The Owen Sound Field Naturalists started off the month of October with three separate events on Thanksgiving Weekend.

On Friday October 6, at the public library auditorium in Owen Sound, award-winning artist and photographer Mark Zelinski held a local launch of his new book - Heart of Turtle Island: The Niagara Escarpment. The evening featured a chance to find out a little more about Mark himself, who had started out as a visual artist, and by happenstance found himself launched into a career that featured his outstanding photography. Also on hand were many local representatives of organizations which had committed to supporting the book's publishing in advance. Featured speakers included Owen Sound Mayor Ian Boddy, Anishnaabe poet and author Lenore Keeshig, Grey Sauble Conservation' s Dick Hibma, and others, while Mark provided personal commentary for a comprehensive slide show of many of the book's photographic images, projected onto a screen for the viewers on hand to see. Also in attendance at this event were many from the Sydenham Bruce Trail Club, and the Owen Sound Field Naturalists, both of which had facilitated advance sales to their members, and are recognized within the opening pages of this important document. The evening also featured a presentation by David Galbraith, about Zelinski's other new book, Canada's Royal Garden, commissioned by the Royal Botanical Gardens of Burlington, Ontario. On a personal note, it has been a pleasure for me to get to know Mark Zelinski, and I found him to be one whose approach to life is very much " from the heart", which is also the name of his publishing company.

On Saturday morning, October 7, Bob Knapp led several hikers through the Marshall Woods, a property of rich diversity of not only flora, fauna, and fungi, but also topographically - following sections of the Rocklyn Creek, through a mixed forest, but also climbing steep collines, along the Niagara Escarpment, and the Bruce Trail. This property features many rather old trees, including cedar, and yellow birch, with some distinctive features, especially in their exposed hollow trunks.
"I felt fortunate to be a part of this excursion organized by the OSFN." says club member Danuta Valleau. "The focus was on old growth forest. On this walk led by Bob Knapp, in an area that had not been logged, we visited several large maples, an ancient cedar and resident hemlocks that Bob had previously located and marked a pathway to. It's not just the trees that are inspiring, but the environment they grow in, the environment they foster: an open woodland, a nursery for new growth and old."

This outing also honoured the memory of the late Freeman Boyd, who had often led OSFN hikes in these woods himself.

On Thanksgiving Monday, several curious naturalists spent a couple of hours in the company of the OSFN's 2017 Community Conservation Award winner, Bill Moses, learning tips on how to identify various species of trees in our area. Held at the Inglis Falls Arboretum, "All Things Woody" was an impressive tutorial which really engaged those in attendance, and demonstrated the club's motto Knowing Nature Better.

On Thursday October 12, OSFN welcomed award winning conservationist Paul Aird, who shared some of his ecological stories and fables, along with the exquisite and distinctive line drawings of Thoreau MacDonald. Published in Aird's book, Loon Laughter, these nature tales are charming and thought provoking. Complemented by MacDonald's artwork, it is a delightful publication that I heartily recommend. Aird, now well into his 80's, has been a life long naturalist, with an impressive legacy of working and teaching in the field of forestry, as well as serving on the NEC board, and helping to complete the comprehensive book Growing Trees from Seed, by the late Henry Kock of the Guelph Arboretum. Personally, I was very pleased to have been able to bring Paul Aird back to Owen Sound to share his well-crafted stories with the club, after I first met him here at the Tom Thomson Art Gallery almost ten years ago in attendance at an impressive exhibition of Thoreau MacDonald's art.

Next Thursday, November 9, the OSFN's next installment of its speaker series, will feature Meaford native, John Lounds, CEO of Nature Conservancy Canada, and Esme Batten, NCC's Coordinator of Conservation Biology for the Saugeen Bruce Peninsula.

They will will team up to present NCC's history, accomplishments, current projects and future visions, nationally and locally. Learn about Canada's preeminent Conservation organization first hand. The Speaker Series takes place at 7PM in the public library n Owen Sound. Admission is free, although donations are welcome. For more information on upcoming speakers and field trips, please visit www.osfn.ca

source: media release, Owen Sound Field Naturalists