Ontario Nature takes ownership of Thickson's Woods, a rare Whitby-Oshawa forest on Lake Ontario, Durham Region's eastern edge

A 10-hectare stretch of old-growth forest between a Whitby steel plant and the General Motors assembly plant in Oshawa is now permanently protected. Ontario Nature officially took ownership of Thickson's Woods last week from the Thickson's Woods Land Trust, a residents' group that bought the land decades ago to keep it from loggers and developers.

The site holds white pine trees dating back roughly 150 to 250 years, the last remaining pines of that age along the Lake Ontario shore, according to Ontario Nature's executive director, Andrés Jiménez Monge. It is home to more than 75 rare species, dozens of them classified as at-risk. Ecologist James Kamstra says over 1,200 moth species have been recorded in the woods.

For people in Durham Region, the change means the forest stays open. Joanne Brown, who sat on the land trust board before it was dissolved, said the group had been looking for a long-term partner after four decades of volunteer stewardship, and that Ontario Nature was the best fit to keep the land out of developers' hands. "It really is a community space where people can go and realize the value of having natural heritage right at their back door," she said. The trailhead connects to the waterfront trail and is reachable by car or transit.

The acquisition is Ontario Nature's 27th reserve in the province. Research from Ontario Nature's own release lists provincially at-risk species on the property, including prothonotary warblers, wood thrushes, eastern milksnakes, monarch butterflies and endangered butternut trees, along with Lake Ontario shoreline on two major migratory flyways.

Local volunteer care will continue alongside the Durham Region Field Naturalists.