Baxter Outdoor and Environmental Education Programs
Baxter Conservation Area offers outdoor and environmental education programs for students and community groups from preschool to grade 12 and beyond. Join us in our outdoor classroom and give your students the opportunity to explore and connect with nature. Our education programs provide students and visitors with interactive, hands-on, curriculum-based experiences where they will learn about the natural world and their relationship with it. We also offer outdoor education programs where students will learn navigation and outdoor survival skills as well.
Baxter can accommodate up to 60 students per day. All equipment is included in our programs and each program runs approximately 1.5 hours in length. Below please find descriptions of each of the programs we offer. Descriptions are offered as general guidelines — if there are specific objectives that you would like to accomplish, please let us know. Although grade levels are recommended for each program, these are also only guidelines. Please select any desired fields to narrow your search.
| Half Day Program | $200 / group * | maximum 30 students, 90 minutes with an RVCA instructor |
| Full Day Program | $275 / group * | maximum 30 students, two 90 minutes with an RVCA instructor |
| Self-directed | $2.50/person * | Interested in just visiting the conservation area with your class but not booking a program? The cost is $2.50/person. This does not include the use of buildings other than access to public washrooms. To reserve facilities, contact staff. Staff must still be contacted to book a self-directed visit. |
| Overnight Tent Camping (accommodations only) | 1-15 people - $75/night * 16-30 people - $150/night * 30+ people - contact for pricing * Additional buildings also available for rent (link to facility rentals) |
Take you class on an overnight adventure to our group camping area! Plan your own activities or book our education staff to provide programming during your stay (see above for pricing). |
* plus applicable taxes
Baxter’s Cancellation Policy: A minimum of fifteen (15) business days notice is required to cancel education programs at Baxter Conservation Area.
This policy gives schools/groups on our waiting list sufficient time to try and fill the program opening. If Baxter Conservation Area is notified of a cancellation less than 15 business days in advance of your scheduled visit, a cancellation fee of $50.00 will be charged.
In the event of severe weather conditions (i.e. thunderstorms, snowstorms, etc.), Baxter staff will make contact with your school/group by 7:00 AM the morning of your trip if we need to re-schedule or cancel the program on that day. There will be no charge for a cancellation made due to school bus cancellations or severe weather conditions on the day of your trip.
Baxter Education Program Descriptions
Displaying items by tag: rehabilitation
Winter Work on Hutton Creek Marsh Restoration Complete
ELIZABETHTOWN-KITLEY, March 11, 2020 – Winter restoration work on the Hutton Creek Marsh is now complete to the delight of the many dedicated partners who made the project possible.
This work completes Phase 2 of a long-term project to bring the provincially significant wetland near Lombardy back to a more natural, productive state. Over the years, the provincially significant wetland located near Lombardy had become a monoculture: choked and overgrown with cattails. Only 10 per cent of the marsh was open water which had negative impacts on its biology, ecology and hydrology.
Hutton Creek Marsh is an amazing sample of Ontario’s provincially significant wetlands. This 300-hectare marsh found upstream of the Motts Mills Berm is part of the much larger Otter Lake - Hutton Creek Wetland Complex which covers 722 hectares. Five individual wetlands make up a palustrine wetland complex, meaning there is a permanent flow of surface water into the wetland from various creeks and out below the Motts Mills Berm into Hutton Creek and on downstream to the Rideau River.
In 2015, the nearby Motts Mills Dam was decommissioned and replaced with an earthen berm. In 2017, the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority (RVCA) lowered local water levels to help staff study the wetland and determine the best way to address the crowded cattails. In 2019, work began to increase the open water features of the marsh. Crews looked to build 1.5 acres of open water ponds and add 500 metres of channels to help return the wetland to a healthier hemi-marsh state (50 per cent vegetation and 50 per cent open water).
These improvements will support increased diversity for various plants, mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and turtles. This healthier water-to-vegetation ratio is also ideal for waterfowl. Creating more open water will also restore local access for paddling and hunting. It is hoped that the diversity and abundance of species will return to what was in the 1970s and 1980s.
Some final work will be done this in the coming months to add habitat structures, distribute vegetation seeds and plant water-loving shrubs at the construction site.
Special thanks to the dedicated group of local stakeholders and funders who made this project possible including Ducks Unlimited Canada, Leeds and Grenville Stewardship Council, Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters Zone F, the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville (UCLG), Wildlife Habitat Canada, Rideau Valley Conservation Authority and the Rideau Valley Conservation Foundation.
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