View Post

Challenge Gift: Canadian Charitable Giving Landscape

In News by couchiching

As a longtime resident of Orillia and Simcoe County, I’ve watched our community grow, change and develop over time. Some of my favourite places in town – restaurants, stores, forests and playgrounds –are still here while others have been replaced or removed entirely.

View Post

Roosting Boxes: Building a home for the winter

In Birds, News by couchiching

Many bird lovers either purchase or build nest boxes for their favourite wild birds: bluebirds, swallows, chickadees, nuthatches and many more. These boxes vary in size and shapes and in particular, the size of the entrance hole, depending on the desired species. We have had as many as 40 swallow houses on our property, and an equal number of bluebird houses on fence posts along the sides of the roads in our area but only after receiving the permission of the landowner.

View Post

A Bright Future for Ontario’s Land Trusts

In News by couchiching

For three days last week, the meeting rooms and corridors of Geneva Park hosted lively discussions on databases, donors, best practices and cross-border training, not to mention the special challenges of raising public sympathy for bat and snakes. All this and much more were on the agenda for the annual gathering of the Ontario Land Trust Alliance, a symposium that encourages this province’s 35 land trusts to share and learn.

View Post

All You Need is an Hour on the Alvar

In Cameron Ranch Nature Reserve, Carden Alvar, Carden Alvar Provincial Park, Deverell Morton Nature Reserve, Nature Reserves & Easements, News, Prairie Smoke Alvar Nature Reserve by couchiching

It was October 1st, 2016, with one whole hour to spare before heading back to the campground just west of Carden, Ontario. I wondered where I should head out for a hike. Given the vastness of the near-by Carden Alvar landscape in terms of natural and recreational resources, I thought I would make a decision on-the-fly as to where to explore.

View Post

The ins and outs of Conservation Easements

In Nature Reserves & Easements, News by couchiching

The Couchiching Conservancy land trust is involved with land protection in three ways: We own the land, we partner with other organizations (for example, Ontario Parks, Nature Conservancy of Canada, Ontario Heritage Trust) to acquire and manage the land, or we work with private landowners to protect their land using a conservation easement.