NCC staff share their Natural Happy Places (Part One)
NCC's BC regional staff at Kumdis River Conservation Area (Photo by NCC)
At the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) we have staff members from across the country, each bringing a unique perspective to conservation nationally and in their home province. From forests to coastlines, like every Canadian, NCC staff have...
Man Nature Poem: The Tragically Hip's connection to the Canadian outdoors
The Tragically Hip in Kelowna, BC, 2015 (Photo by Aven Hoffarth)
One of my earliest memories of music came from the speakers of my dad’s 1969 Beaumont convertible with the top down. I remember sitting in the back seat, my hair blowing through the wind, and my sister sitting shotgun beside my dad. Blaring...
The great staycation
From left to right: Carys Richards, Kate Williams, Zoë Arnold, and Kailey Setter at “Trees for Bees 2” in June 2016. It’s so sweet to “bee” a part of this crew! (Photo by NCC)
Why migrate only to return home? Monarch butterflies find the same oyamel evergreens in Mexico each winter, and I unfailingly return to Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) as a Conservation Volunteer (CV). This summer is different however, because...
The Migratory Bird Treaty turns 100!
Woman, wearing a large feathered hat and boa, posing for a portrait (Photo by John Oxley Library, Public Domain)
This year we mark the centennial of the convention between the United States and Great Britain (for Canada) for the protection of migratory birds — also called the Migratory Bird Treaty — that was signed on August 16, 1916. A century...
A Maritimer celebrating 15 years at NCC – in Alberta
Waterton Springs interpretive trail (Photo by NCC)
This year I celebrated 15 years of working for the Atlantic Region of the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC). To mark the occasion, I visited a completely different NCC Region: Alberta. Ah, the mountains! Seeing the difference in landscape, land...
Partners in conservation: The Nature Conservancy of Canada and Parks Canada
Wood Buffalo National Park, Alberta & Northwest Territories (Photo by Parks Canada)
Canada’s Parks Day takes place on the third Saturday of July each year, at all national parks from coast to coast to coast. It serves as a reminder of our country’s beautiful natural landscapes. As Canada’s leading national...
Alberta's ranching evolution (Part Three)
Waldron, Southern Foothills, AB (Photo by Kyle Marquardt)
For just over 130 years, the western rangelands of southern Alberta have been the cradle of the stock-raising industry. As long as the prairie grasses have been allowed to perpetuate themselves, the cow and the calf have been able to harvest a...
Alberta's ranching evolution (Part Two)
A cattle herd just west of Fort MacLeod (Photo by Doug Madill)
(Continued from Part One.) Since it was the landscape of the rangelands that had originally attracted me to Alberta and western Canada, I have become increasingly fascinated with not only the buildings and artifacts associated with the ranching...
Something's Fishy: Little fish, big questions
Pygmy whitefish (Prosopium coulterii) (Photo by John Lyons)
In deep, dark waters all across Canada are ghosts, swimming skeletons and predators but the most mysterious of all are the fish species with an unknown past. Every day biologists are asking and answering the questions posed by nature. Trading in a...
Alberta's ranching evolution (Part One)
Boholomec Ranch, Crowsnest Pass (Photo by NCC)
For me, there is something about the Canadian prairies. It’s not where I originally came from, but when I moved west to Saskatchewan and Alberta from Ontario some 36 years ago, they just took me in, and I knew I could not ever stop living...
