Blog: Volunteer Stories

Celebrating Art and Conservation: A Conversation with Sue Rosson

01 May 2025

After returning from a trip to British Columbia, Sue Rosson was inspired to help protect Nova Scotia’s natural beauty. She joined the Nature Trust to volunteer and utilized her connections to secure six artists for the art gallery for our 30th anniversary gala, and connected local artists whose work celebrated the province’s landscapes.

Steven McGrath: Capturing Nova Scotia’s Wild Spaces

01 Apr 2025

Steven McGrath's involvement with the Nature Trust began through the Bird’s Eye View program, which introduced him to the organization’s mission and properties. Through his growing participation in conservation work, he discovered the Wilderness Property Guardian program—a perfect fit for his skills and interests.

Kristian Rafuse: From Forest Trails to Digital Maps

28 Feb 2025

Being a Property Guardian involves monitoring and protecting vital ecosystems on land in the Nature Trust's care. But it isn't always about bushwhacking - or even being outdoors. Kristian Rafuse has been helping our stewardship team use high-resolution satellite imagery to monitor landscapes remotely and detect variations in the environment over time.

Meg Cuming: Service through Board Governance

31 Jan 2025

When Meg Cuming stepped up to join the Nature Trust Board of Directors in 2022, it was a perfect match for her love of the outdoors and her deep commitment to service through volunteer board governance.

Kristen MacLeod and Morgan Wadden: Navigators on Land and Sea

28 Nov 2024

Kristen MacLeod and Morgan Wadden began volunteering as Wilderness Property Guardians only this past summer, but their love of nature and highly specialized navigation skills have already made a big impact on the protected old forest in the Mabou Highlands.

Dan Hutt: Look to the Eastern Shore

01 Nov 2024

When you picture the jewel-toned waters and white sand beaches of the 100 Wild Islands, chances are good that you are picturing Shelter Cove. It’s one of the show-stopping coastal vistas that has brought the Eastern Shore into the Nova Scotia mainstream – and Property Guardian Dan Hutt has been helping to take care of it from almost the beginning of its life as a Nature Trust conservation land.

Louise Cook: Learning in every season

03 Sep 2024

The Bras d’Or is world-renowned as a sailing paradise – and for Louise Cook, it called out to her to unexpectedly set anchor and make a new home. More than twenty years after originally getting "stuck" in Nova Scotia, Louise is dedicated to learning about and caring for the nature all around her, including as a Property Guardian for our North Mountain Ridge Conservation Lands.

Jesse Milani: The forest and the trees

01 Sep 2024

When Jesse Milani arrived in Nova Scotia in 2023, he immediately looked for ways to connect his self-proclaimed "tree nerd" passion for forestry with Nova Scotia’s own unique forest. He was delighted to find the Nature Trust’s Property Guardians program, where could put his fieldwork experience and expertise to good use.

Companion Planting: A special garden group of volunteers

31 Jul 2024

In 2019, the Nature Trust initiated a project to create a native species garden at Nature’s House in downtown Dartmouth. It is now cared for by a passionate group of volunteers, whose dedication and expertise have fostered a most pleasant and productive ecosystem not only for the native species but also among each other. Their work exemplifies the larger purpose of the Nature Trust – that by working together, nature can thrive.

Featured artist: Meghan Marentette

31 Jul 2024

Meghan Marentette is a Nova Scotian author and artist who creates diorama picture books for children. Her book Rumie Goes Rafting (published by Owlkids in April 2024) was inspired by and created in the Purcells Cove Backlands. In this interview, she talks about her relationship with nature, as an artist.
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