We all know Ontario’s provincial parks aim to protect our natural landscapes and species.
But did you know that each individual park is protected for its own (often very specific) reasons?
Our parks work together as a network of biodiversity and protection.
Whether an immense wilderness or a small urban nature reserve, every park plays a critical role in the protection of our biodiversity, including representative ecosystems, species, and cultural heritage.
We don’t want to discourage kids from finding magic in nature.
But we’re also kind of like the Lorax; we need to speak for the trees (and all the other critters that live in provincial parks).
What do turtles and reusable water bottles have in common? More than you might imagine.
Turtles need our help, and we’ve partnered with our friends at Chilly Moose (and their reusable bottles) to help meet the challenge! Continue reading Turtles love water (bottles!)
Preserving ecological integrity is a priority for all of us here at Ontario Parks. But just what does ecological integrity look like? Algonquin Provincial Park Naturalist David LeGros explains…
When I start many of my evening programs at Algonquin, I often ask the audience if they like nature.
Usually I get a lot of hands up in the air, but there are always a few that don’t put their hands up. I tell those people, “You might be in the wrong place, because Algonquin is crawling with nature.” I know these folks may have not been paying attention to what I was saying or chose not to participate in my survey, but it always gets a laugh from the crowd.
However, this did get me thinking about why we go to parks over staying home or visiting a big city…
Continue reading How will I know ecological integrity when I see it?
In today’s post, Algonquin Provincial Park‘s David LeGros wishes everyone a happy Darwin Day!
Today, it seems that we know so much about the world around us: how it works, what lives here, and what threatens it.
Truthfully, it would be arrogant to think that we know it all — we don’t.
Discovering and explaining how the natural world works involves a lot of observations, patience, note-taking, comparisons, and creativity. It means spending time out in nature, observing the changing seasons, looking at how organisms interact with each other, their prey and predators, and their respective habitats.
Scientists have documented a great deal of life on Earth, but many species still remain undiscovered and understudied, and lots are only described and named and we know hardly anything more.
In today’s post, Biologist Intern Michelle Lawrence gives us an insider look at Killarney’s “nightlife,” and shares how staff are working to protect the park’s bat populations.
Killarney Provincial Park has been called “a crown jewel of the provincial parks system” by some, and it’s not hard to see why.
With white quartzite mountains and sparkling blue lakes, Killarney is truly a sight to behold. In Killarney’s wilderness, White Pine grow, live, and die; Moose munch on water lilies; and the forests and wetlands teem with warblers and other songbirds.
But when the sun goes down, not everyone in the park goes to sleep…
