Grasslands: Climate change’s unsuspecting heroes
Napanee Plain Alvar Nature Reserve, ON (Photo by Vincent Luk & Evermaven)
Carbon is the backbone of life on Earth. It makes up everything we do, everything we eat, and it even makes us up. Carbon is stored in different reservoirs, which broadly include land, water and the atmosphere. Carbon cycles from one reservoir to...
Celebrate Native Prairie Appreciation Week
I believe that the best place to start with poetry is nature. (Photo by Mark Taylor)
Since 1999, native prairie grasslands have gotten a little extra attention from the public during Native Prairie Appreciation Week, celebrated in Saskatchewan on the third week of June, thanks to the Saskatchewan Prairie Conservation Action Plan....
Where the river stops: Why habitat connectivity is critical for healthy fish populations across Canada
Spawning Chinook salmon (Photo by Fish On in the Yukon)
Before you read any further, stop and think about a fish migrating up a river. Chances are that fish is a salmon and that river is in BC. There’s good reason that salmon in BC have come to symbolize fish migration. The return of millions of...
Navigating a course for Canada's Marine Protected Areas on World Oceans Day
Rocks and ocean as seen on the Dr. Bill Freedman Nature Reserve (Photo by NCC)
Oceans and coasts are a key part of Canada’s environment, economy and identity, and yet most of us are unaware of how they are protected, and why conserving them is critical. Precious resources rich in life Oceans touch every Canadian...
Working in a winter wonderland
Kaitlin and I having a purple tongue contest with wild grapes (Photo by NCC).
When I first started at the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC), I remember talking to my supervisor about how much field work I would be doing, and being told that I would probably be in the office most of the time during the colder months because...
The beauty of bogs
Grand Codroy Estuary Nature Reserve, NL (Photo by NCC)
You don’t have to stray far from the road on the island of Newfoundland before you come across a bog. In fact, beautiful stretches of this spongy wetland can be seen from the comfort of your own vehicle, as you drive along the...
12 gifts of nature
Atlantic puffins (Photo by Bill Caulfeild-Browne)
Every year, the holidays rush by. Anticipation builds, the festive spirit fills the air, holiday jingles loop on. For some, the rush to fill stockings and pick out the perfect gift is both challenging and stressful, but it doesn’t have to...
First snow at Gillies Grove
Newly planted eastern white pine (Photo by NCC)
There is something magical about the first snowfall of the year. As the coordinator of conservation biology for eastern Ontario with the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC), I’m lucky that I get to experience all of our beautiful properties...
The importance of wetlands
Sunset at Minesing Wetlands, ON (Photo by Ethan Meleg)
In the summer of 2019, I had the pleasure of working as a conservation technician for the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC). While I was working out of the Norfolk office in southwestern Ontario, I spent a lot of time in restored fields and...
I like to be outnumbered
Maia Herriot in the field (Photo by NCC)
In my last week at the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) as the communications intern for the Saskatchewan Region, I found myself standing on a hill, in the rain, on one of our Qu’Appelle Valley properties. I was looking through my...
