09/29/2026
Friends of Second Marsh volunteers worked hard to manage Common/European Buckthorn on the McLaughlin Bay Wildlife Reserve. Common/European Buckthorn is a concern because it spreads aggressively and forms dense stands which prevents other plants to grow, thereby reducing the biodiversity of the area.
The management and removal of dominant introduced (invasive) plant species like, Common/European Buckthorn, helps to increase the overall biodiversity of the McLaughlin Bay Wildlife Reserve by making room for native plants to grow.
Volunteer stewards learned to identify these plant species, their impacts on the ecosystem, and how to successfully use these skills to be able to remove these species from their backyards or other nature areas.
Thank you to the following funders that made this work possible: OPG Regional Biodiversity Grant Program and the Greenbelt Foundation.
The OPG Regional Biodiversity Grant is a multi‑year conservation program that supports habitat environmental and ecological health across Ontario, with a particular focus on OPG’s host communities. McLaughlin Bay Wildlife Reserve, located within Durham Region, qualifies as one of those host communities.
The McLaughlin Bay Wildlife Reserve is an Urban River Valley within Ontario’s Greenbelt. The Greenbelt protects more than 2 million acres of farmland, forests, wetlands, rivers, and lakes in the Greater Golden Horseshoe thanks to the dedicated work of the Greenbelt Foundation. To learn more about the Greenbelt and the important work of the Greenbelt Foundation, please visit www.greenbelt.ca.
