Bird homes: Location is everything
Juvenile American robin (Photo by Sarah Ludlow/NCC staff)
On May 17, Conservation Volunteers helped install 14 nest boxes on the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s Edenwold property in Saskatchewan. These nest boxes were designed with certain species in mind ― tree swallows and mountain bluebirds....
Conservation needs a common language to describe Canada’s ecosystems
Tatlayoko Ranch, British Columbia, (Photo by Bernadette Mertens)
“The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their proper name.” ~ Ancient Chinese proverb For organisms, we use the concept of a “species” to assign proper names. Having standard names for species is critical in both...
Bunchberry Meadows: The sweet city escape
Bunchberry Meadows entrance (Photo by NCC)
In May, I moved from my hometown of Ottawa, Ontario, to Edmonton, Alberta, to start my new summer job with the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC). With no friends or family there and little to no knowledge of the area, it was the beginning of my...
One million steps: A hike to honour the legacy of conservation (Part two)
Snow-covered trail sign at Hockley Valley, ON (Photo by Dan Kraus/NCC staff)
Hiking north, we crossed the height of land that defines the watershed between Lake Ontario and Lake Huron. This landscape includes Hockley Valley and Mono Cliffs, provincial parks I had only rarely visited in the past. Over a century ago, much of...
One million steps: A hike to honour the legacy of conservation (Part one)
Rockway Conservation Area, a conservation area that NCC helped the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority protect in the 1970s. (Photo by Chris Knaggs)
I’ve been working at my dream job at the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) for 15 years. In addition to the deep satisfaction of lasting conservation impacts, NCC is also a great place to work. One of the opportunities NCC provides is that...
Forest landmarks: A guide down memory lane
Backus Woods, Ontario (Photo by NCC)
There's something very personal about landmarks. The features in a forest that you learn to navigate by ― turn left at this weird looking branch, go just past that spot where you saw a barred owl last year ― might not jump out to you. Memories of...
Simply walking
Backus Woods, Ontario (Photo by NCC)
We nature nuts have a bad habit of using dense and trendy phrases like “sustainable development,” “ecosystem management” and even “biological diversity” to promote nature conservation. They can mean many...
Growing with nature
Children exploring the outdoors (Photo by Nature Office for the International Day of Forest Kindergarten)
While the move toward using digital media in education reached universities and schools years ago, the educational concept of forest kindergartens is recently gaining more and more attention worldwide. This model for early childhood education...
Josh Noseworthy: Conservation is not about wildlife, it’s about people
Josh Noseworthy and a snapping turtle, Tusket River Headwaters Nature Reserve, NS (Photo by Frank Merill)
“Conservation isn’t about wildlife, it’s about people. If you’re serious about conserving wildlife, you need to understand how people work.” – Josh Noseworthy Imagine walking through woods thick with ancient,...
A walk with Robert Frost: Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
The woods by my parents' house (Photo by Kailey Setter/NCC staff)
While science and logic have the ability to influence our thoughts, poetry has a marvellous ability to move our hearts and capture our imagination. Robert Frost has long been my favourite poet. Not just because his poems are relatively short and...
