It feels like I’m sending my kid to school ― grazing school
Dundurn property, SK (Photo by NCC)
So, back in July I was crashing through the bush trying to get back from the west boundary fence of the Dundurn property when I was hit with an analogy, along with a bunch of branches. I had an epiphany of how the Nature Conservancy of Canada...
Reduce your plastic footprint
Gull with balloon ribbon wrapped around its feet (Photo by Jason Read)
On World Environment day this past June 5, the United Nations (UN) called for the end of single-use plastic. Using the #beatplasticpollution hashtag, there were all kinds of conversations on Twitter about how to minimize your plastic use. Plastic...
Getting rid of the garlic
Invasive garlic mustard can take over forests, harming native understory species (Photo by NCC)
Garlic mustard might sound tasty, and it is, but it’s also an alien invader that the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) is battling on Pelee Island in southwestern Ontario. Pelee Island is home to the elusive gray fox. NCC is working here...
Sky-high conservation and other unique internship experiences this summer
Logan Salm and Breanna Silversides taking a pre-flight selfie (Photo by NCC)
The Nature Conservancy of Canada’s (NCC’s) summer internship provides an incredible opportunity to experience and learn hands-on about Saskatchewan’s unique and beautiful landscape. This summer, as a geographical information...
Rediscovering food from our own backyards
Me holding a beaked hazelnut (Photo by NCC)
Another week has gone by, and the time has come where I look at my empty cupboards and realize that I cannot put off grocery shopping any longer. Grudgingly, I pack up my reusable bags and head across the street to the grocery store. I browse...
Tails from the Field: Mapping the way to conservation
Using a GPS to find sign coordinates at Fishing Lake, ON (Photo by Nick Tardif)
If you've ever been frustrated when your car’s GPS directed you the wrong way, you know the plight of the conservation biologist. Staff at the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) rely heavily on GPS systems, maps and co-ordinates. And we're...
What the heck is a neotenic salamander?
Lemon-yellow prehistoric-looking creature that I later found out to be a western tiger salamander (Photo by Sherry Nigro)
My dad told me about it during a phone call. A neighbour had discovered some weird, not-seen-here-before creatures in his dugout. Bright yellow ones, dark ones, some with frills around their necks like miniature dinosaurs; these creatures were...
Where are they now? Intern Alumni Spotlight: Eve Desmarais
Eve Desmarais at her office at Environment and Climate Change Canada (Photo courtesy of Eve Desmarais)
This blog is the second in a series of stories highlighting some of the individuals who have interned with the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC). Follow along as I interview NCC Conservation Intern alumni from across the country, and learn more...
Obituary for a curlew
An Eskimo curlew taxidermy is likely the only way to see this species in the flesh nowadays. (Photo taken at the Royal Ontario Museum by Dan Kraus/NCC staff)
It’s probably unusual to think about writing an obituary for a bird. But the story of the Eskimo curlew recently led me to do just that: Eskimo curlew (Numenius borealis), after a long battle with market hunting and habitat loss, passed...
Producing Nature Talks, the podcast (Audio blog)
Voicing the podcast in my home recording studio (Photo courtesy of Tiffany Cassidy/NCC staff)
This is the story of Tiffany Cassidy, the Nature Conservancy of Canada's (NCC's) national media relations manager, and the lessons she learned while producing a podcast series called Nature Talks. Listen to the audio blog and view the transcript...
