The land varies from high pre-cambrian shield outcroppings to the low marshy wetlands surrounding the creek. A variety of habitats provide homes for Massassauga rattlesnakes, turtles, muskrat, beaver, deer, and the usual smaller animals such as fox and rabbits. There is a variety of wetland and upland flora and the upland area is treed with maple, birch, pine, cedar, tamarack, and spruce. Bird life is abundant and includes migrating waterfowl and a small great blue heron rookery.

This major donation was the first accepted by the Conservancy and remains a beautiful and ecologically important property. Very little managment is required to maintain its natural state, but Conservancy and Rotary Club voluteers created an osprey nesting platform in 2001.

Located between Concession 2 and 3 in the City of Kawartha Lakes (formerly the Carden Township in Victoria County), the Turnbull Easement has a flat limestone terrain typical of alvar, a globally threatened habitat. Alvars, found only in Sweden and around the Great Lakes, host a variety of rare plants on very thin soils. The central area of the Turnbull easement is a grassland alvar with sedges and wildflowers, while a significant wetland, the Cranberry Marsh, is found in the northeast corner of the property.

The Carden Alvair Plain was identified as a priority in the Conservancy's Natural Heritage Action Plan in 1994.

The property was severed into three parcels consisting of two 2-acre lots (one with a house and out-buildings) which were sold in 1999, and the remaining 44 acres. The acreage was sold in 2000 with an extensive conservation easement in favour of the Conservancy.

Situated in southern Muskoka, near the village of Severn, the Konda Easement is an upland mixture of mature pine, maple, beech, and birch on an incised valley with associated wetland. It is a habitat for beaver, otter, fox, rabbits, and other small creatures. In addition, kingfishers, great blue herons, and many other species call this special location home.

This wetland is an excellent example of a mature wooded swamp with the ground covered by water most of the year. Because of the delicate nature of this type of wetland, public access is not permitted and Conservancy team members limit their access to a few visits each year. Site inspections must be geared to water levels as there are several deep holes that are not apparent during high water conditions.

The McIsaac Wetland is part of the much larger Mud Lake wetland that covers an extensive area from just north of Uptergrove through to Mud Lake and Lake St. John. Such wetlands act as giant sponges, gradually releasing snow-melt and rainwater to streams and lakes, and providing important habitat for many birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians.

There is a small cabin on the site that overlooks a ravine in an historic area of First Nations settlement. Extensive examination of this property was carried out by the Royal Ontario Museum, resulting in a large collection of artifacts and mapping of village palisades. The site is located near Moonstone and is a beautiful mixture of hardwood forest and terraced springs that has created a multi-textured landscape on the edge of an ancient shoreline.

This South Sparrow Lake property was donated to The Couchiching Conservancy in 1999 by Amy and Dave Darker.

Flora and fauna at the Wilson Point Wetland include many bird species including songbirds and grouse, turtles, frogs and several species of wildflowers and ferns. The site is also endowed with an abundance of poison ivy!

The Conservancy wants to maintain the integrity of the wetland property and foster the public’s appreciation, understanding and enjoyment through education and awareness. The closeness of residential uses and several privately-owned vacant lots presents both opportunities and challenges. The Volunteer Management Team makes a special effort to discuss the property with local residents during their seasonal site inspections. Some residents even join in with roadside litter pick-up.

This property sits on the edge of the Precambrian Shield and has numerous exposed granite outcrops. There is a beautiful view of the wetland from the rock outcropping stretching toward wooded uplands at the south and west ends. This spot provides good wildlife viewing opportunities. A variety of wetland species are found here, including uncommon species such as sundew. Both north and south ends of the property are treed mostly with red maple.

One of the most interesting environments is seen next to the Fawcett property where the lime-rich waters from Lake Simcoe flow onto the shield rocks, making the water appear aqua-marine. The construction of the Trent-Severn Waterway has had a significant impact on the surrounding landscape, the roadway at the north having been built by blasted rock from the waterway.

Located in Severn Township (old Matchedash Township) in northern Simcoe County, this property is very diverse. Its habitats range from old fields and pine plantations to oak, maple and pine upland forests and open wetlands. The Conservancy intends to protect this property as a nature reserve. Although a management plan has not been finalized, there are few issues except some ATV use and the management of a derelict barn and unauthorized hunting shack.

The Grant Wetland is of significant natural heritage value, particularly in its urban context. Five streams converge and run through the property as part of the watershed. Grassland areas mixed with green ash, red-oiser dogwood and willow can be found on the boundaries, while the interior changes to wetland with dense cattail growth. Near the eastern boundary, next to residential properties on Maple Drive, majestic oak, butternut, and black walnut trees still stand as planted by the original owner, Hugh Grant, years ago.

This diverse property offers a variety of opportunities for nature appreciation, education and scientific study of a protected wetland, conveniently located in an urban area with a population of 29,000.

This property is a scenic rolling landscape that typifies the gneissic rocklands of the southern Canadian Shield. Pine and oak dominate the rocky outcrops, and a healthy beaver colony inhabits the reserve. The isolated nature of the area and proximity of areas of Crown land ensure that the native flora and fauna will prosper here.

This reserve will also permanently protect a rare and threatened species - the Massassauga Rattlesnake. Formerly enjoying a wide range in Ontario, this species is now largely restricted to Georgian Bay and parts of the Severn River. It has suffered severe population declines over the last century, partly because of human fear of what is, in actuality, a rather docile and unaggressive snake.

The Severn River Corridor is internationally known for its assemblage of rare plants known as Atlantic Coastal Plain species as well as for several plants more commonly found in Western and Arctic Canada. Though not yet documented, we are sure to locate some of these on the property.

The conservation easement seeks to restrict current and future landowners from subdividing the land for commercial or residential development, constructing roadways, permitting motorized vehicles, allowing dumping, grading or other topographical changes, permitting use of pesticides, water-taking, planting or removal of vegetation (except where necessary to comply with an approved Forest Management Plan currently on the property), use of firearms or hunting, fishing trapping, permitting domesticated livestock activities, and construction and use of exterior lighting.

The Carthew Bay Nature Reserve is a good example of what Margo Sheppard, the McCulloch's daughter, describes as "the small and special places" that are so important to their surrounding communities. Dr. McCulloch had owned this land since 1974, planting trees on it, using it as a refuge and a place to reflect on nature's wonders. The decision of the McCulloch family to entrust it to The Couchiching Conservancy means that it will remain forever in its natural state, as a place of quiet refuge for wildlife and people for generations to come.

But it is the woodlands on this property that are its true value. Except for the removal of a few dead trees for firewood, this upland forest has not been touched for over a century. The result today is a fine old-growth stand with towering hard maple, white ash, red oak, white pine, and hemlock. The soils here are deep moist sands, ideal conditions to produce tall, straight, healthy trees. They also produce water - lots of small cool streams in shallow ravines, which collect together to form one of the headwaters of the North River.

Grant's Woods is large enough and undisturbed enough to have a good complement of upland forest wildlife, with scarlet tanagers, black-throated green warblers and wood pewees calling from the canopy. Indigo buntings occur along the woodland edges. In the shade of the forest, Christmas fern and spring wildflowers are abundant.

Our heartfelt thanks goes to Mr. Grant for his generosity in entrusting this exceptional property to The Conservancy.

At the heart of the Reserve, a Provincially-significant wetland supports a diversity of amphibians, and gradually releases cool groundwater into the stream below. The forests provide interior habitat for such birds as scarlet tanagers, wood thrushes, and black-throated green warblers, and red-shouldered hawks, a threatened species, are regular nesters in the area.

In 2003, a 17-acre adjacent property, which links the Reserve to an Orillia Fish and Game Club property next door, was purchased by NCC with assistance from The Couchiching Conservancy, the County of Simcoe, Township of Oro-Medonte, the Orillia Fish and Game Club, and other partners. A County forest immediately to the north, and ongoing stewardship work with nearby landowners, helps to protect a large block of forest habitat around this Reserve.