Wise seedling spree
Seedlings ready to be planted (Photo by NCC)
When I went on to the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) website and read over the Conservation Volunteers (CV) events, I noticed the Wise Seedling Spree. I had planted trees before when my son was in Cubs and Scouts. I registered myself for the...
In praise of perch power
Yellow perch swimming (Photo by USDA)
When I was 10 years old, I spent my first morning on Lake Erie reeling in yellow perch. By early afternoon, we caught our legal limit, and I found out first-hand why these little striped bandits are a great way to introduce kids to fishing and...
How to be a botanist
One of the most beautiful of Happy Valley blooms is the fringed gentian flower. (Photo by Dr. Henry Barnett)
You may know from my previous posts that I consider myself an amateur botanist and spend time associating with several naturalist and conservation organizations, including the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC). I try to share my experience and...
Darwin, phoebe and International Biodiversity Day
Eastern phoebe (Photo by John Benson, Wikimedia Commons)
I saw an eastern phoebe yesterday. Phoebes are small and drab birds, they don’t have a pretty song, they don't do anything particularly endearing, other than bob their tails when perched on branches. I know, I know...big deal. Phoebes...
Wild bees in the grasslands
A summer storm gathers over NCC’s Fort Ellice prairie (Photo by Marika Olynyk)
In 2015, I had the good fortune to spend a second summer conducting pollination research on beautiful grasslands in western Manitoba. As described in my previous post, I have been investigating landscape effects on pollination service in...
Talking science with the younger generation
Wildflowers on Pine Ridge, Alberta (Photo by Bob Lee)
For the past five or six years I’ve spent my summers working outdoors with kids and animals, teaching the kids about the environment, which is essentially a fancier way of saying I worked at a summer camp for far longer than is socially...
Observations on the first issue of NCC Magazine
NCC Magazine Spring 2016 issue (Photo by NCC)
Recently a staff member at the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) regional office for Saskatchewan asked me if I would be interested in receiving a complimentary copy of a new magazine as a thank you for contributing a few guest blogs to Land...
Lessons learned from Mother Goose: How I learned to appreciate Canada geese through three seasons of careful observation
Canada goose (Photo by Denise Harris)
Sometimes we don’t know what we have until we lose it, and that is exactly how I feel about Canada geese this spring. This year, I have discovered the territorial a flock of Canada geese who conveniently bred in my urban backyard for the...
Alberta's ranching evolution (Part Three)
Waldron, Southern Foothills, AB (Photo by Kyle Marquardt)
For just over 130 years, the western rangelands of southern Alberta have been the cradle of the stock-raising industry. As long as the prairie grasses have been allowed to perpetuate themselves, the cow and the calf have been able to harvest a...
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...
