CASO, a newly accessible trail in Chatham-Kent

 The use of railways has changed over the decades, and some have become abandoned or taken over by new interests. Such is the case for the former CASO rail line, which extends throughout Chatham-Kent. It has had various owners over its lifetime, and it was just a few decades ago when it was taken out of use. 

I had the opportunity beginning in 2012 to work with Carolinian Canada staff, doing a cursory life science inventory, starting off with the eastern portion in that year. We tried to document as many of the major groups of flora and fauna that we could, but with only a relatively brief time period. On rare occasions when some vegetation community especially piqued our interests, we would visit a section of the rail trail a second time.

The results were pleasing. Although much of the trail passed through heavily agricultural usage areas, there were places where it went by an interesting woodlot, or even better, a small prairie patch or a wetland.

A buttonbush swamp is considered a rare vegetation community in Ontario.

The few wetlands are popular with turtles.

'Tired' turtles

There were several small prairie patches which were delightful to find. These areas, especially those that were first encountered early in the season, were usually visited a second time to see just what occurred in them during a period when they would be displaying a greater diversity of prairie species.

As a result, we tallied more than 275 species of plants, 50 species of birds (46 with evidence of breeding), 28 species of butterfly, 8 species of reptiles & amphibians and 8 species of mammals. 

There were various highlights. Compass Plant, shown first, is a provincially rare species which was first known for this site back in 2000. It proved to be even more extensive as it occurred in several sections.

The prairie patches sometimes supported an endangered prairie species known as Dense Blazing-star.

 

Other prairie patches had 'just' some of the expected prairie species.

Butterfly Milkweed

Another highlight was coming across a large patch of this prairie species, which was a first record for Chatham-Kent. It is known as Prairie Sundrops (Oenothera pilosella). Due to some shrubby growth, the patch is smaller now than back in 2012.

Due to the presence of many non-native wildflowers, not all that surprising since parts of it have been heavily disturbed, there is an incredible array of plants that attract butterflies and many other pollinating invertebrates. I came across Pipevine Swallowtail in a couple of different areas.

Milbert's Tortoiseshell is much more common than Pipevine, but not seen anywhere all that regularly.

While we were carrying out this inventory, it was always our hope that this would be publicly accessible. It had been posted as off limits at the time, and at one point while conducting some of the field work, I had been reported by a local landowner as being suspicious. This resulted in a local police officer stopping by and checking me out. Fortunately the letter of permission I had with me prevented any further complications.

Fast forward to the last couple of years, and the eastern half has now been made publicly accessible. This is the section beginning at Communication Road (formerly Hwy 40) and going east to the edge of CK at MacPherson Road. The property is jointly owned by Entegrus and the municipality, and is currently underway to be upgraded with signage, etc., for pedestrians and cyclists. Several sections have been upgraded already, with more happening this year, and the entire stretch being completed by 2025.

There are 32 access points. Many sections will already have an entrance marked like this:

A closer look will give much more detail.

Other sections which have not yet been upgraded but where there is access will only have a sign like this:

And this may be of particular interest to birders, especially those who are involved with the current Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas in Region 2. This trail, as mentioned, goes through lots of areas that were previously not accessible, and traverses squares MH19, MH29, MG20 and MG30.

I have been on some of the sections over the last few weeks. As mentioned, some sections have been upgraded and are well signed. The trail is nicely set with lots of room for pedestrians and cyclists, as shown in the following image.

Compass Plant is still present in the usual sections.

They were coming up very close to the rail bed during our 2012 inventory, and even after the trail has had the rails, ties and gravel removed and with a good layer of trail gravel put down, some plants are emerging through the base.

Given the dominant shrubby, open vegetation types, the diversity of birds would fit that habitat type. I haven't been by one of the woodlands or wetlands during the prime breeding period yet. Nonetheless I have encountered almost 40 species of birds so far. With a few dead trees along the route, the open branches provide some decent photo opportunities.

Cedar Waxwing

Indigo Bunting

I haven't seen a lot of butterfly diversity yet, but some of the main pollinator plant species are just coming into their peak period, so I would expect a greater diversity in the next few weeks. I have noted the following things of interest.

Bladdernut is not a common shrub in southern Ontario, and only occurs in a couple of sections along this trail.

Sassafrass, easily identified by its distinctive leaf shapes, is scattered along.

White Mulberry is present along most sections, and is just now coming into fruit. The fruits are quite tasty, so before the birds get them all, you can enjoy a few along the way. A mulberry tree in fruit is always worth keeping an eye on since they are quite popular with several bird species.

Horse-nettle is a Carolinian species but fairly widespread especially along roadsides and other disturbed areas, including this trail.

This insect is probably an Oblique Streaktail (Allograpta obliqua), a type of hoverfly.

Wild Bergamot is widely scattered along the trail, especially in the prairie patches.

Adjacent to one section is a planted prairie, now owned by the Lower Thames Valley Conservation Authority. Recently the Ohio Spiderwort, an excellent prairie species, was in spectacular form.

So kudos to all who have made this publicly accessible trail available. It is worth checking out for lots of reasons. I hope to see a few more people out there, but not all at once :-).

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