Ontario Nature Blog

The story begins with the Cosmic Lottery, which I entered in July 1945 when I was conceived. I won it on April 5, 1946. On that day, I was born to well-to-do parents in Toronto, Ontario. Seventy-six years later, I live on the Love Mountain Nature Reserve in the Happy Valley Forest, just 40 kilometres ...

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Do you feel it? The weight of the world? With pandemics, political discord, climate change, species depletion, habitat destruction, and pollution (just to name a few existential threats), many of us may feel hopeless, paralyzed, or even apathetic. But if too much bad news is getting to you, there is something you can do. Redeem ...

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The phrase “30 x 30” dominated the headlines from COP15 in Montreal last December. It’s the international commitment to protect at least 30 percent of the world’s lands and waters by 2030. Formally known as Target 3, it is just one of 23 targets intended to halt and reverse biodiversity loss. It’s an ambitious target, ...

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Without the chorus of birdsong and frog calls heard in warmer months, it’s easy to picture wetlands as vacant in the winter. But appearances can be deceiving. Snow-blanketed ice transforms into a living guestbook wildlife sign with their feet. Barren trees become stopovers for visiting birds. A wetland in winter may be a quiet scene, ...

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Snip, snip, snip. That’s how my supervisor, Anne Bell, described the recent tangle of legislation and policy proposals dumped on Ontarians in October and November of 2022. It was my second day at my new job as Ontario Nature’s Conservation Policy and Planning Manager. What’s being snipped is the thoughtfully interwoven web of protections for ...

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