A home away from home
Gaff Point, NS (Photo by Andrew Herygers/NCC staff)
Growing up in Iran, a country with a vast and varying geography, I had little opportunity to explore and enjoy the outdoors. From the peaks of the snow-covered mountains to the hot sandy dunes, some of the world’s most beautiful natural...
International Women’s Day is about being inspired and inspiring others every day
NCC staff conducting fieldwork at the Black Ash Nature Reserve, NL. (Photo by Triina Voitk/NCC staff)
For decades, International Women’s Day (March 8) has been celebrated around the world to recognize the achievements of women and our contributions to society. Every day, the people behind the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s...
Tree girdling
Scotch pine girdling (Photo by Chirathi Wijekulathilake/NCC staff)
I am a conservation intern at the Nature Conservancy Canada (NCC) in Newfoundland and Labrador, and in this role I often have family and friends asking me what NCC is, what their role is in the conservation community, and most commonly, what my...
Gaining a new perspective: Learning about Two-Eyed Seeing on a Medicine Trail walk
Grandmother Buffalo leading the Medicine Trail walk (Photo by NCC)
On Wednesday, June 22, the day after National Indigenous Peoples Day, a team of interpreters from the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s (NCC’s) Johnson’s Mills Shorebird and Interpretive Centre headed to the Fort Folly First Nation...
One tree at a time: Canada’s forests
Tamarack forest (Photo by NCC)
What one habitat type runs through every province and territory, surrounds communities where most Canadians live and covers about 40 per cent of the country? If you guessed forests, you'd be right! We’re lucky to live in a country dominated...
Mouse-ear hawkweed: Friend or foe?
Mouse-ear hawkweed flower (Photo by mhalsted, CC BY-NC 4.0)
A species is considered invasive or alien when it is located outside its natural distribution and threatens humans and/or the environment. There aren’t a lot of clear answers about the impact of certain invasive species and the problem is...
A week away: Cape Breton Island
Cain's Mountain (Photo by Mike Dembeck)
Being able to work directly in nature is one of the reasons I love working as a conservation intern for the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC). Gaining more field work experience at NCC as the summer weeks progressed made for an epic, four-night...
Clowns of the sea: the Atlantic puffin
Atlantic puffins (Photo by Laurel Bernard/NCC staff)
The summer of 1999 was a unique one for me. I spent three months living on a small 23-acre (9.5 hectare) island 16 kilometres away from the nearest land. Machias Seal Island in New Brunswick was home to two full-time lighthouse keepers, three...
Something’s Fishy: On the down low
Aerial view of Foxner Nature Reserve, NB (Photo by Mike Dembeck)
Many freshwater fish are extremely susceptible to changes in the waters they live in. Pollution and sediments can all impact the health of lakes, rivers and streams. But did you know that temperature can impact the amount of oxygen in the...
Our treasured islands of Mahone Bay
Saling on Mahone Bay, NS (Photo by MICA)
Imagine looking out from a shoreline and seeing beautiful pristine islands nearby. To row, paddle or sail to an island and find it in its natural state is not a dream in the waters of Mahone Bay, southwest Nova Scotia; it is a reality where you...