Contributed by Chris Baburek
The MVFN Members’ Night, was held on January 19th this year. Members’ Night is an annual opportunity for club members to share their nature-related discoveries, whether on their travels or right here at home.
The evening began with an extended nature sightings segment by our resident naturalist, Ken Allison. He showed members photos and summarized the interesting and representative species observed month-by-month through 2022, explaining their significance.
This was followed by a presentation by new member Stephanie Cleland. Stephanie has taken on the role of coordinator of the Young Naturalists Program with great enthusiasm. These active monthly workshops are designed for children aged 6 to 11 to develop and expand their interest in the natural world. We were all impressed to hear what these fortunate kids have been experiencing, including exploring ponds, investigating the geology of Lanark County, identifying trees, birding and snowshoeing to discover the hibernation habits of many local species.
Next up was Ron Williamson, long-time MVFN member and board member, who entertained us with his adventures on camping trips “North of 60”. Ron participated in seven self-guided expeditions in the Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, James Bay, Baffin Island and Iceland. We’re thankful that Ron managed white-water challenges, grizzly bears, innumerable bugs and five days snowbound in hail, sleet and wind to share his explorations with us. He was able to witness first-hand the spectacular flora, fauna, geology and topography of the north and brought it to life for us with his stunning photos and fascinating stories.
Gord Harrison, a previous Members’ Night speaker and member and co-founder of Climate Network Lanark provided a brief update. He outlined the results of the COP15 Conference held in Montreal in December. He explained why we should all be encouraged by the signing, by 196 countries, of the “Global Diversity Framework”.
Before closing our President Val Wilkson spoke about the next Nature Talk presentation on Thursday Feb 16th titled “The Secret Life of Spiders” and the AGM, to take place immediately afterwards. The Nature Talk, which will again be on zoom, begins at 6.45 pm. The AGM will begin around 8 p.m. when that presentation finishes. We do hope that you will all tune in to the Spider Talk and stay tuned to help us select our new board.
