During 2008 staff worked in conjunction with representatives of the Lower Thames Conservation Authority, The Rondeau Watershed Coalition and with assistance from the ‘environmental awareness’ students of John McGregor Secondary School to re-develop two areas at Maple Leaf Cemetery. The first is an area bounded by Indian Creek Road , the CN Rail tracks and Mud Creek. The second area is bounded by an extension of the same Mud Creek and the northern limit of the property (at the foot of the Chapel Drive turn-around).

The area off of Indian Creek is being redeveloped into a native Tallgrass Prairie through a broadcast seeding using a mixture of native grasses and perennials that were gathered from other sites throughout Chatham-Kent. The list of plants in the mixture include: Black-eyed Susans, Bergamot, Coreopsis, Joe-Pye Weed, Mountain Mint, Ironweed, Grey Coneflower, Desmodoium, Cup Plant, Prairie Dock, Culver’s Root, Hairy Penstemon, Marsh Blazing Star, Butterfly & Swamp Milkweeds, and a variety of grasses including Big Blue Stem, Indian Grass, Prairie Cord Grass, Switch Grass and Canada Wild Rye.

In addition, over 500 ‘plugs’ of both native grasses and perennials were planted throughout this area to supplement the seeding. Buffer strips have been left adjacent to road edges and creek banks in order to allow access to the ‘prairie’ and to reduce the potential for run-off into the creek while the site is growing-in. In order to reduce the volume of volunteer weed growth, the area was tilled five times over the summer. We wish to thank Joe Burton of Gypsy King Produce for his assistance with this aspect of the project. We expect that there will be a significant requirement for weeding during the first 2 seasons following germination but recognize that this will be reduced as the desirable plants and grasses become established.

The area at the foot of Chapel Drive is approximately 2/3 the size of the Indian Creek Road area and has a slightly more diverse mixture of plants. This area is being developed as a ‘meadow’ and as such, it contains a larger percentage of flowering perennials. In addition to the mixture sown in the Indian Creek area, this mixture also contained several varieties of Coneflowers, Shasta Daisies, various Tickseeds, and Black-eyed Susans, Columbines, Slender and Rough Blazing Star, Cup Plant, Cardinal Flower, Ironweed, Blue-eyed Grass, and a variety of native grasses as noted above to add more colour to the area as it develops. The limits of this area were established by planting a double row of native Cedars (Thuja) in the spring of 2008. Again, there will be a requirement for additional weeding during the first two seasons in order to reduce competition for the desirable species but this will become less as the sought-after plants establish themselves.

Both areas contribute to the overall environment of Maple Leaf Cemetery as they: reduce the amount of turf area that is being maintained; re-introduce plant species that were formally found at this site; and create habitat for native birds and small animals.

Plans are being developed to expand the Indian Creek site to the north side of McGregor Creek in the summer of 2009 and consideration will be given to developing more plantings in other Chatham-Kent Cemeteries in the future.

Chatham-Kent Cemeteries welcomes your assistance to help maintain these two sites. Please contact at 519.360.1998 or E-mail at CKpch@chatham-kent.ca to learn more about how you can become involved.