Mississippi Madawaska Land Trust
Location: Office space at the Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority building
10970 Highway 7, Carleton Place, ON K7C 3P1
Beautiful Mississippi Madawaska wilderness protected for all time, where all species thrive, and people engage with nature.
Guiding Principles
To champion land conservation and the rights of all species to exist;
To practice the best standards of stewardship for the benefit of plants, animals, and landscapes;
To foster a respectful relationship between people and natural spaces;
To connect people with nature’s healing power to meet their physical, emotional, social, intellectual, and spiritual needs;
To encourage community engagement.
The MMLT catchment area covers the Mississippi River watershed, extending north to the Madawaska River to include part of the southern half of the Madawaska River watershed.
Contact them!
Phone: 613 - 253 - 2722
Email: admin@mmlt.ca
How Does MMLT Operate?
MMLT carries out its mission by obtaining properties – through donation, purchase, or a combination of both. Alternatively, MMLT can enter into a Conservation Easement Agreement with a landowner to legally assume conservation protection of their property in perpetuity.
As of May, 2024, MMLT protects over 3,300 acres of conservation lands, including 2,735 acres of forests, 442 acres of wetlands and 51 acres of grasslands.
Once properties are acquired, MMLT has the responsibility of caring for these lands - paying the property taxes and insurance, maintaining trails where they exist and ensuring they are safe, monitoring the evolution of the properties and conducting research.
With these responsibilities in mind then, some MMLT properties are open to the public to enjoy the trails and nature, and some are reserved for research and educational purposes. On their open properties, they often host guided nature walk events, fun activities such as the annual Festival of the Wild Child, and other activities to engage our community with their natural surroundings.
The idea of creating a land trust was developed during a meeting of 10 individuals deeply concerned about land and species conservation in November 2002. The Mississippi Madawaska Land Trust Conservancy received its Letters Patent and is CRA charitable status effective January 1, 2004. Ten years later, the word “Conservancy” was removed from the organisation’s name, so that “Mississippi Madawaska Land Trust” (“MMLT”) became the registered name thereafter.
Robert Stearns
“After two decades living and working in Europe and Asia, my wife and I repatriated to Canada in June, 2017, to our retirement home in the small town of Almonte – not too far from Ottawa where we both grew up and raised our three children.
One day that Fall, our neighbours invited us to dinner at their home. There we met several other neighbours, one of whom was a member of the MMLT Board of Directors. He talked excitedly about the acquisition of a new property in Lanark for which a good sum of money needed to be raised.
As a biologist by education, I was very intrigued by what he told us about MMLT, its work and the people involved. I had spent my career teaching biology and environmental science and here was a group of specialists in this field that I might possibly connect with. More important to me, this group was deeply involved in actually doing what I had been teaching about all those years. I figured that if I got involved with MMLT, not only would I be working with people sharing my passion for biology, but I would also have opportunity to do some important work for the sake of the natural and human communities of Lanark. I donated money to this property that MMLT was acquiring and went on to speak to this MMLT Director about getting involved as a volunteer. I guess that with my many years of board of director experience, the MMLT Board felt that I might be a worthwhile addition to their board membership.
I’m going into my sixth year as an MMLT board member. And now in the role of Secretary-Treasurer, I put in many hours of work each week – very satisfying work because, not only am I spending time with other passionate volunteers as our two incredibly dedicated staff members (our Executive Director and Conservation Coordinator), I feel a strong sense of satisfaction being part of an organisation accomplishing so much every day to protect our natural heritage in Lanark County.”
MMLT takes action regarding climate change and environmental issues and awareness of such issues in a number of ways:
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Their forests, wetlands and grasslands absorb approximately 3,500 metric tonne of CO2 per year; altogether, our properties store approximately 75,000 metric tonnes of carbon in the above-ground vegetation and even more when soil carbon storage is included
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Their forests, wetlands and grasslands help reduce levels of atmospheric pollutants, promote nutrient recycling; reduce soil erosion and contribute to further soil formation; control water quality and mitigate against flooding, protect habitat and biodiversity within these habitats, protect almost 30 identified species at risk in our catchment area, including pollinating insects, aquatic amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals, and herbaceous and woody plants
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MMLT provides opportunities for environmental research by scientists from nearby universities and government research institutions – more recent examples: detection of rare plant species; insect surveys; bioacoustics monitoring; and meadowland restoration to promote pollination.
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MMLT is partnered with local school boards, elementary and high school students are invited to our properties for outdoor classroom experiences in nature. This includes practicing standard fieldwork protocols as well as developing authentic project-based environmental initiatives to be applied on our properties
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MMLT is a member of the Ontario Land Trust Alliance and, as such, collaborates with other Ontario land trusts on initiatives such as developing a land-owner conservation advisory service. We work in a synergistic partnership with the Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority. We collaborate with and offer as much support as we can to other organisations involved with environmental issues, such as the recently formed Friends of Stittsville Wetlands, the Nature Conservancy Canada, World Wildlife Fund, Canadian Wildlife Federation, Lanark County Climate Action Committee, Mississippi Valley Field Naturalists; we are also in close communication with environmental departments at the provincial and federal level, MECP, and ECCC.
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In addition to the above connections with like-minded organisations, MMLT takes every opportunity possible to promote at community events in Lanark, the message of conservation as vital to climate change mitigation, to reducing the loss of biodiversity, and to maintaining natural habitats that contribute to mental health and well-being.
There are two initiatives under active discussion and planning at this time to increase awareness and promote actions regarding conservation of our natural environment
Does MMLT Have Any Future Projects to Help Raise Awareness About Climate Change or Improve the Climate?
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MMLT is approached by many landowners who wish to protect the natural environment of their properties. As part of our standard process, MMLT assesses each property to determine its fit with our objectives and whether MMLT is in a position to accept the donation or the purchase of the property, to protect in perpetuity. We cannot acquire every property presented to us. Therefore, we are investigating a mechanism by which, for a fee to the landowner, MMLT can perform an ecological assessment of their property and then propose a multi-year stewardship plan. The arrangement would be a “Conservation Partnership.”
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They always include an element of environmental awareness and regularly involve new initiatives. For example, the theme of this year’s Festival of the Wild Child is “Roar Against Climate Change”, where families will be engaged in hands-on outdoor activities related to the effects of climate change and solutions. The Festival of the Wild Child will be held on August 24 (rain date August 25) at MMLT’s High Lonesome Nature Reserve, 867 Carbine Rd, Pakenham. All are welcome!
Make a Donation for Conservation
On the MMLT Website, people can provide a one-time donation and/or sign up to be a monthly donor
Donors may also pay over the phone (613 253 2722) or by mailing a cheque (with the printable donor form from the website) to MMLT, 10970 Hwy 7, Carleton Place, ON K7C 3P1