To increase the community’s awareness of the work of The Conservancy, we’ve been telling stories about what we do, how we do it and who is helping. This story about our fabulous eight year old volunteer Kelvin was originally published in Orillia Matters on June 10th.
Young Local Nature Lovers Unite To Aid Endangered Species
Kelvin has dark hair and a big smile. He’s eight years old and he’s telling me with wide eyes how yesterday he and his friend found five salamanders! Kelvin and his mom, Sarah, are volunteer salamander monitors with The Couchiching Conservancy. Salamander monitoring is one of many community science programs we organize. Over 200 volunteers visit the Conservancy’s nature reserves multiple times in spring, summer and fall to observe and count how many frogs, snakes, Monarch butterflies, bats or salamanders they see. They photograph and upload sightings into an app called Landscape. Their findings are used to detect change in our local species populations, as well as report to federal endangered species databases.
In order to increase the chance of volunteers spotting salamanders, we put down untreated wooden boards in remote locations. Salamanders like the dark, moist habitat underneath. Each time Kelvin finds a board, his job is to gently brush off the leaf and branch debris and slowly lift it to see if there are any underneath. If there are, Sarah records the info in the app. Kelvin then gently scooches (his words) it away before replacing the board, but says ‘usually it’s mostly worms and spiders’. Five salamanders in one day is a big deal and he’s excited.
Each community science volunteer is partnered with another for safety. Sarah asked a friend if she wanted to volunteer with them and now Melissa and her son Arthur are part of the team, as is Kelvin’s younger sister Kailey.
Kelvin likes it because ‘you get to be in nature and get a lot of fresh air’. When asked why he thinks his mom does it, he responds ‘because she loves it’! Sarah’s actual answer is that she wants to instill a love and appreciation of the environment in her family as well as give her children context about ecosystems.
That’s exactly it. Sarah gets it.
In order to tackle climate change we need to protect our ecosystem. Our ecosystem works because of the intricate relationships between plants, animals, insects and the landscape. To function properly, as much natural space as possible needs to be left untouched, not necessarily for us to walk or bring our dogs or explore, but so that the species on it can thrive just as they would if we weren’t there. The more spaces like this on the planet, the better our species will be able to handle climate change. The Couchiching Conservancy has protected more than 15, 000 acres in this area and has volunteers monitoring species on it, not only so we can better understand the relationship between them and the land, but so more people can better appreciate the context of ecosystems.
Like Sarah is teaching Kelvin, Kailey and Arthur. Like The Couchiching Conservancy wants to teach our community.
Our mission is to protect nature for future generations and that means helping people understand nature through community research as well.
This is the 8th in a series of columns by Meg Whitton, formerly of Bounce Radio, now working in conservation at The Couchiching Conservancy. The Couchiching Conservancy is a non-profit land trust that protects over 15 000 acres of land in the Orillia region.