My Klinaklini
Dalton's Hideaway in the Klinaklini Valley, BC (Photo by NCC)
(The Nature Conservancy of Canada's (NCC’s) Peter Shaughnessy looks after some of NCC’s most remote projects in British Columbia. Our conservation areas in the Kilinaklini River Valley in the west-central part of the province top the...
Longing for the long weekend
Birding at the Tabusintac Estuary, NB (Photo by NCC)
Much of my adolescence has prepared me well for long weekends. I grew up exploring forests, watching clouds and skipping through puddles — an amateur explorer, some might say. And I can assure you that this angst to be surrounded by green...
Farewell, Mr. Mowat
Marie Tremblay (Photo courtesy of Marie Tremblay/NCC staff)
Even if his last name is radically different from mine and he was from a very different part of the country, I still feel like Farley Mowat was part of our family. Growing up in Quebec, his books were all around our house, as my sister and I,...
Thank you, Farley Mowat
Caribou crossing snowy tundra (Photo by Goldmann Jo, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
I hadn't realized, until I sat down to write this post, the influence that Farley Mowat had on me. Flashback to Grade 5, and I am reading People of the Deer. The descriptions of vast wilderness, terrifying but beautiful barren landscapes and...
Good news for "The Grasses"! New study reveals presence of Newfoundland pine marten on NCC property
Cabin at the Grassy Place, NL (Photo by John Gosse)
It was a brutally cold and stormy day when local Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) steward Mike Targett and friend, Eddie Dempsey, escorted me to the upper reaches of Robinson’s River in western Newfoundland. The hour-long snowmobile trip...
Finding nature in the city
Winter bud (Photo by Amanda Cashin Photography)
With snow and ice covering the ground here in Toronto, I find myself often daydreaming of warm weather and colourful backdrops throughout the city. My biggest city struggle in the winter is appreciating the natural elements close to me, especially...
Did scientists discover a 70-million-year-old reindeer antler at Sandstone Ranch? The answer may surprise you!
Fossil discovered at Sandstone Ranch (Photo by François Blouin)
Early this fall I and two colleagues travelled 40 kilometres south of Magrath, Alberta to the Sandstone Ranch. MULTISAR had been contracted five years ago to develop a conservation plan for the ranch, which is co-owned and managed by the Nature...
At home on the tundra: Why I fell in love with the Arctic landscape
Dundas Harbour (Photo by Carolyn Mallory)
If you’ve never had the opportunity to visit the Arctic tundra, perhaps your first moments will compare to mine. When I stepped off the plane in Iqaluit, Nunavut in 1999, I knew immediately that I would call this place home. The landscape...
Labrador...one of nature's final frontiers
Lindsay Notzl cross-country skiing in Labrador (Photo by Jon Feldgajer)
If you are a wilderness lover, or an adventurer of any kind, Labrador should be on your list of "must sees." Labrador (or "The Big Land" as it is sometimes called) stretches across vast expanses of tundra, taiga and boreal forest. Anglers from...
Of bugs and slugs: Pint-sized citizen scientist discovers a strange blue slug, far from home
Blue-grey taildropper (Photo courtesy of Habitat Acquisition Trust)
My seven-year-old son Malcolm was excited about going on the Slug & Snail Walk at Chase Woods. He loves hiking, and I hadn’t the heart to tell him that there likely wouldn’t be a lot of actual hiking on this field trip. Slugs and...
