Nature of the North: A Traveler’s Guide to Nature in Northern Ontario
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Author: ON Nature
Published quarterly by Ontario Nature, ON Nature brings readers closer to nature by exploring Ontario’s natural areas and wildlife and providing insight into current environmental issues.
This award-winning magazine features in-depth articles on the environment and conservation issues and stunning colour photography. Read about wilderness travel and destinations, natural history and up-to-date news on conservation battles.
Coconut Coir Detrimental
On page 33 of the spring (paper) edition, the author suggests that gardeners use coir as a substitute for Ontario, or Canadian, peat. My goodness. So more Indonesian rainforest, for example, should be destroyed for the planting of yet more coconut trees, for their coir, and oil, and whatever else we humans want? I think […]
Natural Burial
On page 18 of your Spring 2023 issue of ON Nature, I am referred to as the founder of the Natural Burial Association. I am at best the Co-Founder along with the late pioneering green, Mary Anne Brinckman, who was a remarkable contributor to Canada’s natural heritage. Mary Anne pushed for less wasteful burial practices, […]
Local Potting Mix
Re: For Peat’s Sake For a couple years I’ve been working on a potting mix that is free of peat moss, cocoa coir, perlite or vermiculite. I think I’m finally there, or very close. All I’m using from off my property is a local rock dust, blood meal and perlite for drainage. The rock dust is […]
Spring 2023
5 | This Issue A history lesson. By Caroline Schultz 38 | Last Word The Downside of #NoMowMay By Lorraine Johnson and Dr. Sheila Colla 34 | Our Member Groups A legacy of nature reserve stewardship. By Melissa Thomas 35 | Our Community School of Flock raises awareness about bats. By Hayley Raymond ON Nature […]
MZO Impact on Scugog River
RE: Kingston Rejects Development on Wetland I am an Ontario Nature donor and a recipient of ON Nature magazine. There is an article by Sarah Hasenack in the Winter 2022 issue that is exactly on point for my community in north-east Lindsay. We are faced with a small community development in 17 hectares just north […]
Winter 2022
5 | This Issue The Web of Life. By Caroline Schultz 7 | Earth Watch A wetland win All about peatlands Kinghurst Forest in winter New carbon guide And more… 38 | Last Word How Carbon Offsets Can Better Help Nature By Sean Rudd 34 | Our Member Groups Twenty-Five Years of Protecting Nature. By […]
Species at Risk Guide
Learn about more than 50 species at risk that are found in northern Ontario. We are now in the midst of the largest mass extinction since the disappearance of the dinosaurs more than 65 million years ago. Habitat loss and degradation, climate change, invasive species, pollution and over-exploitation of natural resources are some of the factors driving the decline. This handy guide categorizes species into mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, plants and insects.
Fall 2022
5 | This Issue Looking on the Bright Side. By Caroline Schultz 7 | Earth Watch Youth birding hikes Wetland offsetting controversy Northern Ontario’s fall bounty Tracking breeding birds And more… 38 | Last Word Piping Plovers Prevail By Lisa Richardson 34 | Our Member Groups Naturalists Expand a Reserve. By Lisa Richardson 36 | […]
Backyard Habitats Guide
Introduction Planning While backyard habitats cannot take the place of large wilderness areas, they can foster the diversity of wildlife populations in urban areas. Consider the number and kinds of plants or animals living in or on a typical suburban lot. Basically you’ll find lots of individuals — many blades of grass, several individuals of […]
Summer 2022
38 | Last Word There is no good type of disposable waste By Melina Damian 34 | Our Member Groups A tree for every resident in Halton Hills. By Lisa Richardson 36 | Our Community Hydro One is giving back to nature. By Kayla Salive ON Nature magazine is an award-winning quarterly that brings readers […]
Appraising Tree Planting
I love trees. I grow trees from seed and I’m a member of a group in Halton Hills, dedicated to planting trees. Nevertheless, I welcomed the article When Tree Planting Harms More Than It Helps by James Kamstra in the Spring 2022 issue of ON Nature. Tree planting, quite rightly, is seen as a way […]
Refuting Tree Planting Harms
I was disappointed in your editorial, “When Tree Planting Harms More Than It Helps.” Several positive points were not mentioned: the carbon sequestering value of tree planting, the incredible loss of forest cover since European (human) invasion, opportunities to plant trees in urban and rural areas, and the fact that most top predators live in […]
Brook Trout
Thank you and Patricia Hluchy for the excellent article, “Trout in Trouble” in the Spring 2022 edition of Ontario Nature! It was skillfully crafted – well done! It’s obvious why Patricia was a finalist for the National Magazine Award for her article about American ginseng. I’m pleased to report that Peel Region recently passed a […]
Spring 2022
5 | This Issue Our Waterways Need Your Vote. By Caroline Schultz 7 | Earth Watch Initiative Taps New Generation of Activists COVID-19 lockdowns Bring More Birds to Urban Areas Ontario’s Record on Species at Risk Noah Cole: Featured Photographer Farms to Forests at Sydenham River Nature Reserve Rare Alvar Habitat on the Saugeen Bruce […]
Birchbark Canoe Building
After reading your interesting article about birchbark canoe building, The Art of the Craft, I thought that others would like to see, in practice, how it was done. Apparently, César Newashish, in 1971, was one of the few people practicing the art. This documentary shows how a canoe is built the old way. César Newashish, […]
Model Forests
Thank you for the feature by Ian Coutts, in the Winter 2021 issue, about Edmund Zavitz’s extraordinary reforestation efforts. During the centennial of the Reforestation Act, our family is celebrating 51 years of forest stewardship in Lanark County thanks to the remarkable legacy of agreement forests. You can read about it in the December 2020, […]
Great Winter Edition
I have been a member of Ontario Nature since a small child in the 40s and continue to be amazed and nurtured by nature. I am an amateur botanist and love trying to identify mosses. But the use of just common names is confusing as “we are the folk” and there are many folk names […]
Edmund Zavitz
Thank-you, thank-you for publishing Ian Coutts article about Ontario’s father of forestry. I trained as a forester many years ago and was very much inspired by the work of foresters such as Zavitz. It always breaks my heart that so little is known about the love of ecology that so many foresters have. We are […]
Winter 2021
5 | This Issue A winter interlude. By Caroline Schultz 7 | Earth Watch Documenting Ontario’s Breeding Birds The Annual Rite of Urban Salmon Migration Video Project Highlights Conservation Maya Davidson: Featured Photographer Outdoor Education Forest Wilderness on Toronto’s Doorstep Environmental Deregulation Has a Face Natural Solutions to Preserving the Climate 38 | Last Word […]
Fall 2021
5 | This Issue A promise worth keeping. By Caroline Schultz 7 | Earth Watch New Trail Welcomes All Visitors Controversial Highway Development on Hold Making Our Nature Reserves Count Jeffrey (Red) George: Featured Artist Trail Blazer Honoured Growing the Sydenham River Nature Reserve Bill Signals Hope for Communities Affected by Pollution A Conservation Vision […]
Summer 2010
DEPARTMENTS 5 | This IssueHow much for that ecosystem?By Caroline Schultz On the cover24 | Songs of the BobolinkSmall changes on farmlands could help reverse the steep decline of a grassland species whose joyous chorus once filled the air.By Cecily Ross 8 | Earth WatchOntario Nature’s Biodiversity Watch List; more reasons to go outside; the […]
Rise and Fall of the Great Lakes
In the article “The Rise and Fall of the Great Lakes” in the Summer 2021 issue of ON Nature Conor Mihell states that a storm in January 2020 “washed away the century-old Lion’s Head Lighthouse.” The lighthouse that the storm destroyed was not a century old. It was a replica of the lighthouse that was […]
Rise and Fall of the Great Lakes
As a Director and Aquatic Ecologist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada (now retired), I had the pleasure of working with many people engaged in sustaining and restoring Great Lakes ecology. Managing water levels through bi-national boards is a complex ‘industry’. Historically, Great Lakes water levels have been impinged to support bi-national interests in hydroelectricity and […]
Summer 2021 Reflections
I enjoyed reading the Summer 2021 issue of ON Nature. Two articles in particular caught my eye, primarily because solutions to the problems they presented could perhaps be explored in further issues. I would encourage you to let your readers know about the work done by Watersheds Canada (watersheds.ca). “The Rise and Fall of the […]
Going Wild
As a long-time member and subscriber, I read with interest ‘Going Wild‘ by David Israelson in the Summer 2021 issue of ON Nature (page 30). I commenced employment at the Central Lake Ontario Conservation Authority (CLOCA) in 1979 eventually, through reclassifications, becoming Operations Manager until 1996. I oversaw all the conservation areas including Lynde Shores. […]
Trumpeting a Victory
Re: “Trumpeting a Victory“. It was interesting to read the article on the reintroduction of the swans to Ontario. The Toronto Zoo has also been involved with reintroduction efforts and have had a nesting area in the Weston Pond area for most of the years I volunteered there. They also had banded swans in a […]
Summer 2021
5 | This Issue The Good Fight. By Caroline Schultz 7 | Earth Watch Bear Wise tips Cormorants and plastics A new partnership Safeguarding Wesleyville ATVs harming wetlands Park safety Smera Sukumar: Featured Photographer Saving Simcoe wetlands Protecting Minesing’s biodiversity 38 | Last Word Protecting Nature on Unceded Lands. By Tom Cowie 36 | Our […]
Butcher of the Alvar
Re: “Butcher of the Alvar“. I like how it reveals the vulnerability of all species by highlighting the personality and decline of one of Canada’s most ferocious songbirds, the eastern loggerhead shrike. If a carnivorous avian warrior who sings while impaling its prey on thorns can become endangered, then we should be concerned about the […]
Volunteer Salamander Surveys
Re: “Volunteer Salamander Surveys” (Summer 2017). Teaching at a Forest and nature school, we often search for salamanders. On our last day of classes before being forced to close by government mandate, we found a red-backed salamander! That same week my husband and I found a vernal pool filled with several egg sacs at McCrae […]
Minesing Wetlands
Having lived near the Nottawasaga River for the last decade and witnessing all the changes taking place with development in the area, I feel it’s extremely important to protect these incredibly sensitive natural habitats. We only get one chance at this. Once those habitats are gone, they are gone for good. – Lisa Jasiurkowski
Lawns Vs. Habitat
There is an area of urban land that we need to change or at least modify. If all of this land in Canada was joined together we would have an area equal to the size of British Columbia. Presently this land is completely wasted due to a useless cultural practice that benefits an industry and […]
A Breath of Fresh Air
I loved Julia Zarankin’s cover story, A Breath of Fresh Air. Well-written, thoughtful, and with two important themes that deserve separate articles. One theme is nature every day in the city, wherever you are. Most Canadians live and work in urban areas and we cannot just focus on wild and remote nature. Few people have the privilege of […]
Spring 2021
38 | Last Word Ontario’s “Zombie Highway” (Highway 413) is Back. By Tim Gray 36 | Our Community Voices of Ontario Nature members. By Chris Robinson, Ann Atkinson and Spencer Burton 35 |Our Member Groups Fighting for Lake Simcoe. By Lisa Richardson ON Nature magazine is an award-winning quarterly that brings readers closer to nature […]
Winter 2020
38 | Last Word When the going gets tough… By Anne Bell 36 | Our Community Welcome to the Gananoque Lake Nature Reserve. By Caroline Schultz 35 |Our Member Groups A nature experience for all. By Lisa Richardson ON Nature magazine is an award-winning quarterly that brings readers closer to nature by exploring Ontario’s natural […]
Restoring Nature’s Health
I just read Victor Doyle’s opinion piece on “Restoring Nature’s Health Post-COVID” (page 38, ON Nature, Fall 2020) and found it important and revealing. I am former land use planner myself. Although a short piece, it’s clear that he has revealed what many of us either knew, or suspected – that the current COVID-19 crisis presents a “public distraction” […]
Drowning in Plastic
Reader responses to: “Approximately only 8% of plastics are recycled in Ontario. The remaining plastic waste inevitably ends up in landfills or in the natural environment. Who should be responsible for tackling plastic pollution, consumers, the government, or corporations?” Corporations – that made plastic products and reaped the profits – should be held responsible for […]
Biodiversity Offsets
Reader responses to: “Novel business plan: Companies can earn their social licence to operate by creating new habitat.” It’s a great idea, but not a fast-enough solution. It takes several years for a habitat to recover and become sustainable. Then there’s the time required for all the flora and fauna to return to normal. […]
Slide Towards Sameness
“Some experts argue that our attitudes towards non-native species echo xenophobia. Should non-native species be considered less ecologically valuable than native species?” Absolutely don’t agree! – Shirley Baumgartner If they are ousting native species, then they should go. – Nancy Miles I don’t know enough as an expert or even someone more learned about […]
Death By The Numbers
Re: Death by the numbers, ON Nature Winter 2013 One of my social websites carried a petition against South Stormont Township, attacking a “Cat By-law” and claiming to have already more than 12,000 signatures. They seem to especially want people to keep feeding feral cats. I am an old guy, a nature lover; supporter of several environmental […]