A call to action: The United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration
A restored wetland in Norfolk, ON (Photo by NCC)
Earlier this June, on World Environment Day, the United Nations kicked off the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, lasting from 2021 to 2030. The goal of this global movement is to “prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems on...
UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration: 5 ways NCC volunteers are contributing
Restored wetland, Pelee Island, ON (Photo by NCC)
2021-2030 marks the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, indicating the urgent need for humans to prevent and protect our Earth’s ecosystems from further degradation. As a new summer intern with the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC),...
Calling in the corps — the Canadian Conservation Corps
CCC participants cutting invasive phragmites stems (Photo by NCC)
They say that many hands make light work. Well, I don’t know if the hard-working young people who hauled brush, cut phragmites stems or collected buckets of acorns would tell you that the work was “light” but I can certainly say...
A throwback to working in Backus Woods
Forest canopy in Backus Woods, ON (Photo by Neil Ever Osborne)
I had the pleasure of working for the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) for the summer of 2019 as a conservation technician out of the Norfolk County, Ontario, office. When I first came to Norfolk, I was expecting to see mostly farmland and...
Rooting myself in restoration
All smiles after a full day in the field at the Napanee Plain Alvar Nature Reserve, cutting back sumac and prickly ash to improve the habitat quality for eastern loggerhead shrike. (Photo by Samantha Ceci)
My career in the field of ecosystem restoration has begun to sprout, thanks to the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC). It all began with an email last year, where I inquired about volunteering for NCC. I was interested in shifting gears in my...
World Wildlife Day: The impossible eagle
Bald eagle (Photo by Keith Mombour)
I have many memories of wildlife firsts. There’s a vivid memory of seeing my first white-tailed deer peering through the woods as I peered back through the school bus window. And I can still see the eyes of my first up-close encounter with a...
A glimpse of the past: Using historic maps to guide land management
Historic land survey outlining the store house and fort site at NCC’s Fort Ellice property in MB (Photo by Manitoba Archives 2019)
The Prairie provinces, like much of agricultural Canada, look vastly different than they did before European settlement. During the development of Western Canada, forests were cleared, wetlands drained and grasslands plowed in an effort to settle...
What do we save? How science and planning are evolving to help make critical conservation decisions
Participants of the Open Standards workshop led by the Conservation Coaches Network (Photo by NCC)
In a world that is rapidly losing wildlife and habitats, conservation has become a science of decision-making. We know there are many places and species in Canada that will not survive unless we take action to protect and restore them. Deciding...
Native grassland is important habitat for grassland birds
Native grassland (Photo by Sarah Ludlow/NCC staff)
Saying that native grassland is important habitat for grassland birds seems quite obvious. And you might think to yourself, “Of course grassland birds like grassland habitat; it’s right in the name!” The important point to note...
The challenge of beaver dams in Blanding's turtle habitat
Blanding's Turtle (Photo by NCC)
The beaver and the turtle: it sounds like a Jean de LaFontaine fable, but for my colleague Milaine Saumur, the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s (NCC’s) project manager in the Outaouais, Quebec, it's a true story. A couple of months ago...
