It actually is all about you: Altruism, identity and other secrets about nature conservation in Canada
Connop Property in Alberta (photo by NCC)
There are many reasons why nature conservation is important. We live in a vast and diverse country with habitats and rare species that need our help if they are going to survive. Nature and nature conservation are an important part of our Canadian...
The end of the rainbow: Invasive species and the real costs of ecological monkey-wrenching
The once common and now rare rainbow clam (Villosa iris) (Photo by Karen Little, courtesy of Illinois State Museum)
Somewhere in the rivers of southern Ontario is a species few people have heard of, and even fewer have ever seen. It’s simply named the rainbow. The rainbow is a freshwater clam that gets its name from the rich iridescent colours on its...
Finding nature at home
Toronto skyline (Photo by Taxiarchos228, Wikimedia Commons)
Nature and cities can seem like opposing ends of an ecological spectrum. Many see nature in its purist form only in wilderness — where our human influence is minimal, or at least hidden. Cities are the grey places on the map that testify to...
Sharing great science from the Great Lakes
Sunset over Wilson Island, Lake Superior, Ontario (Photo by Michelle Derosier, Thunderstone Pictures)
The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) and The Nature Conservancy (U.S.) recently published a paper in the journal Environmental Practice that analyzes the results of the recently completed biodiversity conservation strategies in context of the...
From wasteland to wonderland: Why we need wetlands, before it’s too late
Sunset at Minesing Wetlands, ON (Photo by Ethan Meleg)
I sometimes think I need to find a support group for people that are haunted by ecological guilt. To be honest, I mostly feel pretty good about my past as an environmental consultant before joining the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC). People...
Who is training tomorrow’s conservation biologists? The gap between academic and applied conservation
NCC conservation intern monitoring plant communities (Photo by NCC)
As a small group of large black birds soared overhead on a warm summer day, I saw a look of confusion on my new field assistant’s face. I asked her if she was OK, and she commented: “That’s the third time I’ve seen those...
A call to conserve the world's last great forests
Carolinian forest, Ontario (Photo courtesy of Earth Images Foundation)
There are few other groups of species that have impacted the face of our planet than trees…. We define the major life zones of earth based on the presence or absence of forests. At one time all plants were grasses, ferns and horsetails...
