Soil: More Important and Fascinating Than It Seems

by Ty Fischer, Riparian Health Restoration Intern You may not often offer it much consideration when you are walking over it or planting in it, but soil is a wonderfully complex and extraordinarily important thing that both us and our native wildlife owe much of our lives to. Soil is necessary for the growth of plants, which are primary producers. These are organisms that harvest energy from the sun and transform it into chemical energy, thereby forming the basis of all food webs. It is ... Read More

by Ty Fischer, Riparian Habitat Restoration Intern Canada is a country known for its freshwater. It is a part of our identity, with many of us forming foundational memories in and around our rivers and lakes throughout our lives. With twenty-percent of the global supply of freshwater held within our borders (Government of Canada, 2018), our waterways and the wildlife they sustain are truly unique in the world. Such a widely distributed and heavily used asset requires us to all work ... Read More

by Robert Pye, Executive Director Gather around kids. This Gen X'er wants to tell you about the days when Canadians opened up their wallets to spot special birds. Four decades ago, the Bank of Canada introduced its birds of Canada series that featured snowy owls on our $50 dollar bills, loons on $20’s, and ospreys on $10’s. Who else remembers robins on $2's before the burgundy bill was cashed in for the pocket heavy toonie we have today?  It was the third smallest denomination that ... Read More

by Alana Coulombe, Education programs administrator What are PFAS? Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a large, complex group of over 4,700 human-made substances used in a wide range of consumer products (Health Canada, 2023). PFAS molecules consist of a chemically stable chain of linked carbon and fluorine atoms (National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences [NIEHS], 2024). This strong carbon-fluorine bond is responsible for most properties of PFAS including their ... Read More

by Ty Fischer, Riparian Health Restoration Intern The word “spineless” is often used to describe something weak or purposeless. There is a certain irony, then, that macroinvertebrates – organisms that are “spineless” by their very nature – are actually vitally important in helping humans understand and monitor the health of freshwater ecosystems. Macroinvertebrates are any organisms that do not have backbones and are large enough to be spotted without the use of a microscope. In aquatic ... Read More

by Alana Coulombe, Education programs administrator Why do some plants along roadways have brown or scorched leaves or needles in the spring? Although road salts are widely used to combat icy conditions during the winter, the environmental consequences are often not obvious until the spring. Road salt sprays can harm nearby vegetation by penetrating leaf scars and killing dormant buds, and by accumulating in the soil where they are taken up following the same route as other nutrients in ... Read More