Cadence: Reflections from the trail
Trail at Many Glacier (Photo by Erica Thompson/NCC staff)
“Humans are animals and like all animals we leave tracks as we walk: signs of passage made in snow, sand, mud, grass, dew, earth or moss.... We easily forget that we are track-markers, though, because most of our journeys now occur on...
Who built that bridge?
Ryan Downey, Downey Tree Service cleaning up the damages of an ice storm that hit NCC’s Creemore Nature Preserve in spring (Photo by NCC)
The spring equinox has come and gone, but the snow is still above my boot tops in the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s (NCC's) Creemore Nature Preserve. Two tree fallers, Ryan and Ryan, and a friend, who happily agrees to volunteer outside,...
La semaine de l’action bénévole : un patrimoine bâti grâce à l’aide de gens de coeur !
Observateurs d’oiseaux à Baie Verte (photo de CNC)
Un site protégé par Conservation de la nature Canada (CNC) d’une superficie d’environ 81 hectares se trouve tout près de chez moi. Je m’y rends à pied au moins une fois par semaine; plus souvent...
How our volunteers are lending their hands to build a natural legacy
Birders at Baie Verte (Photo by NCC)
There is a 200-acre (80-hectare) Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) nature reserve a few minutes from my house. I walk there at least once a week; more often if I can. Here, maple upland forest rolls down the Niagara Escarpment, changing to cedar...
Water: My personal compass
Si at the pond (Photo by Erica Thompson/NCC staff)
I have made a lot of life decisions around proximity to water. The needle of my personal compass has always been pulled by liquid landscapes. From Haida Gwaii on the Pacific coast, to the river rich country of the Niagara Escarpment, the ability...
Makes me wonder: Nature firsts
Students from John Norquay Public School, Nature Days Vancouver (Photo by HSBC Bank Canada)
When it comes to the natural world, there is something remarkable about first times. On the doorstep of discovery is a story taking form, one that eventually settles into memory and becomes part of who we are and how we come to know the places...
Gone swimming: There may be more behind water's magical allure than we think
Katie Redux (Paiting by Elizabeth Lennie, http://www.elizabethlennie.com)
Water compels me. There’s nothing like the sensations accompanying a dive into the deeps of a fresh water lake, wading out from the ocean’s shore into an unbroken horizon of blue or dunking off the dock’s edge into the dark...
What my six-year-old son says about nature
Fox and skink (Drawing by Simon Ruzylo)
With Earth Day approaching, I thought I’d ask Simon, my six-year old son, to share his thoughts on the natural world. The following conversation took place over dinner:Mom: Si, what comes to mind when you think of "nature"?Simon: I see a...
Clarence Smith's giving nature
Clarence Smith (Photo courtesy of the Smith family)
The deerfly and mosquito whirl was unrelenting under 90 degrees of humidity. I was walking with two land appraisers deep into the Minesing Wetlands. We were wading through waist-high ostrich ferns through a cedar swamp, searching for the...
With deer in cedar: A call to get children back into nature
Looking for wild things at the lake (Photo by Erica Thompson/NCC staff)
To witness a deer in full flight is astounding. It’s particularly impressive when you are standing only a few feet from its flight path. I was walking with friends and their one-year-old son at the back of their farm on the Niagara...
