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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There are some special areas in southern Ontario that undoubtedly merit protection but currently have none. The Matchedash Wildlands, which stretch from just east of the southern tip of Georgian Bay to Swift Rapids, north of Orillia, are one such place. In the words of Ron Reid, Carden Coordinator at the Couchiching Conservancy, “at the ...

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