Thanks to a partnership between the Nature Conservatory of Canada (NCC) and TD Bank group (TD), five new forest conservation projects have been created to protect at-risk species.

The sites total 867 ha (2142 acres) of forest that have been saved in Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland and Labrador to provide habitat for some of Canada’s most threatened species. Conservation work will continue this fall with additional properties to be protected.

Since the program’s launch in 2012, NCC has protected more than 12,950 ha (32,000 acres) in six different forest habitat types.

“Forests support a rich diversity of plant and animal life that relies on a healthy ecosystem to thrive, said John Lounds, NCC’s president and CEO. “Among their many roles, forests purify water, regulate and cool climate, absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide, produce oxygen, and provide habitat and shelter for countless species. And, with Canada being home to 10 per cent of the world’s forests, we sometimes take them for granted.”

The newly protected properties include:

1. St. Fintans, Nfld: 243 ha (600 acres) of Northern shield boreal forest in western Newfoundland featuring 200-year-old trees.
2. Halls Hill, N.B.: 140 ha (347 acres) of Acadian forest with red pine, red maple, balsam fir, and birch trees in the Chignecto Isthmus, the only route for terrestrial wildlife to move in and out of Nova Scotia connecting it to the rest of North America.
3. Mount Foster, Que.: 132 ha (326 acres) in Quebec’s Green Mountains, about 30 km (18.6 mi) near the town of Sutton, provides habitat for numerous species at risk, including wood turtle, Bicknells thrush, and green mountain maidenhair fern.
4. Powder Island, Ont.: 399 acres (161.5 ha), located in the Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area, less than 1 km (0.6 mi) off the coast of Lake Superior near Rossport.
5. Near Leduc, Alta.: 193 ha (478 acres) of mixed wood boreal forest located in the Upper North Saskatchewan River Basin. It includes stands of aspen, balsam poplar, paper birch, tamarack, and white and black spruce. The property also features a herd of 40 elk.

For more information on each of the projects, visit www.natureconservancy.ca/celebrateforests.