Please fence me in
Tim Teetaert and Stephen Gietz installing fences at the Manitoba Tall Grass Prairie Preserve (Photo by NCC)
If you drove down Manitoba Provincial Road 201 this past summer, you may have seen Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) staffers installing fencing along a portion of NCC land at the Manitoba Tall Grass Prairie Preserve. You may have even asked...
Overlooked plants and new discoveries: Moss and liverwort surveys in Manitoba
New liverworts to Manitoba on decaying log (Photo by Richard Caners)
As part of updating the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s (NCC’s) Natural Area Conservation Plan for the Whitemouth River Watershed in southeastern Manitoba, I spent a day assisting Royal Alberta Museum botany curator and good friend Dr....
Memorable 2015 fieldwork moments
Tall grass prairie in NCC's Interlake Natural Area (Photo by Cary Hamel/NCC)
I asked the Manitoba Region’s talented group of field biologists, “What was your most inspiring or challenging fieldwork moment of this past summer?” Here are some of the highlights of last year's field season in...
A fine balance: An update on the Poweshiek skipperling
NCC’s Tall Grass Prairie Natural Area protects Canada’s only population of endangered Poweshiek skipperling. (Photo by NCC)
It may be a small and unassuming species, but for a few years now scientists in both Manitoba and the U.S. have been playing close attention to the Poweshiek skipperling. The small, brownish butterfly — about the size of a loonie — was...
Turtle conservation: The land between the waters
Snapping turtle (Photo by Ryan M. Bolton)
Many years ago I was surveying for endangered grassland birds in the treeless, sandy native prairies that straddle the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border. I came across a painted turtle walking determinedly towards...somewhere. The turtle and I were...
Thank you, Farley Mowat
Caribou crossing snowy tundra (Photo by Goldmann Jo, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
I hadn't realized, until I sat down to write this post, the influence that Farley Mowat had on me. Flashback to Grade 5, and I am reading People of the Deer. The descriptions of vast wilderness, terrifying but beautiful barren landscapes and...
Citizenship and biodiversity conservation
Cowichan Garry Oak Preserve, British Columbia (Photo by Tim Ennis/NCC)
Biodiversity conservation is no longer a topic reserved for scientists. It’s an issue that impacts all Canadians. That’s the message that was repeated by panelists at a University of Manitoba discussion on biodiversity that I attended...
It takes an (effectively communicating) village: The importance of information exchange between researchers and conservation practitioners
Tall grass prairie, Manitoba (Photo by NCC)
As a general rule, tall grass prairie researchers and conservation practitioners are a fairly lively bunch. They’re very passionate and not shy to share their perspectives on how, why and what conservation actions should occur. They...
