Project Highlight: Fox Property Restoration Unit

FoxUnit Friends

Primary BUI Addressed: BUI 14b: Loss of Wildlife Habitat

Project Location:

Fox Unit Property project adds to the network of complex ecosystems that provides critical wildlife habitat near Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge to enhance the coastal wetland corridor.  This 40-acre project is located directly across State Route 2 from the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center. The property includes an 8-acre woodlot, which was maintained and enhanced and is the first project for the Friends of the ONWR group.

Project Benefits: 

This project increases critical wildlife habitat around the shores of Lake Erie.

  • Reestablish wetland and upland prairie
  • Provide habitat for wildlife

Project Objectives: 

  • Plant 3.7 acres of native short grass sedge meadow
  • Restore 15 acres of native short grass sedge meadow interspersed with scattered trees
  • Maintaining and enhancing 11 acres of forest

In 2020, the Fox Unit property was seeded with moist meadow and woodland sedge. This April the Fox Unit Property received a prescribed burn to facilitate the restoration process. An aerial video of the burn can be found here https://youtu.be/b5Pbqh4AYz4. The project is scheduled to be completed by December 2021.