Newsletter
2025 Common Tern Report
by Jennifer Arnold and Stephen Oswald, Penn State University We are excited to report on the 2025 field season for Common Terns at Presqu’ile Provincial Park, detailing the management and monitoring undertaken collaboratively by park staff and ourselves. We thank the Friends for their continued support of this important work. The unprecedented success of Common Terns at Presqu’ile is in large part due to this continued effort and adapting management approaches to meet prevailing challenges. The 2025 Common Tern breeding season broke many records, including seeing the largest colony at Presqu’ile since the 1970s and producing the most fledglings to leave the islands in […]
Garage To Greatness Project: Fall 2025 Update
In the summer we embarked on a new educational initiative: renovating the garage area of the Nature Centre into a classroom. This would create a four-season educational and meeting venue that will be used to deliver Discovery Program activities, environmental education for school groups, and it could be used for small gatherings. We’ve done the dirty work. Our volunteers have torn out the walls and flooring such that new wiring, plumbing, and insulation can be installed.
Our Volunteers Are Amazing!
The Friends of Presqu’ile is a completely volunteer-run organization. We rely on our amazing cadre of volunteers to carry out all great projects all season long. Each year over 5,000 volunteer hours are needed to make sure everything gets done.Who are our volunteers? Well, they range in age from 14 to over 80 years of age. They come from all walks of life – many are retirees, some are students getting their high school volunteer hours, and others are community members who squeeze time into their busy schedules to help out.The countless hours and skills help us to make our visions a reality. […]
Trail Improvements 2025
by Brent Barnes, Director of Operations Friends’ volunteers spent four days completing trail maintenance work this fall. The team spread wood chips on approximately 150 metres of Newcastle Trail. We had great volunteer support. We also worked with park staff – it was a solid joint effort. This is the third major trail maintenance project this season. In the spring, work was done on the wooded trail area at the Marsh Boardwalk and in the summer almost 100 metres were repaired on Owen Point Trail. This is labour-intensive work without the aid of major equipment that might damage the trails. […]
Park Update: Fall 2025
This year Presqu’ile saw another record-breaking season with over 400,000 visitors from April 1st to September 30th alone! This fall park staff have been continuing to remove dangerous ash trees from the campgrounds and many areas will look dramatically different come the spring. On a more positive note, over 500 trees are being planted this November to help jumpstart reforestation in the campgrounds. Look for these new trees in Elmvale and Trail’s End campgrounds. We have also been sourcing some new Presqu’ile-themed merchandise including new patches, pins, ornaments and clothing. All these new items are available at the Main Lobby store which is open Tuesday to Thursday for November and December. Drop by to check […]
Presqu’ile in Focus
Chair’s AGM Report on 2024 Activities and 2025 Plans While finally enjoying the warmth of spring, on June 7, 2025 the Friends of Presqu’ile Park held their 37th Annual General Meeting—bringing together dedicated volunteers, community members, and supporters to reflect on a year marked with significant achievements and to look ahead with refreshed motivation. Honouring the Land and Our Roots The meeting opened with a territorial acknowledgement, honouring the Mississauga Anishinaabeg and recognizing our neighbours of the Alderville First Nation as the traditional stewards of the land on which Presqu’ile Provincial Park rests. A Milestone Year Chair Terry Buchkowsky enthusiastically […]
A Banner Year for Common Terns
By Jennifer Arnold & Stephen Oswald, Penn State University 2025 has been a banner year for Common Terns breeding at Presqu’ile Provincial Park. The park’s Biodiversity team has ensured that there is now more protected nesting space than ever within predator exclusion grids. Working collaboratively, we have implemented further improvements to tern grids to deter predatory night herons, monitored tern productivity and improved our understanding of the long-term impacts of the grids on colony growth. This year, terns began laying on May 10th and to date have laid 308 nests. From these nests, almost 500 chicks have been successfully raised […]
