As of today , we have 1890+ signatures! Thanks for the thoughtful comments and support as well. This really helps tell the story of how this place is valued and had an impact on the life and well being of our city.

Some examples,

“My 9 year old walks through this forest with me, I walked through this forest when I was 9 with my parents, and they walked through this forest with their parents when they were 9. This is starting to get out of hand. .. it’s so disheartening to see all of the wildlife being displaced.” Kayla Gerecke, Ottawa

“The McCarthy Woods is a vital link to the natural world in the City of Ottawa. It provides habitat for wildlife and an opportunity for the residents - young and old - to learn about the splendid teachings of nature. It's also a place where the trees and tree canopy can clean the air of the pollutants caused by humans. Please leave the McCarthy Woods alone. It belongs to the residents of Ottawa and is well loved.  I take dogs walking there also everyday.” Theresa McGann, Ottawa

We had the public launch of this petition on Saturday Sept 12th at the Hunt Club Community Fair.  Several hundred people stopped by raising awareness of the issues and getting the link to sign this petition and to sign-up as volunteers.

Our Home Page is now live at: www.osean.org/mccarthy  Here you will find updates, information summaries about the woods and corridor, the NCC actions and our advocacy.  You can also sign up to volunteer (virtual or in person skills needed!!) or contact us. Our email is savemccarthycorridor@gmail.com. Let us know if there are questions, suggestions or anything else on how we can grow support and make this change happen!

At the fair we socialized our Government of Canada Petition, asking the Federal Government to intervene and hold the National Capital Commission accountable to the community and conservation mandate it serves. This is a direct ask to stop the NCC’s current path and pursue long term protection.  Further updates will follow as this petition gains our member of parliament sponsorship and we launch signatures to present it to the House of Commons this fall.

Some people have asked us about donations. Thank-you for this!  We will need funding for printing posters, post cards, lawn signs and door hangers. If you are able to support us directly,  see our Home Page for further details, or send us an email. You may have seen Change.org asking for a donation to promote the petition. This does helps us use Change.org to do the work of building a bigger audience as well as providing us promotional tools.

Upcoming Events

September 19th 

There will a Bioblitz of McCarthy Woods Nature Corridor led by OSEAN and Carleton University.  Help us gather an inventory of natural species and document the rich diversity of this landscape. Carleton and Algonquin researchers are engaged in scientific assessment in partnership with OSEAN and HCCA. The bioblitz, surveys and field work will inform the research and analysis that we will provide the evidence on the value of this unique ecosystem.

The event starts at 10am at the Hunt Club Community Centre (3320 Paul Anka Drive Ottawa.)  Included will be a guided tour though the woods, a workshop on how to use iNaturalist and opportunity to be a research assistant!

OSEAN and Save McCarthy Corridor will be at the Ottawa Gatineau Climate March. Sign up on our home page to volunteer or join us along the way. This is a huge event where we hope to meet a wider Ottawa audience to sign the petition and join us in making a real difference with climate mitigation and adaptation that this ecosystem supports if kept healthy and viable

Sept 20th 

There will be an Invasive Species and Garbage Clean-up of the Hunt Club Creek from 9am to 12pm. Led by the Hunt Club Community Association and the Stream Watch program of the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority, this will help protect the health of the Hunt Club Creek, which flows though the meadows and woods to the Rideau River. Sign up on our home page or by emailing us.

Hold the Date:

We are gathering more volunteers – THANK YOU for helping!!  We will have an initial meeting/ orientation to discuss what we need help and who can help. This will be both on-line and in person. We a looking at a time on Sept 26th ( Saturday – afternoon/ evening)

In Mid October – we will be doing a Public Information Meeting and the Big Walk in the Woods.  We pushed this back a bit to have time to promote it and get media attention.  This is an in-person event. We are looking into doing zoom to engage on-line as well.  We will be posting sign-up for the walk -  How long a line of walkers can we grow? Looking at complementary ideas such as Art on the Walk and a Discovery / Treasures of the Corridor Contest too.  Perhaps even costumes – Let us know if you are interested or send us ideas and inspirations to make this an amazing event!  The date is to be confirmed - right now we are looking at October 10th or 17th.

Finally – share the QR Code of the Petition on your social media!  

Thanks everyone!

André on behalf of Ottawa South Eco-Action Network