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!
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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 bee 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.
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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!

I hope you enjoyed the photos. If you see any butterflies of your own and would like help with identification, feel free to email them to me! 

I hope to resume my virtual tours of TKC preserves next week!