Cathy and Paul Keddy recently received a prestigious Ottawa Field Naturalists’ Club Conservation Award for their work on land conservation in Lanark County. The award recognizes more than twenty years of activity.
Paul Keddy is the author of the popular guide to Lanark County called Earth, Water, Fire: An Ecological Profile of Lanark County. The latest edition was published in 2008. Cathy Keddy has served on the Board of Directors of the Mississippi Valley Field Naturalists and is now on the Mississippi Madawaska Land Trust board.
The Conservation Award particularly recognized Cathy and Paul’s donation of a conservation easement on their property to create nearly a square mile of protected forest and wetland near the southern edge of Mississippi Mills. This property, known as the Keddy Nature Sanctuary, is now administrated and protected by the Mississippi Madawaska Land Trust. It includes provincially significant wetlands, rare plants, and an ancient hemlock forest.
The photo shows the award being presented by the President of the Ottawa Field Naturalists’
Club, Dr. Fenja Brodo (left), at a reception in Ottawa. The Ottawa Field Naturalists’ Club (www.ofnc.ca) is Canada’s oldest natural history society. It was founded in 1863 and how has over 800 members who share their knowledge and appreciation for wild species and wild places in the Ottawa area (photo by Diane Lepage).
