Wintergreen’s 10th Annual Land Bio Blitz

Jemma Dooreleyers | Jun 05, 2024

Over 180 participants were welcomed to Wintergreen Studios between the days of May 23rd and 26th for Wintergreen’s 10 annual Land Bio Blitz.

On Thursday and Friday, Grade 5,6,7 and 8 classes from Loughborough Public School and Harrowsmith Public School were invited to the education and wilderness retreat in South Frontenac to learn about the biodiversity of their local habitat and understand how this biodiversity can be appreciated through art and education.

To highlight the biodiversity of the environment, each group participated in different workshops that focused on different ecosystems, organisms, plants and animals that could be found at Wintergreen. There was bird watching and identification, foraging and plant identification, learning about the world of lichen with Karen, pond scooping, reptile and amphibian advocacy and nurse log education.

Along with the education of biodiversity, Wintergreen is a place that emphasizes the appreciation of nature and biodiversity through art. For their tenth Bio Blitz (which are events that happen all over North America and the world to find and identify as many species in the habitat as possible over a short period of time), the team at Wintergreen wanted to host a Bio Blitz that not only stayed true to the traditional, scientific, naturalist core of a Bio Blitz, but also emphasized Wintergreen’s values of creativity exploration and appreciation of biodiversity through art.

To introduce this to the students there were workshops like Nature Play and Music with children’s musician Pete Moss, drumming and Land Art Creation.

This year Wintergreen Studios introduced a writing residency where two emerging writers were invited for the weekend to immerse themselves in the education of biodiversity and find inspiration through that (disclosure: the writer of this article participated in the writing residency).

According to Luke Howie, the program director at Wintergreen Studios, hosting school groups and newcomers to Canada for the Bio Blitz is an integral part of maintaining Wintergreen’s core values of education, appreciation and environmental stewardship.

“We have been dedicated to working with young people since Wintergreen started in 2007 and I think myself and the rest of the team here believe that educating and sharing experiences in the natural world with young people is key to making the connections that lead to stewardship and caring for our planet.”

Brock Palmer, a Grade 6 teacher at Harrowsmith Public School attended the Land Art Bio Blitz with his class for the first time on Friday and said he was happy with the level of education and information about biodiversity that his students received.

“It’s fantastic for the kids to connect to nature for the day in this day and age that is very screen heavy,” said Palmer. “It’s nice for them to get outside and see all of the biodiversity right in their backyard, especially because the Grade 6 curriculum has a huge focus on biodiversity.”

Palmer said he is excited to integrate what he learned in the workshops into his own teaching.

“The music connections, the land art and the bird walks are things that can easily be brought into an outside classroom and enhance our learning and connection to nature on a day-to-day basis.”

“This is my first time coming to Wintergreen and bringing a group of students here so I did not know what to expect but today my expectations were exceeded,” he said. “It’s been great to see the students and the parent volunteers enjoy the day so much.”

Yessica Rivera Belsham, the founder of Ollin.ca, (“an organization which promotes growth within individuals, families, and communities in a compassionate and embracing manner with workshops, events, festivals, services and more which are all fostered in inclusion, diversity, and equity within the Kingston and Ottawa area,”) opened each day with a gratitude ceremony. Everyone was invited to stand in a circle while Yessica sang thanks to the land and burned medicine. She also led a drumming workshop throughout the day and taught lessons about Turtle Island and corn and the connection people have to the land.

On Saturday, May 25th, Wintergreen invited a group of newcomers to Canada through Immigrant Services Kingston and Area to participate in the Land Art Bio Blitz.

Rivera Belsham has Indigenous heritage from the tail end of Turtle Island (Mexico) and to her, sharing the opportunity to pass knowledge on about the land and our connection to it, to newcomers and students feels like an honour.

“I always come with a heart that everyone has a different perspective about everything in life and I respect that but if something I say resonates with anybody positively then that is a beautiful thing,” she said. “I approach everything in life with the knowing that I have no control over what people think but I have control within my heart and doing what I can to walk a good way forward and do what I can to feed into the change I want to see in the world as well as sustain wonderful things like what is happening at Wintergreen.”

“Just being a part of it is really an honour and a blessing for sure.”

On Sunday May 26th, Wintergreen welcomed the public to the property to participate in Bio Blitz workshops.

The Land Art Bio Blitz was free of charge for it’s participants and the writers in residence because of the TD Friends of the Environment Fund. To learn more about Wintergreen Studios and other events happening there, visit their website.