Ontario Nature Blog

The Lake Simcoe Protection Plan is now up for its required 10-year review. The question is whether the provincial government will take this opportunity to strengthen or weaken the plan – or do anything at all. The Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks has not revealed its intentions. Rather than proposing specific amendments for consideration, ...

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Designated as internationally important under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, the Minesing Wetlands are one of the largest and most diverse in southern Ontario.

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Stratford is one of the many communities across Ontario struggling with the unwelcome imposition of a Minister’s Zoning Order (MZO) to fast-track development. In Stratford’s case, the MZO is to make way for a glass factory on 175 acres of prime farmland at the edge of the city. Issued by the Minister of Municipal Affairs ...

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Gratitude. Relationship. Reciprocity. These are words that often emerge in conversations with Indigenous colleagues. They point to a far more just and caring way of living with each other and the natural world than prevailing settler concepts like “resource” and “land use.” This World Wetlands Day, let’s take a moment to reflect on our relationships ...

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It’s October 2017. I’m in Vancouver, British Colombia for Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) International’s General Assembly (GA). One forester colleague had warned me to get lots of sleep, drink water and do yoga in the weeks preceding the assembly. He warned it would be like running a marathon. That was an understatement. FSC holds a ...

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