Posts by author
John Wilmshurst
The prairies are a secret superhero ready and waiting to fight climate change
“…We owe our existence to a six-inch layer of topsoil and the fact it rains.” This quote, attributed with some doubt to the late Paul Harvey, an American radio farm…
The Prairie Duck Factory
Home on the range, where the … ducks … and the antelope play? In A Sand County Almanac, that classic of natural history published in 1949, Aldo Leopold describes the…
Am I Bugging You?
It is a common — and completely understandable — misconception that the best habitats for biodiversity are undisturbed habitats. The grasslands conjure an image of thick mature forests, tall waving grasses…
Conserving Our Pollen Nation
If prairie flowers were countries, and bees their only residents, then not only would this world rival ours for diversity and population size, but their economies would be, well, humming.…
Partnering With Ranchers to Conserve Vulnerable Grassland Wildlife
When the job is this big, you need good partners Many of Canada’s most iconic and vulnerable animals — wild bison, Pronghorn, Prairie Dogs, Burrowing Owls, Sage Grouse, Swift Foxes…
Walking in a Winter Wonderland
Working on a winter science project not long ago, my team was struggling to find the groups of elk we needed for the study. Elk were around, but well hidden…
The Canadian Grasslands Project
There’s a concept in Conservation Biology, called Ecosystem Services, that has been around for a while and continues to grow in popularity and importance. What is it? Ecosystem services are…
Carbon Trek — The Central Grasslands Living Lab
In one of my favourite episodes of Star Trek (the TV series), the crew of the Starship Enterprise encounters an alien lifeform that is utterly confusing. It’s a blob made…
Little Niche on the Prairie
One way or another, we all adapt to our environment. We know this when we get taken from it: a country kid learning to use an urban transit system, or…
Water in the Prairies
Close your eyes and think of water. Imagine waves crashing on a coastline, a babbling brook, diving into a clear-water lake off a boat dock. Canadians are blessed by water,…
