Hidden gems in the Darkwoods
Devil's Hole Lake (Photo by John Anonby)
In the Nelson Range of the southern Selkirk Mountains in eastern British Columbia lies a large area of great natural variety and beauty, much of which has been set aside to protect and manage its ancient forests and habitat for rare caribou herds...
Finding peace in nature
Walking through a BC forest dripping with witch's hair lichen (Photo by NCC)
Do you ever just wake up in a bad mood? Or something, or someone, has you unsettled? Sometimes the best way to clear your mood, and silence those “mice talking to each other in your head” (as my brother-in-law puts it), is to go for a...
My winter hike at Big Valley
Looking out over Big Valley, SK. (Photo by Bill Armstrong)
The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) has a knack for giving their properties memorable names. On a (relatively) mild February day, I set out to get acquainted with Big Valley, north of Regina, at the southwestern edge of Last Mountain Lake in...
Biting down on the eastern subterranean termite
Petri dish trials to examine behaviour patterns in eastern subterranean termite populations. (Photo by Vicki Simkovic)
Watching a termite farm through a glass aquarium is fascinating, as you peer into the life of a mysterious species whose activities are normally hidden from view. Workers can be seen excavating tunnels, using their jaws to move soil grain by...
What nature means to an 89-year-old
Author Zoë and her granny standing beside Lake Ambleside in England. (Photo by Zoë Arnold/NCC staff)
At six months shy of 90 years of age, my granny Vera is a strong-willed (some might say stubborn) English woman. Each time she boards the double-decker bus, she insists on climbing the narrow, winding stairs up to the top deck. As the bus begins...
Leave only footprints: Minimizing your impact in nature
Grace and Pepper exploring the winter wonderland (Photo by NCC)
Nature has been my greatest teacher. As a child growing up in the semi-desert of the Okanagan in British Columbia, I learned not to touch prickly pear, which plants smelled the most like sage and to move away from the warning rattle of a...
Something's Fishy: Somewhere over the rainbow
The Rainbow Fish (Illustration by Marcus Pfister)
It’s no surprise that my favourite childhood book to cuddle up with my mom to read before bed was The Rainbow Fish, by Swiss author and illustrator Marcus Pfister. After my mom tucked me in, I would close my eyes and dream of swimming...
Uncovering the magic of winter wildlife
Meeting Lake 03, SK (Photo by NCC)
While attending college in Winnipeg, my classmate and I used to walk north from the campus at the corner of Shaftesbury and Grant streets to explore the different sections of Assiniboine Park. As the school year was between September and April,...
From woodsman to grandsons to Canadians
Alan Bonnyman and his two sons (Photo by Mike Dembeck)
Whether they live in big cities or small villages, Canadians often see their identity as defined by nature: by our dramatic seasons, by the sheer size of our country and by living near oceans, rivers, lakes, mountains, prairies and forests. This...
The silence of the hillsides
Fort Ellice, Riding Mountain (Photo by NCC)
For the past six months, I’ve worked as an assistant conservation biologist with the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) in Riding Mountain Natural Area in western Manitoba. I found that a summer in the area challenged me to reconsider how I...
