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Pricing the priceless: How the economics of natural capital can help us all better value nature

Walking through Emma Young forest, ON (Photo by Mike Dembeck)

Walking through Emma Young forest, ON (Photo by Mike Dembeck)

Putting a price tag on nature is challenging. Some people don’t believe it can be done. Some people hate the idea of it. Most will have no idea what it means. But there are new and emerging approaches to help us put a price on the services...

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Something's Fishy: An impending invader

Northern snakehead (Photo by National Aquarium, Washington, DC)

Northern snakehead (Photo by National Aquarium, Washington, DC)

I have an inherent fear of the dark. I’m not ashamed to admit that, without the company of my snoring pug, Molly, taking up half of my bed, I need to sleep with the light on. It’s not so much the darkness that scares me; it’s the...

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Why Canada matters on World Wetlands Day

Wetlands in the Marion Creek Benchlands, British Columbia (Photo by Tim Ennis/NCC)

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...

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Something's Fishy: A feast for fish

Illustration by Frits Ahledfedt

Illustration by Frits Ahledfedt

My favourite holiday memory is learning to make mashed potatoes in my grandma’s kitchen, her hand gently clasping mine as I firmly squished down into a large yellow bowl using an old wooden-handled masher. I recall the way she recited the...

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Granny cannot walk on water

Wetlands at Reiser property, AB (Photo by NCC)

Wetlands at Reiser property, AB (Photo by NCC)

Early this September, I participated in a Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) Conservation Volunteers (CV) event at the Reiser property, located approximately 115 kilometres southwest of Edmonton. I knew it would be a challenge, in part because of...

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Life in freshwater country: How helping water helps Canada (Part Two)

Bow Lake, AB (Photo by Sarah Boon)

Bow Lake, AB (Photo by Sarah Boon)

In Part One of this blog I presented an overview of Canada's freshwater resources and the need to protect them for people and nature. Here I will further explain how today’s problems need new solutions. Over the last year the Nature...

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Life in freshwater country: How helping water helps Canada (Part One)

Elbow Lake, Frontenac Arch, ON (Photo by NCC)

Elbow Lake, Frontenac Arch, ON (Photo by NCC)

If you are Canadian, either by chance or by choice, you probably have a story about water. It might be learning to paddle a canoe, pulling your first fish from the water or standing on the dock on the May 24 weekend with friends, challenging each...

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Hittin' the marsh

My one educational breakthrough was to teach them to emulate my hayseed ways by chewing on a piece of grass before touring the property (Photo by NCC)

My one educational breakthrough was to teach them to emulate my hayseed ways by chewing on a piece of grass before touring the property (Photo by NCC)

It wasn’t even really that hot. I think that’s the thing that got me. Warm? I guess…for early June. Sunny? Mostly, but there were clouds and a bit of a breeze, so even saying it was warm is pretty generous. And forget about a...

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O'piping plover where art thou?

Group shot at the Mather Lake census (Photo by Gail F. Chin)

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...

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Creating homes for waterfowl in the Codroy Valley

Kathy Unger (NCC) and Danielle Fequet (DUC) showing the students a nest box prior to installation (Photo by NCC)

Kathy Unger (NCC) and Danielle Fequet (DUC) showing the students a nest box prior to installation (Photo by NCC)

On May 30, 2016, my colleague Kathy Unger and I had the pleasure of partnering with Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) to offer a waterfowl and wetland education event to the students of Belanger Memorial Elementary School. The Nature Conservancy of...

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