*UPDATE: we are excited to share that since writing this article, The Villager has since been taken over and is back under new leadership! Visit their website here.
It is with gratitude that The Couchiching Conservancy submits its last Villager article. The Villager has been a staple in The Conservancy’s communications for years and we are so fortunate to be a part of the community of readers and writers touched by The Villager over the years.
The magazine holds an extra special place for me, as it was the first place I learned about The Couchiching Conservancy. After seeing some ads, I became a member, eventually started volunteering and now have made a career in conservation. I am one month shy of seven years. Without the Villager I wouldn’t’ have known my dream job was just up Division Road.
I’m sure I am not the only one who has made friends, found a community, or attended a great event thanks to Ellen Cohen’s efforts.
The lives changed by our local paper haven’t only been human. Countless birds have stronger protection thanks to community support for fundraisers like the Carden Challenge. An annual event that sees teams race to count the most species in 24 hours. This year’s Challenge is coming up May 26th. Please pick a team, donate and cheer them on, for more information visit our Carden Challenge page.
Entire populations of amphibians like salamanders, frogs and newts have been protected by volunteer monitoring promoted in the pages of the Villager. Populations thriving on nature reserves loved by local readers like the Adams Nature Reserve, T.C. Agnew and Alexander Hope Smith, all in Washago. It is part of the Conservancy’s process to reduce emissions by ensuring our volunteers live as close as possible to their monitoring sites, so the people who actively protect these populations live right in your neighbourhood.
Let’s not forget, reptiles like turtles, snakes and lizards, mammals like moose, beaver and bear and insects like endangered monarch butterflies have all benefited from the connectivity of wildlife corridors created by nature reserves such as the Ron Reid Reserve, or the new 400 acre Morton nature reserve we are currently fundraising for. Things are looking good with $355,000 raised and $277,000 left to go! Please donate and help us protect the wild. Every dollar helps.
Through my tenure as writer for the Couchiching Conservancy I have been able to share thoughts on species decline, protecting nature, climate change and habitat loss here at home, reconciliation, women in conservation, and of course, perhaps most importantly, our legacy for the future.
There will truly be no replacement for a magazine that works so hard to promote conservation and we at The Conservancy are privileged to have been a part of the Villager. I encourage you to continue learning about conservation in our region by signing up to our monthly e-newsletter and regularly checking our website for updates.
Finally with my last article for the Villager I would like to use my platform to beg you to join the right side of history. Do what you can to help us help the planet. The Conservancy may be signing off here, but we won’t stop protecting nature for future generations.
Courtney Baker is the Office and Acquisition Coordinator at The Couchiching Conservancy, and is proud to have had her name published in the Villager.