OTTAWA (July , 2014) In honour of our upcoming 75th anniversary this September, Nature Canada — Canada’s oldest nature conservation charity — is launching our 75th Anniversary Photo Contest to encourage Canadians to take advantage of the summer months, get outdoors and connect with nature. Until August 31, 2014, amateur photographers and nature enthusiasts can enter their best nature photos for a chance to win a variety of prizes ranging from an unlimited National Parks season pass to Vancouver Aquarium tickets to bungee jumping. The grand prize is an impressive multi-day hike from Copper Cayuse Outfitters. A panel of celebrities including Olympian Michael Tayler; award-winning photographer Michelle Valberg; Canada’s first female astronaut, Dr. Roberta Bondar; and Les Stroud, better known as TV’s Survivorman, have generously agreed to judge… read more →
We had barely began our tour from Sherwood Park when: “Ah, they’re so cute!” Fay cried as we popped over a rise to see a cow moose with twins straddling the yellow line. We stopped in plenty of time hoping not to panic them while giving Mom time to make a decision which direction to go. Once she made up her mind and headed down through the ditch toward the bush, the gangly calves followed. They seemed to walk on tip toes or goose stepping on the unfamiliar paved highway surface. Once they hit the soft grassy ditch their normal gait resumed, or as normal as a long legged, wobbly kneed calf can be. It pays to leave early and… read more →
Sometimes there are surprising wonders to be found at very common looking places. I stopped the other day at a typical looking wetland to try to get close to some blooming water lilies. The flowers were beautiful, just opening up, and numerous. As I cautiously approached, hoping to get a close up of the flowers a mighty slap of beaver tail surprised me. I shouldn’t have been, I was just concentrating on keeping the water level below the tops of my shoes. The grass covered ground, if I can call floating grass ground, moved and wobbled with each step. It wasn’t too many steps along when I found my boots were not waterproof above boot gunwale, so I just gave… read more →
As one of only two organizations physically present during the hearings on the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline and tanker project, Nature Canada was high on the media’s list of organizations to contact for comment when the devastating decision by the federal government to approve the project came through on June 17, 2014. Paul Jorgenson, Nature Canada’s Senior Communications Manager, was on hand to answer pressing questions from various media sources keen to hear what Nature Canada had to say about the disappointing decision to give Northern Gateway the greenlight despite piles of evidence forecasting a one in four chance of an oil spill within the pipeline’s lifetime. Nature Canada speaks to Global BC Nature Canada speaks to Radio Canada… read more →
I’ve been working on promoting the Saving for Change partnership between terra20 and Nature Canada for a few weeks now. I finally had a free hour in my day and thought, this is the perfect opportunity to drop in to the store for a visit! In case you haven’t already heard, Nature Canada members receive discounts on the many nature-friendly products, and 2% of those purchases will go towards supporting our efforts to protect and conserve our environment! It’s easy, all you have to do is sign up and shop online or in-store! Find out more about Saving for Change here. Since I live so close to the Iris location in Ottawa, I thought a little bit of shopping would be a fun way… read more →
Bird Day Ottawa was a great success this year, drawing close to a thousand people in the Ottawa-Gatineau area to Nature Canada’s annual bird and wildlife event. There were crafts for kids, live falcon demonstrations, and guided nature walks throughout the day. Bird Day is an event dedicated to celebrating nature, getting people excited about nature in their NatureHoods and connecting people – especially kids – to the nature all around them. Here are our top three reasons for celebrating nature in your NatureHood. Discover something new about your neighbourhood! Each guided nature walk at Bird Day revealed a different set of species and a variety of habitats. Depending on the time of day and the season, you will likely see a different… read more →
Nature Canada is calling on the stakeholders to ask the federal government to strengthen Bill C-40, the Rouge National Urban Park Act, which would create Canada’s first urban national park. Nature Canada strongly supports the idea of creating a urban national park. Our NatureHood initiative is designed to help connect city-living Canadians with their nearby nature. Nature Canada has also been advocating for more national parks for the bulk of our 75 year history and we’re proud to have played a role in the creation of over 63 million acres of parks and protected national wildlife areas in Canada. Unfortunately, Bill C-40 is weak and needs to be strengthened. As it stands, the legislation fails to meet standards for sustainability… read more →
OTTAWA – (May 29, 2014) Nature Canada is hosting a Bird Day Fair for all ages in Ottawa this Saturday, May 31, 2014. The Bird Day Fair celebrates the region’s migratory birds through educational activities, live demonstrations, nature walks and much more. Bird Day Fair is one of many events taking place this month as part of International Migratory Bird Day, an international initiative encouraging habitat conservation and increasing awareness of birds. “Bird Day Fair is a great chance for us to come together as a community to celebrate and have fun all while enjoying nature and learning about the birds and other wildlife that call this area home,” said Stephen Hazell, Interim Executive Director for Nature Canada. More than… read more →
This blog post was contributed by reader Emma Mardle. Eco-tourism is just such a case. More and more people are drawn to Canada by the stunning natural environment – and they want to experience and enjoy it as a whole, in a sustainable manner, rather than just withdrawing portions of it as the Scottish deer stalking fraternity do. Vacation providers are increasingly learning that the environment is one of their greatest assets, capable of drawing in millions of tourism dollars per annum and, as such, they are making efforts to protect their most valuable resource. Students preparing for careers in the hospitality industry are learning to preserve rather than exploit the environment – yet this preservation will ultimately result in… read more →
This blog post was contributed by reader Emma Mardle. Persuading people to appreciate the importance of the environment for its intrinsic value has always been difficult. However, persuading them to appreciate its importance for its monetary value may be a different matter. There are examples – many, in fact – of situations wherein man and nature have worked to each other’s mutual advantage. Humanity has fought for the preservation of an aspect(s) of the natural world because to do so preserves profit and enjoyment, and that aspect of nature has accordingly benefited from humanity’s protection and lobbying. Generally in the past such protection has been intrinsic upon the killing of some portions of the protected population for sport, which has… read more →