Many strengths, one mindset
The eastern Ontario field crew. From left to right: Amelia Bonenfant, Maggie Stevenson, Alexandra Belanger, Megan Quinn, Gretta Lumsden (Photo by NCC)
When I was hired as a conservation technician for the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s (NCC’s) Ontario Region, I could barely contain my excitement! Getting hands-on conservation work experience with like-minded individuals had always...
Giving gifts in the Napanee Limestone Plain
Friends enjoying some time together while helping open up the landscape (Photo by NCC)
The Nature Conservancy of Canada’s (NCC’s) Conservation Volunteers program is a well-established and successful program that engages volunteers across the country. Recently, I hosted our first event in the Napanee Plain, and I have to...
Nature perspectives through art
Megan Quinn, conservation biology coordinator in Ontario (Photo by Charles T. Low Photography)
I am not an artist by any stretch of the imagination. Don't get me wrong; I do like art. I was the high school student who spent her evenings in the art room, trying to build canvases that didn’t fall apart, and twist wires into the shape of...
Combating invasive species in a globally rare habitat
Leaders in Conservation in Carden Alvar, ON (Photo by NCC)
On a hot and humid day this past summer, I visited Carden Alvar in Ontario with a group of Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) Leaders in Conservation. We meandered through the forest and stepped onto the limestone plain alvar, which stretched on...
Where are they now? Intern Alumni Spotlight: Sheena Briggs
Sheena Briggs (Photo courtesy of Sheena Briggs)
This blog marks the fourth Alumni Spotlight, a series highlighting some of the individuals who have interned with the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) in the past. Last month, Josh Noseworthy was featured as the Alumni Spotlight, and this month...
Conservation beyond the cubicle
Conservation Volunteers at the Last Stand at Blind Canyon event. (Photo by NCC)
Despite working for a conservation organization, I spend my workdays in an office, surrounded by cubicle walls, eyes glued to my computer screen and my fingers happily tapping away at my keyboard. So when an opportunity to join one of the Nature...
The blitz of the burdock brigade
Conservation Volunteers with bags of invasive common burdock. (Photo by NCC)
Thanks to the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC), I can now cross off my bucket list my long-nurtured desire to hack away at invasive burdock plants with a machete. In truth, I’d never entertained the idea before signing up as a Conservation...
Mowing for nature
NCC intern Breanna Silverside on a tractor that pulls the industrial mower. (Photo by NCC)
“The lawn mower broke again” is a phrase I have heard from my fellow Saskatchewan Conservation Interns more than once over the summer. When they finally had the tractor and lawn mower working, they would come into the office after a...
Down by the Maitland
The Maitland River as seen from outside our cabin (Photo by NCC)
Being in an office and getting the feel for the business side of working with the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) is what many new conservation technician interns experience when they first start their contracts. While this is an important part...
It feels like I’m sending my kid to school ― grazing school
Dundurn property, SK (Photo by NCC)
So, back in July I was crashing through the bush trying to get back from the west boundary fence of the Dundurn property when I was hit with an analogy, along with a bunch of branches. I had an epiphany of how the Nature Conservancy of Canada...
