Conservation heroes in the county: John Lowry
John Lowry and Amanda Tracey at a CV event in Newburgh, Ontario, December 2022 (Photo by Chelsea Marcantonio/NCC staff)
One of my favourite parts of working for the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) is running events — particularly Conservation Volunteers (CV) events. I love meeting new people, learning their stories and what motivates them to come out. I...
Conservation heroes in the county: Richard Bird
Richard with former NCC staff Ali Giroux installing a property sign at an NCC nature reserve in the county (Photo by Amanda Tracey/NCC staff)
You’ll recall from part one of this series that when I started working for the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC), Prince Edward County (the county) quickly stole my heart. From its rich wetlands to its dry grasslands and migratory birds...
Things that go bump in the field
American woodcock (Photo by Lavandar Fields/Wikimedia Commons)
I have spent a lot of time at a lot of different field sites over the years. I have spent days in the blistering sun, days in the frigid cold and days in the pouring rain, but until last spring, I had never spent any time in the field after...
The wonder of winter wetlands
Brighton Wetland from a nearby field in early fall. Note that the cattails in the distance are already turning brown and falling down. (Photo by NCC)
Two summers ago I spent a lot of time trekking through beautiful wetlands, both while working at NCC and for leisure. I loved every moment of my time there, whether I was wading out into knee-deep water to hand pull invasive European frog-bit,...
Grasslands: Climate change’s unsuspecting heroes
Napanee Plain Alvar Nature Reserve, ON (Photo by Vincent Luk & Evermaven)
Carbon is the backbone of life on Earth. It makes up everything we do, everything we eat, and it even makes us up. Carbon is stored in different reservoirs, which broadly include land, water and the atmosphere. Carbon cycles from one reservoir to...