The great staycation
From left to right: Carys Richards, Kate Williams, Zoë Arnold, and Kailey Setter at “Trees for Bees 2” in June 2016. It’s so sweet to “bee” a part of this crew! (Photo by NCC)
Why migrate only to return home? Monarch butterflies find the same oyamel evergreens in Mexico each winter, and I unfailingly return to Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) as a Conservation Volunteer (CV). This summer is different however, because...
O’Canada! Culture of the wilderness: A day at the NCC Nebo property
Overview of the Nebo property, SK (Photo by Gail F. Chin)
Nebo, some 70 kilometres due west of the city of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan is the largest and northernmost property recently acquired by the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC). This is an interesting acquisition, as it is located in the...
O'piping plover where art thou?
Group shot at the Mather Lake census (Photo by Gail F. Chin)
2016 marks the 5th international census of the piping plover population. Recently, I joined the Saskatchewan chapter of the Nature Conservancy of Canada in a two-day count at Mather Lake and Shoe Lake West in an area of central southern...
Celebrate the environment
People spending time in nature (Photo by Joe McFarlane/iStock)
Canadian Environment Week, celebrated every year on the first week of June, gives Canadians an opportunity to celebrate the environment and encourage conservation efforts year-round. The week kicks off with World Environment Day. We’ve...
Wise seedling spree
Seedlings ready to be planted (Photo by NCC)
When I went on to the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) website and read over the Conservation Volunteers (CV) events, I noticed the Wise Seedling Spree. I had planted trees before when my son was in Cubs and Scouts. I registered myself for the...
Amateurs
Bunchberry Meadows Conservation Area, AB (Photo by Kyle Marquardt)
Amateurs have been instrumental in the history of science. Amateurs are numerous in astronomy and continue to find asteroids on collision courses with Earth! Out there they have found comets and former planets, but amateurs have also surveyed...
Hope is...
Denise Harris, Clifford E. Lee Nature Sanctuary, AB (Photo by NCC)
As I head into my 10th season with the Nature Conservancy of Canada's (NCC's) Conservation Volunteers program, I am disturbed by news regarding climate change impacts, species extinction and so on. But whenever life’s challenges pop up, I...
Giving time for growth: Why volunteering to help nature is vital to our happiness
Volunteering at a local community garden (Photo by Micheline Khan)
National Volunteer Week (NVW), which takes place April 10-16 this year, celebrates millions of volunteers across Canada and recognizes them for their efforts. As NVW nears, I have been thinking about my personal motivation for volunteering over...
In pictures: Ten years of planting, pulling and birding for conservation
Birders join in on the CV fun in Codroy, NFLD, 2013. (Photo by NCC)
A picture is worth a thousand words. It is a visual representation of a moment in time, captured within a frame, and serves as a memory of an event. In the 10 years of the Conservation Volunteer (CV) program, the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC)...
Who built that bridge?
Ryan Downey, Downey Tree Service cleaning up the damages of an ice storm that hit NCC’s Creemore Nature Preserve in spring (Photo by NCC)
The spring equinox has come and gone, but the snow is still above my boot tops in the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s (NCC's) Creemore Nature Preserve. Two tree fallers, Ryan and Ryan, and a friend, who happily agrees to volunteer outside,...
