Happy New Year!

Youth Webinar

Recruiting and engaging young people means empowering future environmental leaders. How can your organization successfully connect with youth and boost volunteer participation in your programming? Nature Network groups identified youth recruitment as a priority area for training, and we listened!

Join host Christine Ambre, Ontario Nature Education Manager, and panelists Alyssa Li, a returning Ontario Nature Youth Council member, members of our Nature Network – Marg Paré, Waterloo Nature Teens Coordinator, and Miranda Virtanen, Executive Director of the Junction Creek Stewardship Committee – as they share their first-hand experience with effective youth engagement.

The free webinar will be held from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on February 1, 2023. If you can’t make it for the live presentation, register anyway and we will email you a recording soon after. We look forward to seeing you there!

“Big Tent” Initiative – Alliance for a Livable Ontario

In light of the many harmful changes in policy the Ontario government has introduced recently – including broad detrimental impacts our environment, health and democracy – organizations from across sectors in Ontario are coming together to fight back. Ontario Nature is a proud partner in The Alliance for a Liveable Ontario and we invite other organizations to learn more and consider joining the alliance.

The Alliance also hosts an online form to help keep track of how Bill 23 is harming Ontario and invites groups and citizens to send them any intelligence on local government efforts related to Bill 23 (e.g., Municipal Council meeting resolutions, discussions of property tax increases, discussions of new infrastructure costs).

Christmas Bird Count for Ukrainian Children

On January 4, 2023, Nature Barrie participated in Christmas in the Country, Ukrainian youth displaced by the Russia-Ukraine war. Volunteers from Nature Barrie guided the children on a Christmas Bird Count hike. This is the first year we have hosted a private Christmas Bird Count for kids at the Tiffin Centre for Conservation. It was a great way for children to spark their interest about nature, because they can find birds everywhere. In the past, we’ve found many children use their new bird identifying skills everywhere they go.

They started off the day by singing the national anthem followed by some favourite folk songs. Other activities included going on a wildlife detective hike, playing disc golf, and roasting hot dogs and marshmallows over an open fire.

Article submitted by Nature Barrie

Research Grant

Interesting Links and Opportunities

• We are accepting nominations for our 2022-2023 Conservation Awards until March 31. Visit our website for more information.
• See our recent report on the amazing Black Bay Peninsula and our efforts to get it protected.
• Interesting article about the fights ahead in 2023 for nature in Canada from the Narwhal.
• TD has launched its 6^th year of Park People grants aimed to support community groups to help build vital connections between people and parks.  They are accepting applications until February 20^th.

Events 

See our events calendar for a complete listing of events organized by Ontario Nature and Nature Network groups. 



To submit your public events for the online calendar, send them to noahc@ontarionature.org and allow up to a week for posting. Please send only events that are open to the public and no more than three per month.