Ontario Nature Regional Meeting

1 November 2014

     As regular readers of this blog know I am a member of the Kitchener-Waterloo Field Naturalists Club, which is in turn a member of Ontario Nature, an umbrella organization which provides support, guidance, education and counselling in many forms. In addition to our club being a constituent member, I have a personal membership in Ontario Nature, and this is the sticker which is attached to my car.

    

     Twice a year we have a regional meeting when clubs in our area get together to share ideas and challenges, so that we may all benefit from each other's experiences. Today was the fall meeting and the KWFN was the host club. It was held at the Laurel Creek Nature Centre, a facility used for outdoor education, especially for schools, and it was a perfect venue to host such an event. One is reminded at every turn, of nature, both inside and outside the building, and this is one of the interesting features in the room in which we met.

     The meeting was ably chaired by Lisa Richardson of Ontario Nature; as always she did a stellar job of updating us on what is going on and how it affects us.

     Our club was well represented at this meeting and this is our treasurer, Paul Bigelow, who is, without fear of contradiction, as fine a treasurer as any club has ever been blessed with. 

     Mary Ann Vanden Elzen has twice served as our club's president and currently acts as our official archivist. At our last meeting she delivered a fabulous presentation on the eighty years of our history.

     Here are images of just a few of the people who participated in today's meeting.

     Joan Daynard (at the left in the picture below)  is the Regional Director for Great Lakes West clubs and is just completing six years of service in that position.

     Numerous members of the KWFN provided squares, cookies and a variety of home made soups for lunch. Everything was delicious and everyone had lots to eat. We had our first dusting of snow of the season this morning, so hot soup was a fitting item on the menu.

     In the picture above Josh Shea, our Vice President is seated next to Mary Ann, and to the right of the picture is Kevin Thomason, Vice President of Ontario Nature, and a stalwart defender of the environment in the Kitchener-Waterloo region.

     Nature Guelph was happy to demonstrate their button maker, a device which garners them great attention at various events, when people can quickly have buttons made with their own favourite images. Often, while children are having their buttons produced, an opportunity is provided to chat with their parents about nature and the environment, and so our message is disseminated to a wider audience.

     To the people who did not have their pictures taken on this occasion, I can only say - there's always next time!