Alvars?

Alvar? Earl Plato

Blue Racer? Do you know what I mean? We were headed by ferry for Pelee Island this late August day. The water was placid and the day perfect as we crossed from Leamington. We arrived mid morning. “Where’s the Blue runner?” I asked our tram driver. “Ran over one last week. They sun themselves on the road. They’re a long snake,” was her reply.
In the past two years on the island over fifty of this endangered species, the Blue racer, has been road kill. The estimate given to us was that less than 300 of this snake 3 feet to 6 feet still existed. Six feet! Yes. The dead one exhibited in the island museum was that long! Blue racers are exceptionally fast and are seldom seen by humans except on island roads sunning themselves. They are non poisonous. We traversed the island across its approximately five mile width. No luck only a pheasant farm with 10,000 young birds. I asked at at the only outlets for a Blue racer shirt. I ended up with a Pelee Island map shirt. Prickly Pear cactus, Giant swallowtail, Yellow-breasted chat, Eastern red cedar and other familiar nature landmarks embossed on the shirt but no Blue racer. Return again to Pelee Island for a more thorough search? Could be.
***
Go to Pelee Island if you want to see one big Alvar. In Fort Erie off the south end of Matthew’s Road is the small Marcy Alvar. Rob Eberly of the Bert Miller Nature Club introduced me to this nature concept - the Alvar. What is it?
We read that the Stone Road Alvar on the south-east corner of Pelee island “is perhaps Pelee island’s most unique nature preserve.” We travelled down the Canal Stone Road via an open tram. Talk about corduroy roads - what a teeth rattling ride through the former marsh area. Reclaimed marsh lands - that’s another story worth telling.
At the end of the road was F.O.N. (Federation of Ontario Naturalists) territory - Alvar country!
An alvar is an area where the flat limestone rock is close to the surface.
To you knowing naturalists the alvar area can only support the hardiest of plants hence some rare vegetation occurs. Note: This type of habitat is very rare in Canada. Yes, the Marcy property has an alvar.