Richardson Mine

Ron Peterson discovered this interesting information about the Richardson Mine which is located at the end of Deyo's bay.

From the Department of Mines publication "Feldspar", by Hugh S Spence, #731, 1932.

Caterpillars

Here is some information that John Bonner dug up on the current crop of caterpillars that are busy at work on our trees.

After visiting Frontenac Park, John sent the following note to Corina Brdar at Ontario Parks.

I have had a cottage on Desert lake since 1975, and have suffered through Gypsy moths and tent caterpillars, but have never seen anything this late in the summer that attacks Oak trees. The ground around our cottage is covered with green partially eaten oak leaves and there have been hundreds of caterpillars for the last 2+ weeks.

I stopped into Frontenac Park and actually saw several around the building, but the staff had no knowledge of the beasts, and recommended that I contact you for some identification information.

I have attached a couple of pictures, and would appreciate any info you can provide me concerning what they are, and what if anything can be done to contain them next year.

Corina responded with the following.

Interesting. Those guys at Frontenac think I know everything. What I don’t know is moths, and that’s what these are a caterpillar of. Moths are incredibly diverse (there are hundreds in Ontario), and many of them eat trees as caterpillars, including the caterpillars that are native to Ontario. I get updates on tree pests and diseases from a colleague and tried looking up some of the known oak pests that have been abundant recently in our part of Ontario, but no luck. I looked through my caterpillar field guide – nothing. Then I googled “oak caterpillars” and came up with this, which you may enjoy:
http://magickcanoe.com/blog/2007/03/22/finding-caterpillars/ (page 3)

Apparently it’s a red-humped oakworm, which seems like an appropriate name.

It’s not unusual for the various species of insects that feed on trees to go through cycles and be more abundant some years than others – it all depends on what’s happening in the ecosystem. Our native trees have co-evolved with the various insects that feed on them, so they generally don’t have a serious impact when they go through little population bursts. It’s when something is out of balance that problems happen – like when there is a caterpillar outbreak the same year as a bad drought, or if an alien species like emerald ash borer gets introduced.

Additional information came from Carolyn Bonta of MNR.

I'm printing up page 4 of the Forest Health newsletter (link below) to post in the Park Office breezeway, and I'll also update the whiteboard, as I'm sure a lot of people are wondering about these little critters. www.foca.on.ca/xinha/plugins/ExtendedFileManager/demo_images/Forest_Health_Update_Nov_2010.pdf (page 4)
Good to know that red-humped oakworms are a native species and not an invasive pest; it also sounds like their outbreaks aren't as regular as those of e.g. tent caterpillars.

Have a look at the two references. They are quite interesting.