Category: Park Stories
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Your Will can change the world
Do you remember the moment a park captured your heart? Was it with the call of a loon, the swish of a paddle, the crackle of a campfire? For so many of us, parks helped make us who we are. They defined our childhoods. They sculpted our values and our memories. They’re a place we…
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Mattawa River Provincial Park: a heritage river
Today’s post comes from Assistant Discovery Leader Mat St-Jules of Samuel de Champlain Provincial Park. As your paddle meets the water, look up to the towering cliffs. Pass marshes teeming with activity. Touch trees that set roots hundreds of years ago. With such incomparable beauty, it’s hard to imagine that Mattawa River Provincial Park is…
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Together, we’re protecting our turtles
We’re doing it! We’re helping more and more turtles in our provincial parks with the support of our incredible donors. Over the past several months, we have collected donations for our Turtle Protection Projects across Ontario. We are thrilled to report that many of these projects are well underway. Our park staff are working hard…
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An ode to Discovery
In today’s post, Anna Winge-Breen shares her journey from childhood visitor to Algonquin Provincial Park Discovery Ranger. We all have at least one childhood experience, so crisp and profound that it has become nearly inseparable from our identity. A memory that is so deep in your heart, thinking of it brings you right back to a feeling…
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Life lessons working with Bobolinks
Today’s post comes from Victoria Reimer, Bronte Creek Provincial Park’s Green Jobs summer student and friend to birds everywhere. If you asked me what a Green Jobs student was before I started, I wouldn’t have known myself. Now, after being in the role, I can tell you it’s a wonderful opportunity to become intimately connected…
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"Check out" nature at your library!
Imagine a library; what do you think of? The smell of paper, the sound of turning pages, and, of course, books. Well, now when you think library, we want you to think Ontario Parks too! You and your family can now “check out” an Ontario Parks seasonal permit from a participating library near you!
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The annual birding battle for the golden binoculars
In today’s post, Learning & Education Specialist Rachelle Law recounts Team Ontario’s push to find as many birds as possible. Every year, a team of expert birders from Ontario Parks prepare — binoculars in hand — to compete in a heated competition. The goal: spot and record as many bird species as they can over…
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Neys' relics from the past
Today’s post comes from Katherine Muzyliwsky, a Natural Heritage Education Student at Neys Provincial Park. Before Neys became a provincial park, it was known as Neys Camp 100. Instead of happy campers on vacation, the park held German prisoners of war during World War II. After operating as a prisoner of war camp from 1941-1946,…
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DROP Unit formed to recover lost selfie gear
Today’s post comes from Park Naturalist Roger LaFontaine, a highly trained DROP specialist who aids in the retrieval of technology in distress or imminent danger. With so many people coming to our amazing parks last year, social media was loaded with pictures. They took pictures of the landscape, wildlife, their families and friends, and themselves — lots…