Wetland contamination and turtle health
Snapping turtle (Photo by Pascale Bider)
Between oozing mud, mosquitoes the size of golf balls and strange-smelling water, wetlands may not seem to you or me like an appealing place to live. But for most of Ontario’s eight species of turtles, wetlands are an essential...
Driving Miss Hazel
Hazel Bird Nature Reserve, ON (Photo by NCC)
Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) staff like to say that science drives our conservation work. This is true, but sometimes while following the science, we stumble into something unexpected and truly amazing. Let me explain. Back about 20 years...
Alvar explorations of a wandering biologist (part two)
Esme on the alvar in Malham Cove, U.K. (Photo by Esme Batten/NCC staff)
In part one, I explained what alvars are, where they occur and their importance. Now, I talk about my alvar explorations in the U.K. On Boxing Day in 2018, I set off early in the morning from Cornwall, in the southwest end of the U.K., to drive...
Restoration is super cool... literally!
Left: An image of a restored field on an NCC property in 2013. Right: A thermal image of the same field taken in 2008. (Images by Google Earth and USGS Landsat 5)
Restoration of woodland begins with site preparation and seeding, but monitoring is needed after that to make sure the restoration stays on track for the next 40 plus years. This blog post explains the application of thermodynamic theory to the...
We can recover Canada’s wildlife: Five examples of species NCC is helping save
Small white lady's-slipper (Photo by Melissa Grantham)
These are tough times for many wildlife species and their habitats. Over three-quarters of Earth’s terrestrial ecosystems (excluding Antarctica) have been directly modified by human activities1 , and most of our shrinking global wilderness...
Alvar explorations of a wandering biologist (part one)
Esme on the alvar in Malham Cove, U.K. (Photo by Esme Batten/NCC staff)
“You are going to drive seven hours away to go walk around on flat rocks?” my Grandad asked when I told him about my planned trip to Malham Cove in the U.K. at the end of 2018. To most people, alvars, or limestone plains, as they are...
Where are they now? Intern Alumni Spotlight: Brett Norman
Brett Norman leading a hike at Backus Woods, ON (Photo by Len Grincevicius)
This blog marks the ninth Intern Alumni Spotlight — a series highlighting some of the individuals who have interned with the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) in the past. Last month, Claire Elliott was featured as the Intern Alumni...
Wrapping up the Natural Areas Conservation Program
Darkwoods, BC in March (Photo by Bruce Kirkby)
When I started working for the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) in early 2017, I was excited to be joining a tremendously successful conservation organization with a stellar track record of success. As someone who loves to spend time outdoors...
The future of conservation is female (part three)
Megan Quinn, conservation biology coordinator in Ontario (Photo by Charles T. Low Photography)
In honour of International Women’s Day (March 8), over the course of the month we have been celebrating three young women working for the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s (NCC’s) Ontario Region. We spoke with them about what led...
World Water Day: Why a burning river should give you hope
Cuyahoga River fire in June 1969 (Photo by USEPA Environmental-Protection-Agency)
There’s a picture of water I think about a lot. It’s not a loon on a misty lake. It’s not the classic Canadian image showing the back of a favourite paddling mate in the bow of a canoe. It’s a picture of a burning...
