My name is Roxane Bergeron, I am a recent graduate from the Environmental Technician program at
Sault College and will be continuing my studies in Environmental Science at Algoma University.

My work experience with The Kensington Conservancy was unique, very informative, and I’m sure I will be using much of the knowledge I gained in my future endeavours. Although it wasn’t the focus of my particular position, I was able to learn about the administrative side of things through observation and asking many questions which my coworkers Carter Dorscht and Corinne Wilkerson were always so helpful to answer. The acquisition of the Gravel Point Preserve offered many insights into how land trusts work which, as someone going into the environmental field, I am grateful to have a deeper understanding of.

I was mainly tasked with the preparation and running of the youth activities TKC offers over the summer alongside my coworker Bella who was a joy to work with. Both the TKC Junior Explorer and Explorer Summer Day Camp programs were fun challenges to tackle, and I was able to use many of the things I had learned at Sault College when planning the activities. Things like insect and plant identification often came in handy, and it was cool to see kids with so much curiosity for such things. In my opinion, keeping young people interested and connected with their natural environment is integral to the future of land stewardship. I think the public outreach and youth programs TKC participates in are a great way to include the community and engage, and I’ve found that everyone I talked to was always very appreciative of the kind of work that we do.

Monitoring the many beautiful protected properties at TKC was such a privilege. On days out in the field, I would often send a photo to friends or family and say “this is my office today”. I was able to deepen my knowledge of local flora and fauna, gaining a special interest in the bumble bees and mosses of the region. Ripple Rock Preserve and the Hole in the Wall Easement were my favourite properties, the latter of which had an incredible wetland where I’m sure I could have spent a few more hours exploring. I also had the pleasure to meet and speak with many interesting people over the summer with whom I had plenty of meaningful conversations about environmental work and the like. The longer I’m in it, the more it becomes apparent that somehow everyone in the environmental field knows each other, so I’m sure I’ll run into some of you again.

The work that The Kensington Conservancy does is incredibly important and has proven to be very meaningful to a lot of people. I am so glad to have been able to take part in it for a short summer and wish TKC all the best in the future.

Thank you to Carter and Corinne for showing me the ropes and for being a great, supportive team to work with!

​Roxane Bergeron

This summer, my position with The Kensington Conservancy has been one of growth because I came into this role with very little knowledge about flora and fauna. My background is in kinesiology with an emphasis on rehabilitation science and I am now studying to be a high school science and physical education teacher. So while my educational background is not directly related to the outdoors and knowledge around this I was able to apply lots of my skills to this position. 

In my short time with The Kensington Conservancy, I have been able to explore almost all 13 of our nature preserves/easements and it has been such a great learning experience. Prior to this, whenever I went out on a hike, I was just there for the view at the top and the exercise along the way (and while I will never be at Carter's level of outdoor explorer, I now appreciate much more a good nature hike and logging my findings into iNaturalist to look back at). I learned all about the different species of ladybugs (there are 900+ worldwide, which blew my mind!). And we did a lot of work in our pollinator garden planting species that will help to attract bees, butterflies, and moths. We also got to spend some good time exploring the newest property on St. Joseph Island, the Gravel Point Preserve, which was cool to be able to see all the different species living and growing there. 

The majority of my focus was on organizing and implementing programming for both the TKC Junior Explorers program as well as the Explorer Summer Day Camp we ran. I worked alongside Roxane to be able to plan some really awesome outings and activities for the kids this summer. Being able to welcome kids back to TKC Junior Explorers for the first time since 2019 was amazing. The kids loved being able to come each week and learn about the outdoors and get out and explore. The response we had for both programs was amazing and I am so excited for it to continue to grow in the coming years and for The Kensington Conservancy to be able to continue to pass on the knowledge and love of the outdoors to many more kids!

Over the summer months we were also able to host and attend lots of community events including guided hikes and paddling events, community parades, and participate in the Sustain Algoma Expo. Being able to get out and explore the Algoma region in different ways and interact with the community has been one of my favourite parts of my time with The Kensington Conservancy. 

Thank you again to Carter and Corinne for the work you both do with and for TKC and for giving me the opportunity to work with the team!

Bella Ross

Hi there! My name is Vincent La Tassa and I am a student at Sault College in the Natural Environment Technician program. I was employed by The Kensington Conservancy as an Assistant Field Technician from June 12th until August 13th, 2021. When applying for summer employment the conservancy was my ideal place of work and I was beyond excited to receive a phone call from Carter Dorscht for an interview.

My main task for the summer was to visit and monitor each of the nature preserves and easements, as well as document species of flora and fauna on them. Other tasks included trail maintenance of Foster Parkland and Walking Trails, property maintenance for Boyer Preserve and Archibald Homestead, and being a camp leader for Explorer Summer Day Camp.

Having the opportunity to explore the beautiful land preserves was by far my favourite aspect of working for the conservancy and I was able to utilize every skill learned through my college program. Two skills in particular that were greatly refined were plant identification and navigating. I was able to use my plant identification skills daily and learned to identify many more species of plants than the ones learned in college. Navigating became one of my most refined skills having used a combination of a compass and Google Maps. This skill will be one of the most important to have moving forward in my career and I am grateful that this job provided me the opportunity to greatly improve it. The knowledge that I gained for both skills is invaluable.

Of the many memorable moments during my time with the conservancy, the most memorable was spending the day driving the boat to the various island land preserves. It was exciting being able to drive from island to island and gave me much needed experience operating a motorized boat. Fishnet Island Easement and Coatsworth Island Preserve were two of my favourite properties which the conservancy protects.

The most important aspect of the job was being able to be a part of something that is larger than myself. This was the first time in my life where I felt that the work that I was doing had greater meaning than simply earning a paycheck. I chose this area of study with the hopes of contributing to the betterment of the natural environment and working with The Kensington Conservancy provided me with the proof that I made the right decision in career path. I am excited to return to the college in the fall but I am sad that my time with the conservancy is over. I would like to thank Carter Dorscht and the Board of Directors for giving me the opportunity to work for The Kensington Conservancy and am hopeful that I can be a part of the team in the future.

Thank you TKC!
​
Vincent La Tassa

During the short months working as an Assistant Field Technician for The Kensington Conservancy, I have come to establish that there is a lot of interesting and rewarding experiences that I got to have while just working my "9-5". I got to see rare orchids, tri-coloured bumble bees, and even a bear. With the navigational accuracy from my partner Vince La Tassa, we were able to explore steep rocky climbs that opened up to vast open wetlands, alive with songs from green frogs, loons, red-winged blackbirds and even a sora. Beautiful forests that were diverse and full of wildlife interaction. 

​We got to check it all out first hand and natural, except for all the bug spray. This opportunity working with The Kensington Conservancy has allowed me to challenge myself and push my comfort zone. I learned a lot about the common flora and fauna in the St. Joseph Channel and how to use iNaturalist as a tool to help develop my knowledge of the wildlife wherever it is I go. I always looked forward to coming to work every day and really enjoyed working with this group of people. This opportunity to work with Vince and Corinne Wilkerson has allowed me to learn more about how to operate independently and in a team and strengthen my communication skills. I have learned so much from them during the past eight weeks. It was right to partner us together as we’ve worked so well together and shared many laughs. It felt less like work and more like learning with like-minded individuals that challenged and educated me.
​
And I will have to say that other then possibly identifying a genetic mutation, the Johnson Township's Christmas in July parade was one of the most memorable experiences of 2021. Not just because we won either. Thanks for allowing me to participate in partnership and representation of the conservancy with summer camp along side the St. Joseph Island Anglers & Hunters Association.

Thank you Carter, I admire your dedication to not only me but the entire team and The Kensington Conservancy. 

Rachael Solaro

In 2020, 629 different species of flora and fauna were documented on the nature preserves and conservation easements that TKC protects. This includes a whopping 432 species that had never been documented on TKC protected property in the past. One of the very few bright sides of the pandemic was that it allowed me to spend more time exploring our properties than I get to do in a typical summer! 

Having an inventory of what species are present on our properties is very important for the conservation work that we do. It helps us keep track of the species at risk found on our properties, have a general sense of the biodiversity of each property, and can help us monitor changes over time, which is especially crucial for monitoring climate change.

TKC uses iNaturalist to keep track of how many are recorded on each of the properties that we protect. iNaturalist is one of the world's leading community science projects where users can upload documentation of all the flora and fauna they come across. This data is then available for everyone for scientific or general interest use.

Since iNaturalist has an amazing system in place to query and sort observations based on locations, I decided that it was the perfect way to keep track of the species I and others have documented. All the historical data that I had for each property was uploaded so that the species lists were up-to-date then I could go forward with adding new observations to iNaturalist from then on. I then download this data periodically so that we always have the data, should anything ever happen to the iNaturalist database.

The great thing about iNaturalist is that anyone can submit data from our properties and it'll automatically be captured by these projects. So if you're out on the Foster Parkland and Walking Trails or taking a guided tour on one of our other properties, submit your observations!

I set up a project for each property with an additional project to combine all that data together. As you can see below, the Black Hole Preserve has the most species diversity to date, with 472 species, but the Boyer Preserve isn't too far behind! If you're interested in exploring the data, click the link below. Note that some species at risk or otherwise sensitive species may not be publicly visible.

There were a number of exciting finds on TKC properties this year. Below are a few of the highlights, as we can't possibly list them all!

In addition to keeping track of species on our protected properties, TKC keeps track of species within our focal area. To date, there have been 1,191 species recorded within this area! It's important for us to track these species for a variety of reasons. We could discover an area of high biodiversity that we could then look into formally protecting. It could warn us of the presence of an invasive species near our properties that could threaten our conservation work. We can also us the data when studying the impact that climate change has on the area as a whole. ​

If you are interested in learning more about the species of flora and fauna that have been recorded on TKC property and how you can get involved in providing data, stay tuned for a TKC webinar on the topic, likely in February. ​

​Your help is needed to so that TKC can continue to collect all of this amazing and interesting data from our properties. A contribution to the 2020 TKC Annual Campaign will get us one step closer to reaching our fundraising goal in order to make 2021 a success for TKC and local conservation. For those who have already contributed, we once again thank you for your support!