What's in a salt marsh?
Wilson Lake and Lobster Bay, NS (Photo by Anthony Crawford)
My field work for the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) often takes me through a number of different habitats, including salt marshes. Some are big, some are small, most are just right. One of these salt marshes is located in Yarmouth County,...
Labrador tea, growing wild in the Big Land
Not much colour in the Labrador tea, but amazing flavour. (Photo by Paul Smith/ Special to The Telegram)
I returned yesterday from Labrador, the Big Land, so vast and magnificent, with waterways that may never have floated a trout fly. There are not many places like Labrador left on our planet. We need to stay on our toes to protect it, us folks who...
Visiting coastal heathlands on Walk With NCC Day
Walking on the Barrens in NS (Photo by NCC)
On a sunny October morning, a group of enthusiastic hikers enjoyed a fall walk through the coastal heathlands on the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s (NCC’s) Dr. Bill Freedman Nature Reserve in Nova Scotia. Our walk started off with a...
Highlights of my NCC Conservation Internship
One of the most beautiful places we visited was Shamper’s Bluff, on the Kingston Peninsula of New Brunswick. (Photo by Joanna Hudgins)
I came into this internship full of excitement for the places I would see and the things I would do. After two years of studying to be a fish and wildlife technician in Central Ontario, I was beyond happy to be working in the Maritimes again. I...
Mudflats of New Brunswick
Flying over the vast mudflats at Johnson’s Mills, NB (Photo by NCC)
Brown. Flat. Smelly? A mudflat may not seem exciting at first glance. Even to those who grew up around the Bay of Fundy and are familiar with mudflats stretching as far as the eye can see, they may at first appear lifeless. But this couldn’t...
Something’s Fishy: Swimming with the sculpin
Deepwater sculpin (Photo by Doug Watkinson/Fisheries and Oceans Canada)
The first time I saw a sculpin splashing around was in a large bucket, among several other fish species, captured for a population survey of small creek on a piece of residential land. I was working with the Central Lake of Ontario Conservation...
Lincoln Wetlands trailblazing
Lincoln Wetlands brush and trailhead. (Photo by NCC)
I have dedicated the entirety of my adult life to conservation and environmental education. Much of my focus was abroad, but upon returning home to Canada it only made sense to become involved here as well. We live in a country of such vast...
The unloved bog
Grass pink in the bog at Escuminac, NB. (Photo by Claire Elliott)
Bogs are the unloved wetland. People like marshes because they’re full of ducks and frogs, and swamps can be fascinating for those who love alligators and turtles. But bogs are commonly viewed as swallowers of machinery and unwary hikers, or...
#HowToNature series: How to butterfly
Cranberry blue. (Photo by Claire Elliott/NCC intern)
Though August may be drawing to a close, butterfly season is not over yet. Many of Canada’s 200 plus species of butterflies remain active well into the fall. Below are some tips to take with you into the field next time you go out searching...
Surveying turtles at NCC's Silver River property
Conservation Volunteers installing fence posts at Turtle Beach (Photo by NCC)
The second week of August has been all about turtles for our team here in Nova Scotia! We had the opportunity to meet with Brad Toms, a researcher from the Mersey Tobeatic Research Institute, at the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s...
