Peterborough County Stewardship

Create an iNaturalist account and/or post 5 species observations

• Sign up online through the iNaturalist website https://www.inaturalist.org/signup

• OR download the app on your phone through your service provider app store by searching for “inaturalist”, then follow the appropriate steps to create an account.

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Go for a nature walk

• Ensure that you’ve done your research to determine where it is still permitted to go for nature walks considering COVID-19 closures

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Watch a nature documentary

• If you’re looking for suggestions, check out:

  • Night on Earth – Netflix Documentary Series

  • Planet Earth 1 & 2

  • Blue Planet 1 & 2

  • Jane

  • Chasing Coral

  • Chasing Ice

  • BBC Earth YouTube Channel

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Participate in a 2nd Earth Hour

• Find time with those you live with to turn off all electronics including lights and screens, in order to embrace a 2nd Earth Hour. It’s a great time to play board games or read by candle light.

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Learn more about what you can and can’t recycle

• City of Peterborough has a “What Goes Where” tool that teaches you how to recycle or dispose of certain items. 

• There’s also a Waste Sorting Game that you can play to apply your knowledge!

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Share this activity with someone who doesn’t know about PCS

• Tag a friend or family member in the social media posts for this activity

• Find us on Twitter (@PtboStewardship), Instagram (@peterboroughcountystewardship) or Facebook (@PtboCS)

 

Plant a Tree/Shrub or Learn to ID a new plant

• Check out this Tree Planting Guide from Tree Canada

• If you don’t have the ability to plant a tree or shrub there’s plenty of resources out there to teach out how to identify plants.

• Check out some of these Plant Identification Apps to help you out:

  • iNaturalist

  • Tree Bee

  • FlowerChecker

  • PlantSnapp

  • Plantifier

  • NatureGate

• Check out some other online resources to guide you through plant identification such as:

  • Trees of Canada educational resource 

  • Plant Identification Tools by Canadian Wildlife Federation

  • Iowa State University Interactive Tree Identification Key

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Watch a live bird camera on Cornell’s Lab of Ornithology website

• Go to The Cornell Lab’s “All About Birds – Live Cams” webpage and check out the Live Cams they have for different species including:

  • Barred Owls (eggs are hatching soon!!!)

  • American Kestrels

  • Red-tailed Hawks

  • Northern Royal albatross

  • Bermuda Petrels

  • Hellgate Ospreys

  • Panama Fruit Feeders

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Follow PCS on our Instagram, Facebook and Twitter

• Find us on Twitter (@PtboStewardship), Instagram (@peterboroughcountystewardship) or Facebook (@PtboCS)

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Add new houseplants to your inside forest

• Do some research on air-purifying plants to add some more greenery to your living areas.

• If you have furry household companions like dogs and cats make sure to also research potential toxicity of species to avoid accidental harm!

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Share a post from an environmental stewardship social media account

• We could all use some more good news as of late so share exciting research, campaigns, activities, etc. that you see other environmental stewardship organizations posting. Raise awareness!

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Donate to or promote a local environmental stewardship organization

• Donating to environmental stewardship organizations is a great way to help out during times when it may not be possible to provide physical support through volunteering. Some local environmental stewardship organizations you could learn about and consider may include:

  • Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre

  • Kawartha Wildlife Centre

  • Camp Kawartha

  • Kawartha Land Trust

• We also understand that not everyone can donate so another great way to support such organizations is to follow and promote the great work they’re doing!

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Start your seeds for the garden

• If you have a vegetable or other type of garden perhaps now is a great time to start your seeds!

• Check out this Seed-starting guide and calendar for when to start certain vegetables or plants from seed while indoors

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Learn a new bird call

• Want to learn more about who those beautiful calls belong to while walking along a wetland or within a forest? What better way than to learn the calls for a new bird species!

• Check out the All About Birds page on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s website. Here you can find web pages for different bird species with sounds clips for different calls. There’s also Bird ID guides and tutorial videos that you can take to help you along your Bird ID journey!

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Install a Bird Feeder or Habitat Box on your property

• This is a great time to do some research about the various wildlife species that live in your area to see if there are any you would like to attract to your property. Installing a habitat box or bird feeder is a great way to promote biodiversity on private land while creating great opportunities to enjoy wildlife.

• Did you know that Peterborough County Stewardship has an assortment of habitat boxes available online, check them out here!

• Perhaps you’re someone who enjoys DIY projects, learn how to make habitat boxes from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Nestwatch! It’s important to also do independent research to determine what a species requires for optimum placement of habitat boxes on the landscape to encourage successful use!

• Learn about different types of Bird Feeders, Food Types, Safe Feeding Environments, Undesirable Deterrents and much more from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s FeederWatch Education Project!

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Add anti-collision stickers, cut-outs or decals to your window to reduce bird mortality

• Each year in Canada, more than 25 million migratory birds die as a direct result of bird-building collision fatalities. You can help to mitigate local biodiversity loss by installing practical solutions that prevent birds from hitting windows and buildings on your property.

• Check out the FLAP Canada BirdSafe website to learn more about the dangers that windows and buildings possess, the BirdSafe DIY Building Risk Assessment tool, and solutions for your home to make them safe for birds!

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Unplug your electronics while not in use

• This is an easy one! With so many electronics within our homes we often forget to unplug unused devices. Even though some of these devices may not be in use, did you know that if they’re plugged in they’re still consuming “standby” or “vampire” electricity which continues to draw power into the device. Save yourself and the planet some electricity!

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Plan a post-COVID19 clean-up event with friends

• Perhaps somewhere you pass on a regular basis within your community is constantly littered with garbage, maybe this is an opportunity to plan a clean-up event! Find some passionate friends or like-minded people to start planning a post-COVID10 clean-up event!

• It’s important to check with your local municipality or township about requirements before running an event like this since there may be logistics like waste disposal and health and safety to consider!

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Reduce your e-storage and clean up unwanted e-mails and files

• Have you ever noticed that your e-mail or personal e-filing system is getting a little out-of-hand, messy or too full? Take the opportunity to clean up any unwanted messages/files to make space on your devices.

• Did you know that e-mails have a MASSIVE carbon footprint due to energy consumption for storage! Below are the average carbon footprints of different e-mails:

  • An average spam e-mail = 0.3 g CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent)

  • A standard e-mail = 4 g CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent)

  • An e-mail with “long and tiresome attachments” = 50 g CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent)

• An average office worker can be responsible for 0.6 tonnes CO2e annually based on estimated averages.

• Tips to follow as an individual for improving your e-mail carbon footprint:

  • Reduce the size of emails by lowering the resolution and compressing images and avoid large HTML elements.

  • Regularly clean and maintain mailing lists.

  • Remove any contacts that unsubscribe, and update changed email address immediately.

  • Check your emails thoroughly before sending to ensure they contain all the necessary (and correct) information, to avoid the need for a follow-up email.

  • Link to files or information online rather than adding an attachment.

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Start a garden (perhaps for Pollinators!)

• Have you always wanted to build a garden on your property? Or perhaps if you haven’t, did you know that gardening possesses many possible benefits including:

  • stress relief

  • creating a learning environment

  • family bonding

  • teaching responsibility to children

  • exposure to new tastes

  • pride and sustainability from growing your own food

  • providing habitat or food for wildlife

• Depending on whether you want to build a vegetable, flower, pollinator, or rain garden, there’s unique benefits and purposes to all of them! Learn about these types here.

• Start your research on planning for your garden!

  • Garden Planning and Design

  • Spring Gardens for Beginners in Ontario

  • Gardening for Beginners

  • OMAFRA Growing Fruit and Vegetables

  • How to create a pollinator-friendly garden

  • How to build a rain garden

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Have a No TV Day

• Challenge yourself to a day of watching no TV! Crazy concept, right? We believe in all of you though and know you can do it! Use the extra time to read more, play board games, exercise, craft, DIY home projects, etc.

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Go on a Google Earth exploration field trip to check out somewhere new

• Check out Google Earth Explore - Voyager to find new places to explore and learn about. From National Parks, crab migrations, cities, inside volcanoes and much more there’s so much to learn!

 

Make an artistic representation of nature (e.g. Painting, Drawing, Craft, etc.)

• Embrace your inner artist and unleash that talent through paper, brush, pen, craft, etc. to represent something in nature that inspires you, brings you happiness or that you find truly beautiful. Share your creation with us!

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Plan an exciting camping or outdoor adventure trip for post-COVID19!

• Even though most/if not all outdoor overnight places to adventure like provincial parks, crown land, conservation authority properties, conservation reserves, etc. are closed that doesn’t mean you can’t start planning a trip for post-COVID19!

• Take the opportunity to research new places that you’ve always wanted to explore and start putting together a plan for your camping trip or adventure!

• Did you know that in Ontario there are approximately…

  • 343 Provincial Parks

  • 295 Conservation Reserves

  • 500+ Conservation Areas collectively owned and operated by Ontario’s Conservation Authorities

  • 5 National Parks

• Perhaps your outdoor interests lie outside of Ontario or even Canada, get planning!