The Nature Canada Awards constitute our heartfelt tribute to the hard work and dedication of these amazing individuals. All of our winners have proven themselves to be forces of nature, for nature!

The 2025 Jodi Joy Volunteer for Nature Award

Jodi Joy has dedicated over two decades to Nature Canada, leading its member development communications and raising millions of dollars to protect wildlife and wilderness while engaging Canadians to take action for nature. This award stands for dedication and tireless commitment to protecting nature!

This year we recognize two winners of the Jodi Joy Volunteer for Nature Award: Soren Bondrup-Nielsen and Kiyoshi Takahashi.

Kiyoshi Takahashi of Coquitlam, BC, has been a Nature Canada member since 1992.  He has been a leader in bird and bat habitat restoration for decades through his work with Burke Mountain Naturalists, Colony Farm Park Association and Minnekhada Park Association. A specialist in bat and purple martin conservation, he has put in many years of dedicated work to protect these species by building nest boxes and carrying out surveys. 

Kiyoshi Takahashi in his element, working with purple martin nesting boxes.

Purple martins in BC are a success story that has inspired conservationists across the country.  In the 1950s, the population of purple martins had been reduced to two breeding pairs in Victoria. A breeding box program for the birds began in the early 1980s, and Kiyoshi began building nesting boxes. Now, recent estimates put the population of purple martins in the lower mainland and eastern Vancouver Island at around 1,200 nesting pairs. Kiyoshi has been called “instrumental” in this comeback. 

Kiyoshi still works on purple martin conservation by building purple martin nest boxes, looking after nest sites and guiding groups around the sites. He reports, though, that at ninety-three years of age, he is “ facing some difficulties in climbing up a couple of meters high.” 

He puts his hope in the younger generations and their curiosity and enthusiasm about nature. “Nature conservation groups should regularly provide information and knowledge to elementary school age children by providing nature learning courses,” he says. He feels that art classes in particular, which require close observation and exploration, can help bring children closer to nature.

Soren Bondrup-Nielsen

Soren was Professor of Biology at Acadia University for 27 years, where he taught ecology and conservation biology. Retiring in 2016, he became President of the Blomidon Naturalists Society (BNS) in Nova Scotia in 2018. Under Soren’s leadership, the organization has transformed from a small nature group offering periodic field trips and monthly talks with about 100 members to a robust naturalist/environmental organization with 300-plus member households. 

Soren Bondrup-Nielsen (foreground), co-winner of the 2025 Jodi Joy Volunteer for Nature Award

With Soren at the helm, the board of Blomidon Naturalists Society (BNS)  has gained strength, passion, and numbers. His tenure has seen the launch of community projects such as  native plant education, a multi-year advocacy campaign for a new protected area in the region, and a community project to restore Acadian forest in a local park in partnership with the Town of Wolfville. 

“It is a great honour to be nominated and be selected for the Jodi Joy Volunteer for Nature Award,” says Soren. “I was totally unaware that I had been nominated!”

As a professor of biology, Soren supervised over 70 students, many of whom have gone on to become professional biologists. He was part of three nature organizations in Nova Scotia who brought a successful legal challenge against the provincial government regarding its lack of action on the Endangered Species Legislation.

Says Soren: “With organizations like Nature Canada and naturalists societies across Canada such as the Blomidon Naturalists Society, I feel there is great hope that we humans will figure out how to truly live sustainably.”