Botanizing by Lake Ontario: An Australian visits the Nature Conservancy of Canada
Left to right: Cheryl Reyes, Jane Gilbert, Amanda Tracey and Kate Cranney at Presqu'ile Provincial Park (Photo by NCC)
We looked suspect at best. Picture this: three cars parked in an isolated part of Presqu’ile Provincial Park. Ten people huddled together against the wind and rain. One woman picking something from the ground, holding it up to the light....
6 Nature Destinations to visit this winter
Bunchberry Meadows, AB (Photo by Brent Calver)
Winter has made its way across Canada. Long gone are the changing leaves and the fall jackets, the latter now stored away as we bring out parkas better suited for the tough Canadian winters. With landscapes covered in blankets of snow and trees...
Exploring Canada’s wild west
Me in Jasper National Park (Photo by Tazim Hunter)
Last September I went on a week-long road trip through Alberta with my mom. We flew to Edmonton and then drove past wilderness to Jasper, Banff and Calgary. This was my first time visiting this part of Canada, and I still can’t get over its...
Take a step off Highway 1
Valley View, SK (Photo by Jason Bantle)
The sun shone brightly as the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) announced the conservation of the Valley View property. It was a beautiful time to be in the gorgeous Qu’Appelle Valley, only 20 minutes from Regina. The media event for the...
Winter on the wet West Coast
Tow Hill, Haida Gwaii, BC (Photo by NCC)
When you picture winter, images of dripping mosses, lichens and ferns along with long, diffused yellow light rays dappling a lush vibrant green forest floor, combined with the playful cries of the bald eagle, may not be what come to mind. However,...
Dr. Crayfish, I presume?
Premek Hamr, PhD (a.k.a. Dr. Crayfish) (Photo courtesy of Premek Hamr, PhD)
At the Nature Conservancy of Canada's annual Ontario Region staff meeting last May, a few of us stepped outside to wander the shoreline of Lake Simcoe and admire the sunset. As we rooted around the rocky beach, I took a few photos of plants and...
Heard it from a Scout: Discovering the winter night sky
Discover the winter night sky (Photo by Steve Owst CC0)
One of my most relevant memories during my Scouting years happened at a winter camp in E. C. Manning Provincial Park in BC on a frigid February night. Our patrol was made up of a group of eight Scouts, between 11 and 13 years old, camping in a...
Step into the wilderness with just a 15-minute paddle from the city
A beach in the Hochelaga Archipelago (Photo by NCC)
I like to imagine the St. Lawrence islands like treasures situated in the middle of the river; little parcels of paradise that were accidentally dropped into our province, just two steps from Montreal. Stéphanie...
Connecting to nature and my ancestry from the stern of a canoe
Me at the mouth of the Voyageurs and Old Voyageurs channels (Photo by Christine Beevis Trickett/NCC staff)
This story is about my experiences on and personal connections to what is now known as the French River, in Ontario. Long before European settlers came, this area was occupied by Indigenous Peoples. The original caretakers of the land, this is the...
If you conserve it, they will come
Swift fox in southern Alberta (Photo by NCC)
A den of swift foxes, a species once extirpated (locally extinct) in Canada, was recently discovered on a Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) conservation site in southeast Alberta. The discovery of this den is proof that the work that...
