For the third year in a row, the Central Algoma Land Trust was proud to support the Algoma District Regional Envirothon and Competition, at Stokely Creek Lodge. This year’s event was especially meaningful, as one of our team members, Jazmin, returned as an instructor after once competing in Envirothon as a student herself.

From hands-on stream testing to field challenges and presentations, students spent two inspiring days building environmental skills and teamwork. Read the full blog to learn more about this year’s competition and why Envirothon continues to make such a lasting impact.

World Migratory Bird Day at Fort St. Joseph was another extremely successful day! 121 eager birders showed up on May 9th at Fort St. Joseph National Historic Site to experience the wonders of spring bird migration. This was the 4th annual partnership between Parks Canada and the Central Algoma Land Trust to host this event in celebration of World Migratory Bird Day.

“Although I only began working with the Central Algoma Land Trust in October, I already feel like I have learned so much! From day one, the team has been exceptionally kind, welcoming, and supportive as I settled into my new role. Everyone has taken the time to share their knowledge about the wide range of work that we are involved in, both past and present (and there’s a lot!).”

This week, Corinne and I led a guided snowshoe along our Gravel Point Preserve Hiking Trails. We explored just under 4 km of trails, taking in the sights and sounds of the forest in winter.

We had a fantastic summer here at the Central Algoma Land Trust, thanks in large part to the hard work and dedication of our seasonal staff. Their contributions helped us accomplish a great deal over the past few months, from fieldwork and stewardship activities to community outreach and beyond.

The Kensington Conservancy had a fantastic team of seasonal staff join us this year. We hope you enjoy reading their recaps of their time with us. ​We wish them all the best in this future endeavours!

Thank you to Roxane and Bella for their time with us this summer! We asked them to write about their experiences, which you can read here.

Thank you to Vince and Rachel for their time with us this summer! We asked them to write about their experiences, which you can read here.

A big thanks goes out to everyone who participated in The Kensington Conservancy's Birding Big Day on September 8th! We had eight teams consisting of nineteen participants record a total of 101 different bird species over the course of nine hours in the Central Algoma area.

I had the pleasure of joining a group of Sault Naturalists for a birding trip to Point Pelee National Park from May 7-11. The idea was that I would increase my knowledge of birds and observe the conservation and recreation efforts of the park and hopefully use this new knowledge during my work with the conservancy. Our group was one of a select few groups who had the pleasure of camping at the actual park, giving us a break on travel and parking each day.

Last week I had the pleasure of attending the Ontario Land Trust Alliance Annual Gathering, located at Geneva Park on Lake Couchiching, near Orillia, ON. This gathering is an annual training, skills development and networking conference bringing together land trust and other conservation professionals from across Ontario and Canada. 

Good thing bears are (usually) more scared of us than we are of them. Yesterday afternoon, I took a walk from the office up to Boyer Drive to do a little field work. Half way up the hill, I found the first of many bear scat piles along the road. The scat was big, red and full of apples, which made sense because there are a lot of apple trees up that way.