Small pulls for a big cause: Ridding the Happy Valley Forest of invasive species
White trilliums in Happy Valley Forest, ON (Photo by NCC)
Summer in the Happy Valley Forest is the best time to enjoy the newly emerging flowers. It's a pleasant reminder that the warm weather is well on its way. Hiking through the forest, you may come across patches of bloodroot, Mayapple and of course...
Trading screens for shovels: NCC national staff lend a hand for nature
NCC National staff joined Ontario field staff for a day of planting and pulling and cutting down invasive species (Photo by NCC)
The sun was shining down on the Barr property in southern Ontario as the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) national staff gathered around Todd Farrell, NCC’s conservation biology coordinator for the Ontario Region. We were learning our...
Something's Fishy: An impending invader
Northern snakehead (Photo by National Aquarium, Washington, DC)
I have an inherent fear of the dark. I’m not ashamed to admit that, without the company of my snoring pug, Molly, taking up half of my bed, I need to sleep with the light on. It’s not so much the darkness that scares me; it’s the...
Invasive species: A battle worth fighting
NCC staff members remove invasive garlic mustard from the Happy Valley Forest, Ontario (Photo by NCC)
Invasive species have developed a bad reputation, and for good reason: these nasty organisms wreak havoc on natural ecosystems, outcompete native species, threaten human health and cost us billions of dollars every year. They are the second...
Getting my hands dirty for conservation
Volunteers got their hands dirty for conservation (Photo by NCC)
I started volunteering with the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) about a year and a half ago, after becoming overwhelmingly “itchy” at my office job. I had been working in the environmental field for the past 20 years but was, for...
My time with Canada's nature
A leisurely walk with NCC colleagues (Photo by Clement Wong)
Canada is the place where I was born, but I moved to Hong Kong at a young age for the long-term. This summer, I had a valuable chance to come back to my hometown and volunteer with the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) to help with stewardship...
Something's Fishy: Carp, the misunderstood outsider
Common carp (Photo by William Crochot/Wikimedia Commons)
Born and raised in Ontario, I have a hometown pride that carries me throughout the lands and waters of this fine province. This territorial instinct reminds me of the boundaries set by the Greasers in S. E. Hinton’s novel The Outsiders. The...
Cracking down on garlic mustard: A delicious and therapeutic experience
Garlic mustard are no match against our staff (Photo by NCC)
On May 12, Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) staff had the opportunity to step away from their desks to crack down on invasive garlic mustard at the Happy Valley Forest. Commanders of the day, Todd Farrell and Mark Stabb, asked us to form pairs...
Something's Fishy: The legendary lamprey
The Lamprey, 2. The Pride, 1866 (Illustration by Robert Hamilton)
Anyone who knows me could tell you I’m really into folklore. Fairy tales, spooky stories and legendary accounts of people, places and mystical things have intrigued me for as long as I can remember. I'm also really into fish. So if there is...
Stories from stewards of the land: The Cuzen property (Part Two)
Closeup photograph of the pinnae of a sterile frond of the cinnamon fern (Photo by Derek Ramsey, Wikimedia Commons)
In Part One I described how I got intertwined with the Nature Conservancy of Canada's (NCC's) work and my experience at the Cuzen property (the sole property within the Galbraith stewardship project at present). A special part of the Cuzen...
