Welcome to the 2Q2025 edition of the Nearby Nature Project! More than 25 years ago I learned that nurturing my relationship with Mother Nature is essential to my well-being. So I garden, walk, hike, cycle, kayak or otherwise spend time with Nature, pretty much every day.
I’m not alone in discovering that being outside is good for mind and body. Mainstream media articles regularly extoll the benefits of spending time in nature. And hashtags like #playoutside, #optoutside, and #greentimenotscreentime have communities of followers. I reflect on my Nature connectedness and share resources and news stories in these Nearby Nature Project posts.
News Feed
Unfortunately, It’s Wildfire Season
Canada’s 2025 wildfire season is off to a roaring start, with more than 1,700 fires year-to-date. The areas burned is more than 2.2 million hectares. This is roughly 3.6x the 10-year average to this point in the year and second only to the brutal 2023 season.
Manitoba and Saskatchewan evacuations have been in the news almost daily, with significantly more area burned compared to the 10-year averages. Northeastern BC and northern Alberta now have more hotspots than the rest of Canada combined. Firefighters from Australia and the United States have joined the effort to battle active fires. I deeply appreciate the hard work and dedication of all the firefighters out there on the front lines.
In addition to the devastating local damage to communities and nature, smoke from Canadian Wildfires is seriously impairing air quality in many regions of Canada and the United States. Smoke has spread more than 8,000 km (5,000 miles), reaching parts of Russia, West Greenland and the Arctic. Long distance transportation of smoke particles has affected the colour of sunrises/sunsets in Ireland, the UK, France, Germany and Norway.
My reading highlights many contributing factors: warmer temperatures, dryer conditions, changes in the jet stream, changes in the polar vortex, decades of fires suppression, monoculture re-planting after logging, bark beetle kill, more intense lightning storms, poor decision making (tossing cigarettes, not properly putting out campfires, etc.) and more. None of these are easy / simple to address.
Responses to Worsening Wildfire Seasons
We’ve experienced / observed momentum on several fronts:
- Several neighborhoods in Banff and one neighborhood in Canmore have been certified as FireSmart. We hope more neighborhoods will follow suit;
- Community fireguards / firebreaks are under construction in the Banff and Canmore area;
- Parks Canada plans prescribed burns during shoulder seasons;
- Firebans, as needed;
- As Canada moves to address the housing shortage, particularly in the affordable housing category, I hope that FireSmart locations and building standards will be part of the plan.
More personally:
- Our activity planning now includes consulting air quality and wildfire smoke forecasts. We simply don’t go if the air quality is poor;
- We had the local fire department come by and do a FireSmart assessment of our property. AND we followed through on all of their recommendations;
- We’ve purchased air purifiers for our main living area and bedroom and replace the air filters as required;
- We’ve purchased exerrcise equipment so we can stay active even when poor air quality keeps us stuck indoors; and
- I’ve refilled my asthma inhaler prescriptions, which I only have to use during wildfire smoke season.
I realize we are fortunate to be able to take all of these steps. But I remain concerned about long-term health consequences for those who have to work outdoors even when air quality warnings are in effect.
A Brief Primer on Canada’s Forests – Which Type is Nearby Nature for You?
Did you know that Canada has eight types of forests? For a quick rundown, read From the treetops: A closer look at Canada’s forests, Parts One and Two on the Nature Conservancy Canada website.
Being In / Connected to Nature Unites Human and Nature’s Wellbeing
While this recent study assessed how Nature exposures and Nature connectedness relate to well-being and environmentalism in England, it’s not a stretch to think the findings would apply more broadly.
Key findings include:
- Both visiting Nature and feeling connected to it are linked to improved mental / physical well-being and to taking more environmental action
- However, for those already highly connected with Nature, visiting Nature more often has stronger well-being benefits, while for those not very connected with Nature, deepening the sense of connectedness brings greater well-being benefits
The full report includes key takeaways for policymakers looking at how to enhance neighborhood green spaces to foster Nature connectedness. And how campaigns that strengthen Nature connectedness can drive conservation behaviours.
One Way to Increase Nature Connectedness
A relative recent study in People and Nature set out to assess whether gratitude journaling on Nature increases Nature connectedness. The researchers concluded that the mere activity of regularly reflecting on one’s relationship with nature may increase nature connectedness.
Cultivating My Nearby Nature Connection
I am working hard at reestablishing a habit to regularly upload observations to iNaturalist. I’m finding it helpful to join specific projects, including:
- Alberta May Plant Count, which takes place between May 25 – 31 and focuses on documenting the flowering status of native plants across Alberta. I contributed 21 observations across 16 species for this one.
- Blitz the Gap: The Other 99%, which asks participants to visit the 99% of Canada that isn’t the small set of locations (mostly cities) that comprise over half of all iNaturalist observations in Canada. This challenge was created by a team of ecologists, graduate students, and community scientists. The Blitz-the-Gap umbrella project seeks to increase the number of iNaturalist observations that can be used for science and conservation, and is supported by: Canadian Wildlife Federation, Wildlife Conservation Society Canada, Canada Key Biodiversity Areas, Campus Biodiversity Network, University of British Columbia’s Data4Nature cluster, McGill University, and the Canadian Institute for Ecology and Evolution, including the Living Data Project. I’ve submitted 30 observations so far, covering 25 species.
My Nearby Nature Projects
Birding
A little over a month ago, we resumed actively birding in conjunction with our walking, hiking, cycling and kayaking activities. Because birding isn’t our primary focus during these items, it’s no surprise that we’ve captured a wider range of birds through the sound ID functionality of Merlin Bird ID than we have with our cameras. Year-to-date highlights include great blue herons, bald eagles, ospreys, wood ducks, a red-tailed hawk, common loons and more:
Maybe I’m misremembering, but I’m pretty sure we’ve seen large numbers of waterbirds on Vermilion Lakes by early June in past years. So far this year, they have been few and far between, especially ring-necked ducks, grebes, mergansers, American coots and Canada geese. Having witnessed firsthand the consequences of bird flu on Antarctica bird populations in late 2023, I can’t help but wonder if bird flu has swept through Canada’s waterbird populations. 🙁
Wildflowers
Here in the Bow Valley, we’re well into wildflower season. I spotted my first orchid of 2025 back on May 11. In fact, the Fairy Slipper orchids are already well past their “best before” date. Spotting a new wild orchid location brings me joy, and I try to remember exactly where it is so I can re-visit in subsequent years.
On our most recent bike ride on the Bow Valley Parkway, I spotted new-to-me Arctic raspberries in bloom! Not surprisingly, they grow low to the ground. This is sharp contrast to the meter+ tall raspberry canes that can be found along the Three Sisters Multi-Use Pathway. Another big difference? The blossoms are deep pink, rather than white. From what I’ve read, the fruit is smaller than those on more familiar garden cultivars.
Wildlife
There’s a new subdivision going in here in Canmore. It’s displacing coyotes, elk and deer, along with a wide range of birds and smaller mammals. We’ve seen deer in our backyard much more than usual, and elk in parts of town where we’ve not noticed them before. It definitely makes me sad. I might take solace in the fact that there will be more affordable housing available a few years down the road, but I’m not holding my breath.
Meanwhile, over the past few weeks we’ve had the great privilege of riding our bikes past a grizzly sow and her three cubs, plus a lone American black bear. Both encounters went really well. In the case of the grizzlies, an Alberta Parks truck escorted us past the bears, while we pedaled on the far side. For the black bear, we spotted it well over 100 meters away, stopped and waited to see what happened. When it started ambling towards us, steadily browsing the roadside dandelions, I called out, “yo, bear” a couple of times and it headed off into the woods. We were particularly alert for bears on that ride, having spotted several dumps of fresh bear scat and the proliferation of dandelion flowers.
Seasons
One way to strengthen your connectedness to nearby nature is to watch for signs of the changing or passing of seasons. Two things I noticed over the past couple of months: 1) pollen, pollen everywhere; and 2) high turbidity in the Bow River, which is generally a lovely and clear turquoise.
Nature-Friendly Gardening
At our youngest adult child’s home in Calgary, we take advantage of being able to plant a vegetable garden and grow fruit. The fruit thing is simply not possible in Canmore, due to the Town’s by-laws prohibiting bear attractants. And with all the deer and elk around, vegetable gardening is a loosing proposition. The Calgary yard is wildlife friendly, with no use of pesticides or herbicides. There’s a bee and butterfly bath. And I’ve got flowers that bloom in succession from spring to fall to provide pollen.
At this point in the year I’ve thinned the two apple trees. Despite my effots to support pollinators, fertilization was spotty this year, with some clusters of blossoms having no resulting fruit. The cherry tree however, looks set to have a bumper crop.
The vegetable garden is coming along. Because we’re only in the city for a couple of days a week, I go for low attention crops like kale, onions, garlic, carrots and beets. Oh, and raspberries. Our 25 year-old likes raspberries enough to be self-motivated to get out there and pick them! 😉 Here’s the state of the garden in early June. It’s getting shadier every year, thanks to volunteer trees sprouting up on the neighbour’s side of the fenceline. And those are volunteer blue clematis you see clinging to the fence in the foreground. The fence is just adequate to keep deer and jackrabbits wandering through the neighbourhood from feasting.
Call to Action / Upcoming
If you’re in Canada, and access land outside of cities, please consider joining one or more of the Blitz the Gap challenges on iNaturalist. This initiative runs through October 1st. I have the inefficient habit of uploading my observations AFTER I’m back home, but if you take your photos through the iNaturalist app, I think you can avoid having to manually set the location for each observation. I’m definitely going to try this next time I’m out and about.
I just started reading Birding to Change World: A Memoir by Trish O’Kane. Watch for key takeaways and a bit of a review in an upcoming edition of Nearby Nature Project. Meanwhile, enjoy your time out and about in Nature.