Congratulations to the First Place Winner of the Wildlife Category, Gray Merriam.

Gray Merriam

Congratulations to First Place Winner of the Wildlife Category, Gray Merriam, for his photo titled Artic Fox Hunting Sticklebacks on Hudson Bay Shore. The photograph was taken in Wapusk National Park, MB.

This summer, with the Canada/USA border closed and travel within Canada restricted, many of us were missing people and places that we love. So American Friends of Canadian Conservation invited you to share your favorite Canadian locations in the Oh, Canada Photo Contest.

We received over 500 photographs from Canadian and American entrants. The winners in each of the contest categories were determined by the number of online votes received. American Friends encouraged its Canadian conservation partners to recruit contest entries and promote voting for those images.

Visit the photo contest winners page of American Friends’ website to see the Grand Prize Winner and Runners Up as well as the most popular images in each category.

Help American Friends and it partner organizations to protect the Canadian places you love with a contribution to support our work.

Contact Sandra Tassel, Program Coordinator, for information on how to conserve your Canadian property.

Congratulations to First Place Winner of the Plants, Trees and Flowers Category, Frank Loomer.

Congratulations to First Place Winner of the Plants, Trees and Flowers Category, Frank Loomer, for his photo titled Lakeside Irises. The photograph was taken at Carpenter Lake in Rothesay, NB.

This summer, with the Canada/USA border closed and travel within Canada restricted, many of us were missing people and places that we love. So American Friends of Canadian Conservation invited you to share your favorite Canadian locations in the Oh, Canada Photo Contest.

We received over 500 photographs from Canadian and American entrants. The winners in each of the contest categories were determined by the number of online votes received. American Friends encouraged its Canadian conservation partners to recruit contest entries and promote voting for those images.

Visit the photo contest winners page of American Friends’ website to see the Grand Prize Winner and Runners Up as well as the most popular images in each category.

Help American Friends and it partner organizations to protect the Canadian places you love with a contribution to support our work.

Contact Sandra Tassel, Program Coordinator, for information on how to conserve your Canadian property.

Congratulations to First Place Winner, David K. Cairns, Tradition Category

Congratulations to First Place Winner of the Tradition Category, David K. Cairns, for his photo titled A Range Light Stands Guard. The photograph was taken in Bellevue Cove, Prince Edward Island.

This summer, with the Canada/USA border closed and travel within Canada restricted, many of us were missing people and places that we love. So American Friends of Canadian Conservation invited you to share your favorite Canadian locations in the Oh, Canada Photo Contest.

We received over 500 photographs from Canadian and American entrants. The winners in each of the contest categories were determined by the number of online votes received. American Friends encouraged its Canadian conservation partners to recruit contest entries and promote voting for those images.

Visit the photo contest winners page of American Friends’ website to see the Grand Prize Winner and Runners Up as well as the most popular images in each category.

Help American Friends and it partner organizations to protect the Canadian places you love with a contribution to support our work.

Contact Sandra Tassel, Program Coordinator, for information on how to conserve your Canadian property.

Congratulations to Denise Burns, Grand Prize Winner of the “Oh, Canada” Photo Contest

This summer, with the Canada/USA border closed and travel within Canada restricted, many of us were missing people and places that we love. So American Friends of Canadian Conservation invited you to share your favorite Canadian locations in the Oh, Canada Photo Contest.

We received over 500 photographs from Canadian and American entrants. Well-known professional photographer and teacher John D’Onofrio selected the Grand Prize Winner and four Runners Up. John is the owner/editor/publisher of Adventures NW Magazine and his work has been featured in many publications and exhibits.

“There were lots of good compositions” said John. His technical criteria for selecting the winners were “…good capture, sharp focus, unflawed images.” If a photograph was digitally modified, John evaluated whether it had been “…manipulated well.” John praised Grand Prize Winner Denise Burn’s photo for its technical and artistic caliber. In keeping with the theme of the contest, John was also seeking “..uniquely Canadian images that conveyed ambiance of place.”

The winners in each of the contest categories were determined by the number of online votes received. American Friends encouraged its Canadian conservation partners to recruit contest entries and promote voting for those images.

Visit the photo contest winners page of American Friends’ website to see all of John D’Onofrio’s selections and the most popular images in each category.

Help American Friends and it partner organizations to protect the Canadian places you love with a contribution to support our work.

Contact Sandra Tassel, Program Coordinator, for information on how to conserve your Canadian property.

Oh Canada 2020 Photo Contest

Sandra Tassel

This summer everything is different, especially for the individuals, families and communities with connections to Canada’s many beloved holiday destinations. We are missing so many features of these places – cottages, camps, canoes, forests, lakes, shores, wildlife, hiking, swimming and each other.

Show everyone your favorite Canadian place and activity in American Friends of Canadian Conservation’s photography contest!

If you are passionate about Canada’s natural and cultural heritage, join your friends, family and neighbors for a virtual holiday by enjoying and sharing your own photographic memories, and seeing everyone else’s favorite corner of Canada. Give it your best shot! Inspire others with your images of Canada’s nature, offer a peek into your ideal vacation day, give your community a visual high-five for its special event, demonstrate your camera skills!  The contest is open to all amateur photographers. Photos may be submitted between August 15, 2020 and September 15, 2020. You may vote anytime between now and September 30, 2020. The winners will be announced by October 15, 2020.

Select your best images in these seven categories:

  • Landscapes (can include people, but they are not the subject)
  • Water (can include people, but they are not the subject)
  • People in Nature (primary subject is a person)
  • Wildlife (including fish and insects)
  • Plants, Trees and Flowers
  • Events (public, community-oriented activities)
  • Tradition (including built environment, man-made objects)

Visit American Friends’ Oh Canada 2020 Photography Contest to read about the contest rules, timing and Prizes!

The winner of each category will be awarded a commemorative, dated decorative tile from Motawi Tileworks of Ann Arbor Michigan. View the stunning Motawi Tiles in greater detail.

 

 

Canadian Conservation is Our Business – and Our Name

Recently, American Friends’ board decided the organization needed a new name to better reflect the full range of current and potential partnerships. They chose American Friends of Canadian Conservation to express the full spectrum of possible collaborations and the extent of the impact we hope to have within the Canadian conservation community.

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Conservation without Borders – A new initiative in British Columbia

Beautiful, bountiful and balmy British Columbia (BC) has been a magnet for Canadians and Americans alike. Ecosystems, watersheds, wildlife corridors and Indigenous cultures extended on both sides of the 49th parallel north that now divides our two countries. Businesses including timber, shipping, fishing and tourism were relatively borderless, until recently. As a consequence of this interwoven history, US taxpayers own extensive acreage in BC. For example, data from the Islands Trust, the planning entity for the Southern Gulf Islands, indicates that approximately 30% of the private lands are American-owned.

BC land trusts working in some of the province’s most ecologically-significant and scenic landscapes recognize that US taxpayers own high priority conservation properties. In response, the Land Trust Alliance of British Columbia and American Friends of Canadian Conservation (American Friends) launched the Conservation without Borders program. We are grateful to the McLean Foundation and Vancouver Foundation for providing core funding for this new initiative.

Our overarching goal is to increase the capacity of BC conservation organizations to secure important properties owned wholly or partly by US taxpayers – referred to as “cross-border conservation.” We will achieve that goal by ensuring that LTABC members know how US and Canadian income tax benefits make gifts of land financially attractive for U.S. owners. Conservation can be an important estate-planning tool!

In the first phase of Conservation without Borders, LTABC and American Friends will be working with land trusts to:

  • assess the opportunities for cross-border conservation
  • determine how best to support organizations serving areas with high levels of American ownership
  • provide resources and education for these organizations, and
  • create a framework and budget for a multi-year program, if we learn that LTABC members feel it would be valuable.

Two BC cross-border transactions – one on Mayne Island, the other on Gabriola Island – offer a glimpse into the potential impact and benefits from our Conservation without Borders program.

We are building on the excellent groundwork developed through a similar program in Ontario that concluded at the end of 2018, after three productive years. One product was Save Some Green: a handbook for US taxpayers who own land in Canada which is the single best resource for anyone interested in cross-border conservation incentives. LTABC and American Friends will be creating BC versions of some of the Ontario materials while also implementing new approaches based on lessons learned.

If our work and outreach during Phase I reveal that there is strong interest on the part of BC land trusts, and opportunities for important conservation outcomes, LTABC and American Friends will initiate additional phases of Conservation Without Borders.

For more information on the program, how to participate or to donate to help the partnership and cross-border conservation, contact Sandra Tassel, American Friends’ Program Coordinator, sandra.tassel@conservecanada.org or Paul McNair, Executive Director, LTABC, paul@ltabc.ca

 

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American Friends’ Leaders Lauded in Ontario

Three individuals who have shaped cross-border conservation were recognized with awards by the Ontario Land Trust Alliance (OLTA). Current director Allyn Abbott and long-serving former director Christopher Baines were honored with the Angus McLeod Vision Award for volunteer service. Sandra Tassel, a former director and officer, who now serves as American Friends’ Program Coordinator, received the OLTA Vision Award for a land trust professional.

L to R, Alison Howson, Executive Director of Ontario Land Trust Alliance with award winners Sandra Tassel, Allyn Abbott and Christopher Baines (all associated with American Friends) and Shining Waters from RARE.

From OLTA’s website:

There were two recipients for the Angus McLeod Vision Award: Allyn Abbott and Christopher Baines.

“Allyn Abbott has been dedicated to the land trust movement for more than 14 years. She joined the board of Muskoka Heritage Trust in 2004. She lead the merger that formed the Muskoka Conservancy as its president and remains on the board and serves as chair of the Land Acquisition and Management Committee. Allyn willingly shares her knowledge to any staff and directors.”

Christopher Baines has been a “force of nature” and a “force for nature” within Ontario’s land trust community for over twenty-five years. He has been a triple-threat – or perhaps, more accurately, a triple advocate – for the land trust community, active at the local, provincial and international levels in a wide variety of capacities.

There was one recipient of the OLTA Vision award – Sandra Tassel.

Sandra Tassel serves as Program Coordinator for American Friends, applying nearly 30 years’ experience in conservation acquisitions in the U.S. and Canada. Through Sandy’s careful stewardship, American Friends has been the leading pioneer for cross-border conservation in Canada. In working with OLTA, its member organizations and collaborators, Sandy has been a creative, supportive and strategic ally and knowledgeable resource for Ontario’s land trust community.”

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Canadian-American Cross-Border Conservation Success

Drache Aptowitzer LLP, recognized as one of Canada’s foremost experts in the law related to charities and non-profit organizations, recently published a story about a conservation donation in Georgian Bay, Ontario. The Georgian Bay Land Trust (GBLT) had an opportunity to protect an undeveloped island featuring undisturbed stands of White Pine and Red Oak, open rock barrens and coastal meadow marsh, ideal habitat for rare species.

Read the full story

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Conservation on Prince Edward Island, Island Nature Trust

American Friends’ newest partnership, with Island Nature Trust (INT), can contribute to national success on both fronts by helping to increase protected lands in the province of Prince Edward Island (PEI).

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