NCC's Pelee Island fox squad on a mission to clean up Ontario's deep south

Gray fox pup (Photo by Ken Canning)
Making homes for Ontario’s rare and elusive gray fox takes a lot of work. In the fall of 2017, the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s (NCC’s) Pelee Island fox squad travelled to the island in the province’s deep south to do...
Give giving a go this Giving Tuesday

Children walking in the woods, Bunchberry Meadows Conservation Area, AB (Photo by Kyle Marquardt)
Giving Tuesday, a global giving and volunteer movement, officially returns this year on November 28. Started in 2012, Giving Tuesday encourages individuals and corporations to donate and/or volunteer their time to support charities and non-profit...
Building homes for bats in the prairies

Conservation Volunteers from across Saskatchewan joined together to build bat boxes. (Photo by NCC)
Every year, the Nature Conservancy of Canada's (NCC's) Saskatchewan Region holds a Conservation Volunteers event at its Old Man on His Back Prairie and Heritage Conservation Area (OMB). This year, one of the activities involved building bat boxes...
Snapping up turtle eggs

Snapping turtle eggs were packed in damp sand for transport. (Photo by David Beevis)
Turtle populations face a number of threats, including loss of habitat and being hit while crossing roads. Recently, turtle populations in a local lake near where we live in Port Hope, Ontario, was exposed to a combination of factors threatening...
Growing the idea to connect Canadians to nature

Plants from Great Marram Grass Plug Plant CV event on PEI (Photo by Mike Dembeck)
Every so often, a big idea emerges from a smaller one and, in the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s (NCC’s) case, it can turn into something larger than imagined. This is exactly what happened for NCC’s Conservation Volunteers...
Almost missing nature's boat

Volunteers at the Broom Bash event on James Island, BC (Photo by Ann MacDonald)
The alarm went off much too early that early winter morning. My body was heavy with sleep, covered in a sea of cozy blankets and it hurt to open my gluey eyes. I was tempted to silence the disturbance. The forecast was calling for rain and it was...
How we can save our songbirds

Cerulean warbler (Photo by Bill Hubick)
By now, I'm hoping that many of you have heard about declining songbird populations and the numerous threats that these birds face, which are, typically, physical threats to their survival. However, I’d like to discuss a different type of...
Restoring the dunes of James Island, BC

Volunteers at the Broom Bash event on James Island, BC (Photo by Ann MacDonald)
“Covenant,” from the French word "convenir," means to come together. And this fall, 11 of us did just that as Conservation Volunteers with the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC). We spent a sunbaked autumn day yanking gorse and Scotch...
A day at Sandy Point with NCC

Volunteers at Sandy Point CV event, St. George's, NL (photo by NCC)
It was a beautiful August morning as we waited excitedly on the wharf at St. George's for the search and rescue Zodiac that would take us across the narrow channel to Sandy Point. Along with Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) staff and other...
Wise seedling spree

Seedlings ready to be planted (Photo by NCC)
When I went on to the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) website and read over the Conservation Volunteers (CV) events, I noticed the Wise Seedling Spree. I had planted trees before when my son was in Cubs and Scouts. I registered myself for the...