Get to know 10 of Canada’s most significant (and big!) natural areas
(Photo by iStock)
Large, intact natural areas are home to Canada’s most valuable ecosystems. These spaces are key to our quality of life. Canada’s forests, grasslands, wetlands and coastal areas absorb carbon dioxide, provide buffers for flooding,...
Top 10 backpack essentials for any nature lover
Hiking gear (CC0 Public Domain)
Nature enthusiasts know there is nothing better than experiencing all of the sights, sounds and smells that nature has to offer. With an abundant variety of beautiful landscapes in Canada, it’s no wonder the great outdoors call to...
Students on Ice: Q&A with NCC President and CEO, John Lounds
John Lounds at Sirmilik National Park (Photo by NCC)
Earlier this month, John Lounds, the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s (NCC’s) president and CEO, set sail from Resolute Bay, Nunavut, to explore the Arctic with Students on Ice. As this is a place that very few Canadians have had the...
An ode to narwhal (Part One)
Narwhal (Illustration by David Scheirer)
a pod of magic /breaks through the floe /what a peculiar way / (Inspired by Moby Dick) The whale series returns with Ishmael’s nostril whale, a.k.a. the narwhal. Whether you pronounce its name nar-wall or nar-whale, this creature’s...
Why Canada matters on World Wetlands Day
Wetlands in the Marion Creek Benchlands, British Columbia (Photo by Tim Ennis/NCC)
While other nations have picked wetland wildlife, such as Finland’s whooper swan or Pakistan’s Indus crocodile, to represent their country, Canada is the only country in the world that has selected a wetland engineer as its national...
An ode to whale (Part Two)
Blue whale (Illustration by Denise Wong)
morning! /he takes in the salt /retiring to depth / (Inspired by Eden Killer Whale Museum) Facts: Baleen, also known as whalebone, is not bone. Baleen is the bristly drapery that lines the mouth of a dozen species of whales, including the...
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...
Ingredients of a great explorer (Part Two)
TA and her group walking the Great Himalaya Trail in Nepal (Photo by TA Loeffler)
Excerpts and images are taken with permission from TA Loeffler's blog, Adventures that Move. So you want to be an adventurer? In Part One I described how being an adventurer, storyteller and teacher are all part of what makes TA Loeffler one of...
Farewell, Mr. Mowat
Marie Tremblay (Photo courtesy of Marie Tremblay/NCC staff)
Even if his last name is radically different from mine and he was from a very different part of the country, I still feel like Farley Mowat was part of our family. Growing up in Quebec, his books were all around our house, as my sister and I,...
At home on the tundra: Why I fell in love with the Arctic landscape
Dundas Harbour (Photo by Carolyn Mallory)
If you’ve never had the opportunity to visit the Arctic tundra, perhaps your first moments will compare to mine. When I stepped off the plane in Iqaluit, Nunavut in 1999, I knew immediately that I would call this place home. The landscape...
