Megan Quinn is one busy biologist – she and her team at the Nature Conservancy of Canada have had an extremely eventful summer. From removing invasive plants, restoring a field, and being featured on a TV show, she sure has a lot to share with us!
Hey there, Earth Rangers! I can’t wait to tell you about all the awesome stuff I’ve been up to!
One Invasive Vine
This summer, I’ve been in Eastern Ontario, working on some exciting projects that will help to improve the habitats of flying squirrels, snowy owls, foxes, and many other species as well.
One big project that my team and I have been working on is cleaning out a large area of forest that was taken over by an invasive plant called Dog-Strangling Vine (or DSV). While the plant is not a danger to dogs, it DOES cause damage to ecosystems, because it grows so well that other, native species don’t have any room to thrive.
Now, controlling invasive plant species is a pretty big part of my job, but even I was shocked by how HUGE the problem was in this forest. Everywhere I looked, there was DSV! But with a lot of teamwork, my colleagues and I controlled over ten hectares in ONE day (that’s the area of 12 Canadian football fields)! Working together gets the job done!
Fixing the Field
My team and I started another BIG project this summer – restoring an old hay field! The field is full of invasive species, so our goal is to make it more biodiverse. We’re going to do this by planting a variety of native wildflowers in the field and then, one day, it will become a forest. This will take years, but over time it’ll become easier for snowy owls and foxes to find food (because the field will attract small mammals). As the trees grow, the flying squirrels will move in. And guess what? Every Earth Ranger who adopted a snowy owl, fox, or flying squirrel plush helped to make this happen – so thanks!
Superstar!
I love my job at the Nature Conservancy of Canada. People are always asking me what they can do to practice conservation at home, so I was thrilled to film a series that demonstrated things like how to build your own bird houses and bat boxes, and how to make gardens friendlier for wildlife.
I even went on the CTV Ottawa Morning Show and radio shows to tell people about NCC’s Big Backyard Bioblitz! That’s an event where people from across Canada collect information about the species in their community. They share the data and it helps conservation biologists like me to do my job.
Big Thanks
I’ve always loved animals and wanted to help them, but I didn’t know how to do that until I was older. By being an Earth Ranger, you already know SO much about conservation. You’ve given me lots of hope with the fantastic work you do, the questions you’ve asked, and the curiosity you have. My job isn’t always easy (there are so many biting insects), but knowing that you were following my journey inspired me to keep going. Thank you for letting me share my work at the NCC with you!
Wow
Thanks