{"id":16656,"date":"2017-03-01T17:32:58","date_gmt":"2017-03-01T22:32:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=16656"},"modified":"2017-03-09T14:50:32","modified_gmt":"2017-03-09T19:50:32","slug":"environmentalism-begins-at-home-for-nature-aurora","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/environmentalism-begins-at-home-for-nature-aurora\/","title":{"rendered":"Environmentalism begins at home for Nature Aurora"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

Having a positive impact on the environment doesn\u2019t always have to be a daunting task. In fact, some of the most important steps towards a greener future can begin in your own backyard.
\nThis was the philosophy of the founding members of Aurora\u2019s Environmental Advisory Committee when it was formed just over 10 years ago, and it is a mandate which lives on through these members in Nature Aurora, a group of volunteer citizen scientists working on conservation projects right here in Aurora.
\nNow, after wild successes on local environmental projects ranging ground breaking work on the ecological impacts of stormwater ponds, to a complete inventory of all the breeding birds in Aurora, to laying the foundations of getting schools across Ontario to maintain and monitor bird nesting boxes, Nature Aurora is looking for your help on taking things to the next level.
\nThis Saturday, March 4, Nature Aurora is holding a volunteer open house for people who \u201clove all things wild\u201d and are interested in learning how to become \u201ccitizen scientists.\u201d Open from 2.30 \u2013 5 p.m. at the Aurora Seniors\u2019 Centre, this is an opportunity to find out how to become involved in monitoring and maintaining bird boxes, monitoring chimney swifts, surveying frogs, toads and owls in Aurora, and spearheading an inventory of the local mammal population.
\n\u201cWe want to expand,\u201d says founding member David Tomlinson, the noted landscape architect behind the Ivy Jay Nature Preserve. \u201cWe have the breeding birds and have almost mapped the frogs, amphibians, and reptiles, but we need to do the mammal population and insects. We need to start recruiting people. In the Nature Reserve, we have a complete record of every pair of birds that has nested there for 16 years, and how they have increased and decreased as development has progressed. [When we have complete data on what is happening] we have a base on what the effects are. It is critical because it is no good just improving things if you don\u2019t know whether you are or not. Aurora has an amazing base, but if not for our effort it would not be there.\u201d
\nNancee Webb has always had a love for nature close to home. Growing up with a mother she describes as a \u201cbackyard birder\u201d there is nothing more beautiful, she says, than birdsong.
\n\u201cBeing green and being environmentally conscious and a friend of nature starts in your own backyard and your own town,\u201d she says, of why she joined the Environmental Advisory Committee and Nature Aurora. \u201cThis is the way people can do it. Rather than the big picture, let\u2019s concentrate on the small. If everyone was to concentrate on their own town, there would be a lot of benefit.\u201d
\nVolunteering with Nature Aurora is open to everyone. If you\u2019re a high school student looking for community service opportunities, this counts. If you are a citizen at large with a special skillset or interest, that is beneficial too. The most important thing, Tomlinson and Webb agree, is a passion and a willingness to help.
\n\u201cNearly everyone who comes out doesn\u2019t know what a tree swallow looks like, but we train them to do what we need done, and it would be great if we had people who were interested in mammals, snakes or butterflies to join us and pass that expertise onto us,\u201d says Mr. Tomlinson. \u201cPeople understand that nature is in trouble. I think most people who have an interest in it realise that and, those who do not don\u2019t give a damn anyway. I don\u2019t think the ones who know there is a problem know how they can deal with it.
\n\u201cOne of the ways they can deal with it is on the local level and ensure they look after the birds on their own patch. If everyone did that, it would greatly improve things. It is not just writing to your Member of Parliament, it is physical. If we didn\u2019t put those nesting boxes up, there would be 2,000 less swallows flying around.
\n\u201cIf people realise they are actually doing something that is practical, useful and not just wandering around admiring nature, they are dedicate when they get home and that is amazing. I am amazed at how they just get on with it and do it on their own when no one polices them \u2013 and all they have to do is send the data into us.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information, visit www.natureaurora.ca.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nature group hosts open house this Saturday looking for enthusiastic new members. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":16646,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/2017-03-02-02.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-4kE","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-24 16:21:26","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16656\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}