Mother Nature has more than a friend in the Hamilton Naturalists' Club — she also has an investor.

The club recently paid $100,000 for a six-hectare parcel of land in a 132-hectare wooded area off Waterdown Road in Burlington called the Sassafras Woods Environmentally Significant Area.

That's not the first time the club has put money where its mouth is. But it's the latest example of how members of the 600-plus member club want to do more than celebrate flora and fauna.

Jen Baker, the club's land trust manager, said: "It's not just about nature appreciation. It's nature protection, too."

The property is part of the Cootes to Escarpment EcoPark System, an effort to protect, restore and connect more than 3,900 hectares of natural lands at the western end of Lake Ontario.

The purchase was made possible because of a donation from longtime members Barney and Helene Dutka.

"We wanted to honour and protect the land," said Barney. "It's a lovely area with beautiful valleys. That land will stay protected into perpetuity."

The property has been named Anita Dutka-Buchin Nature Sanctuary, in honour of Barney's mother, who was also a nature lover.

"We want to make sure there is always somewhere safe for birds and other wildlife," said Helene Dutka.

The club is hoping to receive funding from the Halton Region Greenlands Fund that would allow some of the Dutka donation to be redirected to other land purchases. The Dutka property is actually in two parcels north of Flatt Road. It is accessed most easily from where Old Waterdown Road ends.

Baker said the club owns more than 160 hectares of land including property at the Beverly Swamp, and in Copetown. It even has lands outside Hamilton at Turkey Point and in Fonthill.

The Sassafras property is ecologically significant because "there is mature and secondary growth forest as well as meadows and open space. There is a whole lot of different kinds of habitat and the biodiversity is pretty high."

However, no sassafras trees have been found on the HNC land so far.

"There might be some. We just don't know yet," says Baker.

Sassafras trees are part of the Carolinian forest but are tend not to be seen this far north.

Peter Kelly, co-ordinator of the Cootes to Escarpment project, said he is thrilled the local club stepped up to buy the property. "The best thing they can do is leave it alone, and let people enjoy it. And that's what the Naturalists Club is planning to do.

"The Hamilton Naturalists Club has to be the most active naturalist group in the province. There are other naturalists clubs that own land, but not nearly as much as the Hamilton club," he said.

With the HNC acquisition, partners in the EcoPark system have taken control of more than 100 hectares of ecologically significant land in the past two years, through purchase, donation and conservation easement.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Baker said another factor in the HNC decision to purchase the property is it make the club a "full landowning partner in the Cootes to the Escarpment EcoPark system.

"We're a grown-up player at the table," Baker said.

Other landowning players would include the RBG, Bruce Trail Conservancy, City of Hamilton, Burlington, Halton region, McMaster University, Conservation Halton and the Hamilton Conservation Authority.