Please fence me in
Tim Teetaert and Stephen Gietz installing fences at the Manitoba Tall Grass Prairie Preserve (Photo by NCC)
If you drove down Manitoba Provincial Road 201 this past summer, you may have seen Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) staffers installing fencing along a portion of NCC land at the Manitoba Tall Grass Prairie Preserve. You may have even asked...
Close encounters of a furry kind
Plains bison (Photo by NCC)
Confession time: I am not a cowboy. There, I said it! My Carhartts have a lot more house paint on them than cow manure. My farming background is in grains (I am a proud agro and I used to be able to unload on the fly, sort of like these guys), and...
The importance of boreal forests
Boreal forest by Fort McMurray, AB (Photo by Michel Rapinski)
This past summer, the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) participated in the protection of the largest contiguous area of boreal forest in the world. This amazing feat was achieved in partnership with the Tallcree Tribal Government, the...
If you’re Batman then I must be Robin, right?
Joe Poissant's (a.k.a. Batman's) office in the country (Photo by NCC)
I feel like there might be some real merit in an ecologist superhero movie. Hear me out before you rate me on Rotten Tomatoes. This summer I spent a couple of nights trying my best to help the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s (NCC’s)...
Saving habitat for Canada's species at risk this holiday season
Polar bear (Photo by Ansgar Walk)
Halting the rapid loss of species is one of the greatest conservation challenges we all face. We’re currently witnessing what scientists have called the “sixth extinction.” From birds to bumble bees, many species are declining....
National Appreciation Week for Animal and Rescue Shelters
Me volunteering at the Funds for Animals Wildlife Center in Ramona, California. (Photo by the Humane Society of the United States)
As an animal lover, my social media feed tends to be filled with animal-related posts. It consists of heartwarming stories, such as animal rescues, adoption stories, species reintroductions, etc. If you also have a soft spot for animals,...
How plastic waste threatens marine organisms
Plastic waste is often seen washed up on shorelines (Photo by Kevin Krejc/Wikimedia Commons)
Ocean plastic pollution has grabbed worldwide attention in quite a short period of time. This is because the impact of plastic waste on marine plants and animals is tremendous. Plastic garbage patches the size of small countries floating on the...
The foxes of NCC
Red fox (Photo by Alex Badyaev)
Growing up, my favourite book was Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox. It was no surprise that the Christmas following the first time I read (and then re-read over and over) the ionic children’s novel, I asked Santa for anything and...
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...
Sidney's paradise on the edge of the Moose Woods
Lucy Weston and her family (Photo courtesy of Lucy Weston)
To tell our story, you have to go back to November 1999 when I met Scott Lawrence, my life partner, on an idyllic beach on the Baja Peninsula, Mexico. I was hitchhiking with a girlfriend, bound for Costa Rica. Scott had motorcycled from Canada and...