The people of North Grenville know and appreciate Ferguson Forest Centre (FFC). We hike or ski the many kilometres of trails through the forest, take our dogs to the Dog Park, stroll the paths in the Arboretum, and launch kayaks at Anniversary Park. We admire Veterans Memorial Park and Veterans Way, and feel a sense of communal pride in the fields full of small trees clearly reflecting an active green farming operation.

Few people realize that the tree nursery is the financial engine that supports all other FFC activities on the Centre’s recreational lands that the community uses and cherishes.

In 1996, the Ontario Government closed the G. Howard Ferguson Forest Station and put the land up for sale, though retaining the forest management sector, known as Ferguson Forest. The former forest station land eventually came to be owned by the Municipality of North Grenville and a debate ensued between those wanting more strip malls and those wanting to retain the environmental and recreational benefits. It was a narrow decision, but the conservationists won!

Ferguson Forest Centre Corporation (FFCC), a registered not-for profit organization, was formed in 2000. The Municipality agreed to lease the land to FFCC, which resumed the business of growing trees and supporting the recreational lands, and assumed responsibility for the forest lands still owned by the province. These combined 1100 acres formed Ferguson Forest Centre (FFC).

Ferguson Tree Nursery (FTN), through FFCC, is overseen by a volunteer board of directors who ensure that, as a not-for-profit corporation, all monies available after meeting expenses are put back into the community. For example, when the FFCC board agreed to set aside land for a dog park, FTN staff and equipment helped with its construction. FFCC paid for construction of the parking lot that serves the dog park and Arboretum, and partnered with the Municipality to upgrade the access road. It is tree nursery staff, using tree nursery equipment, who maintain the trails and mow the grass in Veterans Memorial Park, Anniversary Park, the dog park, the Arboretum and the other public lands throughout the Centre.

Just as the Ferguson Tree Nursery is the backbone of Ferguson Forest Centre, corporate membership is the backbone of the corporation that governs it. Due to attrition in recent years, FFCC is currently in need of competent, capable and committed new members, to ensure the future of the nursery and the Centre so that the corporation can continue to serve afforestation initiatives that mitigate climate change and ensure that the community continues to benefit from the many natural recreational opportunities the Centre offers.

FFCC works though a number of standing committees, such as the Public Relations and Communications Committee, FEAC (Arboretum) Committee and Trails Committee. These committees need members to contribute to the vibrant health of the organization and potentially provide candidates for vacant positions on the board of directors.

A commitment of time and ability by interested and capable members of the community can keep Ferguson Forest Centre vibrant and growing

FFCC is seeking community minded individuals to become members of the corporation. Membership is limited, and only open to individuals willing to contribute their time to serve on various committees, attend meetings, volunteer at events and potentially be voted to a directorship on the board of directors. Knowledge of forestry is not required.

For a full description of the organization’s mandate, mission and structure, including committees, please see our web site at www.fergusonforestcentre.ca.

If you are interested in becoming a part of this important community corporation, please contact Wes Herring, FFCC Vice President, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

On November 9, 2020 the FFCC Board approved a revised arboretum plan (long term vision).

It was a cold, crisp day in December 2019 when Rosemary (Rose) Fleguel, RVCA's resident butternut expert, pulled up in her truck to meet North Grenville woodlot owner Warren Dool at his 47-acre property. Her mission? To find any and all living and healthy butternut trees - a cause to which she has dedicated the bulk of her long career. 

To say Rose is unique is an understatement — biting wit aside, she's Eastern Ontario's foremost butternut expert, and involved in every regional effort to save the rapidly disappearing endangered species. And she's had success; so much success, in fact, that last fall Rose was recognized for her important work as the co-recipient of the Ross Silversides Forestry Award.

Butternut seeds and leaves closely resemble black walnut.So, why is saving butternuts such a big deal? Butternut trees (Juglans cinerea) have been part of the local ecosystem for tens of thousands of years. The wood is excellent for furniture making. The roots and bark have medicinal qualities and the nuts are highly nutritious for humans and wildlife alike. Historically, First Nations people showed settlers how to collect and store the nuts to help sustain them through harsh winters. Most homesteads had a grove of butternut trees to supply them with nuts each fall.

But these special trees have been decimated by the butternut canker, an incurable fungal disease. Rose estimates 50 to 60 per cent of trees in the region have died or stopped reproducing since the early 1990s, with more disappearing every year. But some trees appear to have tolerance against the disease, and it's these tolerant trees that could save the species – and what Rose looks for every time she steps onto a property. 

Rose leads a tour of the RVCA's tolerant butternut orchard in Cumberland in September 2019.

Rose graduated from Sir Sanford Flemming College's Forestry Technician program in 1980 and started her career with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR). She eventually moved to what's now the Ferguson Forest Centre in Kemptville, and in 1992 she joined the OMNR's Forest Genetics Group to develop the first butternut recovery program in Ontario. In 2006, Rose became manager of the RVCA's Butternut Recovery Program in Eastern Ontario and, with training from the US Department of Agriculture Forest Service, became an expert in butternut grafting.

Today, if you've got a butternut question, Rose is the person to call.

Saving the butternut is no easy feat, and it takes time to know if your efforts have paid off. In 2012, Rose oversaw the establishment of Ontario's first tolerant butternut tree seed orchard for RVCA, which was planted with butternut seedlings that had been grafted onto black walnuts. Today the Forest Gene Conservation Association (FGCA) runs the grafting program, establishing a second orchard in 2016 with Rose overseeing both. She also shares her vast knowledge across southern Ontario as one of four experts teaching the Butternut Health Assessor course.

Between all of that, Rose spends considerable time scouring rural public and private woodlots in Eastern Ontario to locate individual tolerant trees and some of the last remaining healthy populations of butternut in this region. She collects their seeds to grow tolerant seedlings at the Ferguson Forest Centre, in an effort to repopulate the landscape.

Cue landowners like Warren Dool. These tolerant seedlings are given to landowners like Warren to replace dead and dying butternut trees on their properties. The very best of these tolerant trees are then grafted and used to clone more trees. The tolerant genetic material is even saved for future research.

Landowner Warren Dool helps Rose search for healthy butternut trees on his property.

As Rose and Warren walked the property together, she found many dead and dying butternut trees. But from the devastation came a ray of hope: that the diseased butternuts ever grew here at all is a good sign more tolerant seedlings would do well.

In May 2020 Warren planted a number of butternut seedlings and in September he planted and marked 100 butternut seeds to watch their progress. With a little time, a little luck and whole lot of love and expertise from Rose, these young sprouts will hopefully yield magnificent butternut trees in the future.

(article from a recent blog posting on rvca.ca)

This year’s fall equinox marked the end of an era at Ferguson Forest Centre as Ed Patchell formally retired after 20 years of service as Chief Executive Officer of the Ferguson Forest Centre Corporation.

Ed’ forestry career began in 1978 with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests (OMNRF), where he worked at their Thunder Bay tree nursery for eight years. In 1986, Ed relocated to Kemptville, spending 10 years at the G. Howard Ferguson Forest Station and two years as a lands technician and forester, for a total of 20 years of service with OMNRF. From 1998 to 2000, during the two-year transition between the dissolution of the OMNRF-run forest station and the creation of the Ferguson Forest Centre Corporation, Ed ran a private consulting firm, Oxford Consulting, which operated the Ferguson Forest Centre under a municipally-mandated board of directors.

In 2000, Ed took on the role of Chief Operating Officer, and later Chief Executive Officer, for the Ferguson Forest Centre Corporation, a not-for-profit company with a volunteer board operating the tree nursery to promote good forestry and support conservation and recreation in the Municipality of North Grenville.

Ed has resided in the North Grenville area since 1986, is married with two children who grew up and went to school in the Kemptville area. Ed has also been involved in local scouting and the Lions Club over the years and has provided support and help to many organizations using the Ferguson Forest Centre and surrounding Crown land.

Ed will continue as a member of the Corporation Board of Directors as Corporate Secretary.

Ferguson Tree Nursery will be headed by a new management team, comprised of:

Penny Lennox, Director of Nursery Operation;

Maureen Jacques, Director of Sales and Business Development; and

Carolyn Rayfield, Director of Human Resources and Finance.

Contact information for each of these Directors can be found at: www.fergusontreenursery.ca

COVID19 has unfortunately curtailed a planned celebration of FFC’s 20th anniversary and will also delay a retirement celebration to honor Ed; however, a public celebration to mark both occasions will take place at a later date. - - -

Ferguson Forest Centre is 1100 acres of multi-use forested land located in the Municipality of North Grenville. The Centre boasts walking and hiking trails, snowmobile and skiing trails, an arboretum, dog park, children’s areas and a waterfront park with a picnic shelter and canoe and kayak launch dock.

The Centre is governed by the not-for-profit Ferguson Forest Centre Corporation, which oversees 360 acres of municipal land and 740 acres of provincial lands. The Corporation’s wholly-owned Ferguson Tree Nursery grows native and non-invasive naturalized trees and woody shrubs, through which it funds the operation, management and maintenance of the Centre and recreational lands.

Information is also available on our newly revamped website (www.fergusonforestcentre.ca) and on our Facebook and Twitter sites.

Contact:

Carl Doucette, President, Ferguson Forest Centre Corporation

According to the UN, March 21^st is the International Day of Forests – a day to celebrate and raise awareness of the importance of all types of forests. The theme for 2020 is Forests and Biodiversity.

“This is a great opportunity to remind people about the benefits of forests in general and the role Ferguson Forest Centre plays in supporting them,” said Wes Herring, Vice-President of the Ferguson Forest Centre Corporation (FFC). “And with this year being the 20^th anniversary of the Centre as a social enterprise, we’ve got lots to celebrate.”

The Ferguson Tree Nursery is the revenue-generating side of the FFC. With the changing landscape in tree planting programs and uncertainty for the traditional bareroot seedling market, the Tree Nursery is adapting to ensure its continued success into the future.

“We’ve started growing more species to meet the biodiversity needs of rural landowners,” stated Ed Patchell, CEO of the Tree Nursery. “We will be growing more hardwoods like Maple, Oak, Hickory, Cherry and other species. We’re also growing more shrubs and trees that produce edible products and are better for wildlife.”

Another exciting direction for the Ferguson Tree Nursery is the collection, processing, storage and sales of seed from perennials to tree seed. With the closure of the Provincial Government’s Tree Seed Plant, the nursery industry faced a large void in the supply of good quality locally-sourced seed. The Ferguson Tree Nursery intends to fill this gap by collecting seed and cones from throughout southern Ontario to supply its own needs, as well as those needed by other nurseries and private individuals.

With seedling orders up from previous years, Ferguson staff and board are optimistic. “We expect to be here for the long term,” stated CEO Patchell. “The Ferguson Tree Nursery has a bright future ahead of it.”

Ferguson Forest Centre recently launched a fresh, new website www.FergusonForestCentre.ca.
The site provides information to residents and visitors looking to explore the Forest Centre’s unique recreational green space, including a dog park, arboretum, Veteran’s Way, Anniversary Park and 22km of trails. A link on the site directs those looking for tree purchases to www.FergusonTreeNursery.ca.

Contacts:

Celebrating its 20th Anniversary in 2020, the Ferguson Forest Centre Corporation volunteer Board held its annual elections for executive officers on February 25th.  

Re-elected were Carl Doucette (President), Wes Herring and Carl Cannon (Vice Presidents), and CEO Ed Patchell (Secretary). Andre Rancourt was elected as Treasurer.

Ferguson Forest Centre is 1100 acres of multi-use forested land located in the Municipality of North Grenville. The Centre boasts walking and hiking trails, snowmobile and skiing trails, an arboretum, dog park, children’s areas and a waterfront park with a picnic shelter and canoe and kayak launch dock.

The Centre is governed by the not-for-profit Ferguson Forest Centre Corporation, which oversees 360 acres of municipal land and 740 acres of provincial lands. The Corporation’s wholly-owned Ferguson Tree Nursery grows native and non-invasive naturalized trees and woody shrubs, through which it funds the operation, management and maintenance of the Centre.

The Centre recently established committees for the trails, arboretum, parks, and public relations and communications, to assist in implementing the Corporation’s mandate and vision. Anyone interested in volunteering as committee member, or in becoming a corporate member, is invited to contact Carolyn Rayfield at 613-258-0110, ext. 230.

Contact:

Carl Cannon, Vice President, Ferguson Forest Centre Corporation

On behalf of the Ferguson Forest Center Corporation Board, President Carl Doucette, and Vice President Wes Herring, extend an invitation to all members of the Ferguson Forest Center Corporation and members of the public to attend the Annual General Meeting to be held on February 5th at 7pm.

The AGM will take place at the Ferguson Nursery Boardroom located at 275 County Road 44 in Kemptville.

Inquiries can be directed to Carolyn Rayfield who can be reached at 613 258-0110, ext 230.

The Veterans Way Memorial Park is a special site of remembrance and reflection that was created to honour all those that served, and continue to serve, in the Canadian, British and United States of America Armed Forces.

Visit the website of Memorial Park

The Ferguson Forest Dog Park is a fully-fenced and well-equipped dog park within the boundaries of the Ferguson Tree Nursery. The dog park offers both open and treed areas for large dogs and a separate area for the comfort and security of small dogs.

Text here to describe the relationship between the Giving Garden and The Ferguson Forest Centre Corporation.

Visit the website of the Giving Garden