Cadence: Reflections from the trail
Trail at Many Glacier (Photo by Erica Thompson/NCC staff)
“Humans are animals and like all animals we leave tracks as we walk: signs of passage made in snow, sand, mud, grass, dew, earth or moss.... We easily forget that we are track-markers, though, because most of our journeys now occur on...
Learning to listen to the land
The band in action with our throat-singing friends Lynda Brown and Heidi Langille (Photo by Dan Roy)
What does “tracing one warm line” mean to you? You may recognize the phrase from the classic Canadian folk song, Stan Rogers’ “Northwest Passage.” It describes a journey into a mythological northern homeland that we...
Paradise for daytrippers and stargazers
Star trails over Butala Homestead in OMB at dawn, SK (Photo by Alan Dyer)
Imagine plains so vast and wide that the night sky is flooded with stars and the Milky Way as far as the eye can see. There is one Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) property renowned for its rolling grasslands and nightscape: Old Man on His Back...
Ingredients of a great explorer (Part One)
A view of the Antarctica landscape - taken during TA’s expedition to climb Antarctica’s highest peak (Photo by TA Loeffler)
Excerpts and images are taken with permission from TA Loeffler's blog, Adventures that Move. Earlier this week the local newspaper caught my eye with the headline, “Local woman named one of country’s greatest modern explorers.”...
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...
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...
Labrador tea, growing wild in the Big Land
Not much colour in the Labrador tea, but amazing flavour. (Photo by Paul Smith/ Special to The Telegram)
I returned yesterday from Labrador, the Big Land, so vast and magnificent, with waterways that may never have floated a trout fly. There are not many places like Labrador left on our planet. We need to stay on our toes to protect it, us folks who...
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...
How to soundwalk (Part Two)
Soundwalk in Miller Woods, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, July 2010. (Photo by Noé Cuéllar)
In my last post I introduced the idea of soundwalking and briefly touched on its benefits. In this post I offer my advice on how to actually conduct a soundwalk. How to organize and lead soundwalks Identify a place and plan a route. R. Murray...
Paint your palette blue and grey
Old Man on His Back, SK, has just been named Canada's second Dark Sky Preserve (Photo by Alan Dyer)
There are some songs that you sing for years without really understanding the lyrics. Maybe the music is catchy and you mumble along or you even know the words, but never get the meaning. There is an old Don McLean song called Vincent that someone...
