Today’s post comes from Sheila Wiebe, a Marketing and Development Specialist at Bronte Creek Provincial Park.
I recently celebrated the halfway point in my life. The milestone of 50 years on this Earth, half a century.
As I usually do around my birthday I reflected on the past year: the accomplishments, the challenges, and everything in between.
I felt like I needed to do something to commemorate the occasion. Continue reading My 50 trees challenge
Today’s post comes from Rebecca Rogge, a travelling resource steward for the Northeast Zone.
I first started working for the Northeast Zone Resource Steward Program back in 2011. It seems like a lifetime ago.
At the time, it was a relatively new job in Ontario Parks. The program had only been around for a few years, and few of us existed.
Several parks were created in 1999, the majority of which were “non-operating” provincial parks. They generally do not have facilities or dedicated staff. Many protect recreational waterways and nature reserves protect rare flora, fauna and geological landscapes.
This is where we, the resource stewards, spend most of our time. In these wonderfully beautiful and diverse places.
Our “Forever protected” series shares why each and every park belongs in Ontario Parks. In today’s post, Zone Ecologist Corina Brdar tells us Holland Landing Prairie’s story.
“The mosquitoes have been exceedingly troublesome these two days past. It is almost impossible to sleep during the night, for they are quite as plentiful and every way as michievous [SIC] as during the day.”
Sounds familiar, huh?
This isn’t a comment from a frustrated camper – it’s a 200 year old journal entry by a Scottish explorer visiting what is now known as Holland Landing Prairie Nature Reserve.
Continue reading Forever protected: why Holland Landing Prairie belongs
Today’s post comes from Natural Heritage Education Supervisor Alistair MacKenzie and Bat Stewardship Technician Heather Sanders.
Did you know Pinery Provincial Park has been a bat research hot spot for more than four decades? We’ve collaborated with research groups at York University, Western University and the University of Waterloo.
Much of what we know about Ontario bats — including their migration, diet, and behaviour — is all thanks to work done at Pinery.
This post comes from Sarah McMichael, senior marketing specialist at Ontario Parks.
Have you ever spotted leftover trash along our roads, sidewalks, and trails?
How many times have you walked past this trash while out for a walk, run, or jog? Did you pick it up, or leave it on the ground?
A new environmentally friendly workout trend is encouraging you to stop and pick up litter during your outdoor exercises.
It’s called plogging, and it’s an amazing way to keep our environment and our bodies healthy at the same time.
Our “Forever protected” series shares why each and every one belongs in Ontario Parks. Our great system of protected areas is based upon a model of representation. In today’s post, Biologist Lauren Trute tells us Petawawa Terrace’s story.
For many families in the area, Petawawa Terrace Provincial Park is literally a park in their backyard.
Unlike many provincial parks in Ontario, Petawawa Terrace is not pristine wilderness. Locally known as the “fish hatchery park,” the 215 ha park is located in the heart of the Town of Petawawa.
This little parcel of protected land belongs in the Ontario Parks system because it gives us a glimpse into Ontario’s history, and represents provincially significant ecosystems and species.
Continue reading Forever protected: why Petawawa Terrace belongs
Most people think of provincial parks as beautiful spots to be one with nature. We see them as clean, protected places that are safe for wildlife.
However, not everyone treats them that way.
Today’s post comes from Alistair MacKenzie, our Supervisor of Natural Heritage Education and Resource Management at Pinery Provincial Park.
In a province dominated by the rock of the Canadian Shield, sand is rare. If we combined all of Ontario’s coastal sand dunes together, they would only make up less than 0.5% of our province’s land.
We can thank a simple fact of nature for the creation of Pinery Provincial Park and its rare dunes: namely, that differences in temperature between the air over Lake Huron and the adjacent landmass create an on-shore breeze.
Today’s post was written by Brooke Michell, a Park Biologist at Kawartha Highlands Signature Site Park.
“The love of wilderness is more than a hunger for what is always beyond reach; it is also an expression of loyalty to the earth, the earth which bore us and sustains us, the only paradise we shall ever know, the only paradise we ever need.” – Edward Abbey
Some of our most treasured moments occur off the beaten path. In the backcountry of Ontario Parks, the avid hiker, canoe tripper, angler, and outdoors person seeks solitude. Although anyone who has backcountry camped knows it’s not always a walk in the park.
Physical limits are often pushed while portaging through rugged terrain, and paddling across windswept water bodies. At this expense, why is backcountry camping one of our most beloved past times?
Not sure exactly what “ecological integrity” means? Today’s post from Park Biologist Shannon McGaffey explains how ecological integrity is like music.
Synergy: the creation of a whole that is bigger than the sum of the individual parts
If you are listening to a symphony, you are not listening to two violins, one piano, three flutes, etc. You are listening to music, an art that breaches the realms of spirituality. Music naturally generates measurable energy, but also produces energy beyond that, an energy that humans can feel, but just can’t quite grasp and understand.
