Adapting to realities: From conservation science to sleeping outdoors
Evening sky at Old Man on His Back Ranch, SK (Photo by Branimir Gjetvaj)
I was about a half hour out of Saskatoon when I realized I had forgotten to pack my tent. It was the middle of September and I was planning on camping at the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s (NCC’s) Old Man on His Back Prairie and...
A plea for conservation
Iceberg off of Maddox Cove, NL (Photo by Ronald Stone/Stone Island Photography)
Sir David Attenborough is a name that has become synonymous with conservation. Reuniting with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Natural History Unit, Attenborough and the BBC have come together once again to follow up their widely...
We live on a green planet: An interview with Brian Keating (Part Two)
Brian Keating, Antarctica (Photo courtesy of Brian Keating)
This is part two of a two-part interview with Brian Keating, who has dedicated his life to promoting a conservation ethic and raising awareness about the natural world. He has travelled the world in search of great nature stories, and used his...
We live on a green planet: An interview with Brian Keating (Part One)
Brian Keating, Antarctica (Photo courtesy of Brian Keating)
This is part one of a two-part interview with Brian Keating, who has dedicated his life to promoting a conservation ethic and raising awareness about the natural world. He has travelled the world in search of great nature stories, and used his...
Out for a walk
Approaching the Bay Bulls lighthouse with the last of the daylight (Photo by Lanna Campbell/NCC)
An unnatural thirst for physical pain and the lure of making memories set the stage as we carefully planned out nine days’ worth of trail food. My tent-mate, Megan, would later ask me a few days in, “Did I want to do this hike, or did...
Pollinating the prairies
A parasitic fly pollinating a hairy golden aster (Photo by Diana Bizecki Robson)
It was with some sadness that I finished my last field work of the season at Yellow Quill Prairie. It will be many long, cold months before I get to go out again. However, I was eager to get back to the office to crunch some numbers and see how...
A two-for-one solution for climate change
Ogilvie sunset on forest, BC (Photo by NCC)
A wide recognition of the acceleration of climate change and its impacts – increasing incidents of extreme weather events among them – has triggered a range of actions across Canada. Government, corporations, academia and non-profit...
Born to be wild on the Musquodoboit River
Baby snapper from a 'turtle's' eye view (Photo by NCC)
In early fall, a small group of Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) staff and supporters had an amazing encounter with newly hatched snapping turtles, while on a trip to the Musquodoboit River. Sixteen participants, split into two groups, took...
From prairie to forest: My journey to a new natural area
Tall grass prairie (Photo by Jenna Siu/NCC)
I spent many of my formative years as a field biologist in the Carolinian region of Ontario, which includes Norfolk and the surrounding counties. The fragmented landscape is largely agricultural with bits of restored tallgrass prairie and...
Hittin' the marsh
My one educational breakthrough was to teach them to emulate my hayseed ways by chewing on a piece of grass before touring the property (Photo by NCC)
It wasn’t even really that hot. I think that’s the thing that got me. Warm? I guess…for early June. Sunny? Mostly, but there were clouds and a bit of a breeze, so even saying it was warm is pretty generous. And forget about a...
