My 2015 nature year in review
Ralph River (Photo by Alistair Taylor)
When you’re on Facebook and other social media you start following a plethora of organizations and groups that interest you. Before long they start to accumulate and your timeline is full of stuff to read, interact with and comment on. At...
Look to the sky and feel the wonder: Gillies Grove, Arnprior
Ontario's tallest tree - a white pine in Gilles Grove (Photo by NCC)
"It’s a reverential place," I whisper to my companion. "You seem to leave the outside world behind when you step onto the path." He agrees. "It reminds me of when the Pevensie children stepped through the wardrobe into Narnia." Indeed...
Winter isn’t just for the birds
Snow bunting (Photo by Wikimedia Commons, John Haslam)
While many bird watchers and nature enthusiasts in Canada might look forward to the spring – a time when millions of migratory birds return to fill Canada's forests and grasslands with a chorus of songs each summer – I experience a...
Four ways I’m making 2016 a year for nature
American tree sparrow (Photo by NCC)
Ah, January! Time for a new year, a fresh start and a list of resolutions to be forgotten by February. Not so in 2016! This year, I’ve decided on a resolution that will not only be beneficial for my physical and mental well-being, but also...
Deck the halls...With invasive species?
Conservation Volunteers at the Deck the Halls event, 2015 (Photo by Nick Tardiff)
As typical Canadian Decembers go, this wasn’t one of them. The landscape at the Nature Conservancy of Canada's Rice Lake Plains property was shrouded in fog, without a snowflake in sight. The volunteers’ task for the day was to remove...
Nice habitats, but not for humans
A brightly-coloured mushroom in an alder thicket in the Chignecto Isthmus, NB (Photo by Joanna Hudgins)
As a Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) intern, I spent many days this past summer strolling along beaches that rival the Caribbean for their beauty. Not all days could be like that, of course, so some days I hiked (or rather, scrambled) through...
Memorable 2015 fieldwork moments
Tall grass prairie in NCC's Interlake Natural Area (Photo by Cary Hamel/NCC)
I asked the Manitoba Region’s talented group of field biologists, “What was your most inspiring or challenging fieldwork moment of this past summer?” Here are some of the highlights of last year's field season in...
My way of giving back to the community: Picking up!
Bunchberry Meadows Conservation Area, AB (Photo by Kyle Marquardt)
I have always enjoyed walking for exercise. I enjoy walking around the city pathways, walking to and from work, hitting nature trails out in our national parks and walking to do small tasks such as banking or picking up a few items at the grocery...
Close encounters with a pileated woodpecker
Pileated woodpecker female foraging on a dead stand. (Photo by Claire Elliott)
When I’m feeling unmotivated to go for a hike, I usually try to suppress those feelings and go anyway. I never regret the time I spend outdoors, and again that was the case this past weekend. I was sitting restlessly at my desk, which was...
Why nature conservation matters to me: A downtowner’s perspective
Author Michael Paskewitz at Cheakamus Lake, BC (Photo courtesy of Michael Paskewitz)
As someone who was born and raised in big cities, people sometimes ask me why I care at all about nature conservation. Some people think it’s odd when someone who did not grow up with nature in their backyard ends up with a passion for...
