What they do in the shadows
Big brown bat (Photo by Brock Fenton)
I love an underdog. I think it’s easy to fall in love with the quarterback or the frontperson in a rock ‘n’ roll band, but my heart has always belonged to the benchwarmer or the drummer. Growing up, while kids my age toted around...
A close encounter with ticks that I won't forget
Adult deer tick (Photo by Scott Bauer/Wikimedia Commons)
Anyone who knows me knows I am not a morning person, by any stretch of the imagination. But on this particular morning, it was 8 o’clock, and I’d already stripped the bed and sofa covers, done a load of laundry, and taken a long, hot...
Eyes on endangered piping plovers
Piping plover (Photo by Andrew Herygers/NCC staff)
On a humid July morning, I had the pleasure of joining Birds Canada's piping plover coordinator in Escuminac, New Brunswick, to track piping plovers and visit a known nesting area that the Nature Conservancy of Canada has protected. Piping...
Everywhere and all-around: Fence mapping in Alberta
Beaver damming activity, Collins Property, AB. (Photo by NCC)
It was a dry and hot, mid-July day in Red Deer, Alberta. Ashleigh and I, Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) interns and participants in the Canadian Conservation Corps program, were heading to the Collins property. It was a wet spring, and the...
Appreciating insects this World Animal Month
Eastern black carpenter ant (Photo by Wally Simpson, CC BY-NC 4.0)
October is World Animal Month, a time for us to reflect on the important roles that animals play in our lives. Animals are an integral part of human existence, and this month gives us a chance to appreciate their presence and create solutions for...
Recognition and Reconciliation: The pathway forward is Indigenous-led conservation
Sunset at Hay Bay, Ontario (Photo by Ethan Meleg)
Friday, September 30 is National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. This day is intended to provide an opportunity for people to recognize and commemorate the legacy of residential schools. This day has also been observed as Orange Shirt Day since...
SFI Conference Green Mentor Program sets the right example
For many mentees, the 2022 SFI/PLT Annual Conference wasn’t just a chance to meet their mentor in person, but to also hear them speak in conference sessions. (Photo by NCC)
In June 2022, the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) and its award-winning educational program Project Learning Tree (PLT) came together in Madison, Wisconsin, for a joint conference. The annual conference’s theme was...
Leaves like a familiar face
The breathtaking Backus Woods in Ontario. One of the best examples of Carolinian old-growth forest in the country. (Photo by Ann Tipper and Zach Melnick)
When you think of wild spaces filled with tall, deciduous hardwood trees tilting in warm winds, frost-free days late into the fall, an abundance of reptiles and amphibians shifting between swamps and marshes, and words like sassafras, Kentucky...
Seeking nature
Backus Woods (Photo by Neil Osborne)
As a Torontonian, my interactions with nature tend to be few due to living downtown. However, Toronto has a few urban nature parks that are just further away and require some planning to get to. This has led me to travel across the city and region...
A prescription for forest health
Plantation rows in Southern Norfolk Sand Plain, ON (Photo by NCC)
When you think of a healthy, thriving forest, do you think of a straight lines of trees, all the same size, all the same species? Probably not. While tree plantations can be economically important and can provide significant ecological benefits...
