Blake Ellis/The Independent

A voice for nature, that is how Wanda Brown-Maxfield describes Lambton Wildlife.

The environmental organization is celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2026 and Brown-Maxfield serves as president of the volunteer driven group.

It started in 1966, when a group of six people who were all interested in nature got together. By the end of the year, the group had grown to 15 people and had incorporated into Lambton Wildlife. They organized trips to various conservation areas, as well as hikes, birding and fungi walks.

Then it branched into advocacy.

By 1972, the group purchased the Mandaumin Woods, a Carolinian woodlot, that is accessed off of Mandaumin Road
between Confederation and Churchill lines. Lambton Wildlife cares for the space through trail clean up, tree planting an evasive species removal. There is a one kilometre trail that is open to the public as well. The group is planning for a trail walk coming up in the fall.

Lambton Wildlife also purchased the Karner Blue Sanctuary in Port Franks in 1988.

Until the late 1980s, this was the home of the endangered Karner Blue Butterfly.

It had one of the last remaining colonies in North America and was one of the reasons Lambton Wildlife purchased the land.

Unfortunately, the Karner Blue Butterflies have not been found there since then. The sanctuary area is still important, conserving oak savannah with an open grassy area. In the early 2020s, the group also entered into stewardship agreements which led to the creation of the Sydenham River Nature Reserve and the Bradshaw Conservation Lands.

Bradshaw Conservation Lands were formed in partnership between the Thames Talbot Land Trust and the St. Clair Region Conservation Authority, a first for the group.

Lambton Wildlife is involved in both projects by conducting bird counts, snake surveys as well as counts for bats and dragonflies, said Brown-Maxwell.

Lambton Wildlife now has approximately 200 members, but some of those are family memberships, so the exact number of people involved with the organization is between 300 and 350. There is a strong volunteer base, said Brown-Maxwell, as the organization relies on between 40 and 60 volunteers to do a variety of tasks from leading walks to conducting indoor meetings. A 60th anniversary committee was also struck this year with a get-together which was held at Canatara at the beginning of September.

Brown-Maxfield expects the group to grow in the future as Lambton Wildlife teaches young people about the importance of the unique environment around them.

The Young Naturalists is a youth program sponsored by Lambton Wildlife for the children between six and 12 years of age. The group has 100 families registered for the Young Naturalists with up to as many as 20 children attending each event.

Lambton Wildlife is also open to new people joining its ranks, calling it “a fantastic group of kindred spirits.” If anyone would like to join, they can access Lambtonwildlife.com.