When I got into radio, people often assumed it was for the music, but for me, it was always the stories.
I loved taking something small and talking about it in a relatable way, like a found hand-written recipe book in a grocery cart at Christmas or injuring my own kid in an overzealous Nerf gun fight. I always thought mornings full of tightly edited listener phone calls were radio at its best.
When The Dock started annual radiothons for Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre, I found something I really loved to do — interview patients and compile their experiences into two-minute narratives.
When listeners heard real people talk about their cancer treatment and how it affected their lives, it reminded them of what their father, sister or best friend went through, and they donated. They related to the stories because the patients spoke about their feelings. Emotions are universal to all of us.
Almost all of the patients had said something like, “OK, I’ll talk to you, but I don’t really think I have a story.” Yet it was their stories that made donors pick up the phone.
Stories work better than information every time.
Finding people’s stories turned out to be my very favourite thing, especially when they didn’t think they had one.
The same thing is happening at my new role at the Couchiching Conservancy. We have hundreds of local volunteers. That’s rare for an organization many haven’t even heard of. We’re a bit of a complex organization with many layers, so it’s hard to quickly explain what we do.
We help protect land in a variety of ways. We preserve the properties we’ve purchased or that have been donated, some of which are private and some of which are open to the public. In a few cases, we help steward areas owned by others, like Scout Valley in Orillia and Carden Alvar Provincial Park in Kawartha Lakes.
On all of these properties, we study the terrain, forests, waterways and species. Our volunteers help intensely with this through community science, observing and counting species like bats, frogs and salamanders, controlling invasive plants or testing water quality. Because we care for almost 60 properties, we have hundreds of volunteers. They are incredibly passionate and their reasons for helping are varied.
I wanted to write about some of these people, to tell the story of what the Couchiching Conservancy is doing in our area. Each one of them also told me, “OK, but I don’t really think I have anything to say.”
Oh, but they do.
Evelyn moved to Oro-Medonte, heard about us from a booth at the Orillia Fall Fair and started learning about the species on her property. She discovered a clutch of salamander eggs in the swamp by a wooded area and now finds purpose in protecting the wetland she lives on — so much so, she has put legal protections on it so if it ever sells, the buyer is bound to protect it as well.
Noella read an article explaining since roadkill doesn’t remain long enough to be documented, it’s difficult for scientists to study which animals are most affected by traffic collisions.
She realized because she and a neighbour walk the same route every day, she’d be a perfect Wildlife on Roads volunteer. She now carries in her phone case a prop specifically for measuring dead snakes, and though it’s a bit morbid, she loves that her observations are helping plan better roadways that will allow animals a safer crossing.
Trudy performs water-quality testing on local creeks and explained what she likes most about the work is it guarantees her three hours a month with her grown daughter as they drive to sites and trek to river beds throughout the year.
These volunteers have always loved the outdoors, but their projects have made them appreciate the restorative work nature performs. A tree’s fallen leaves add nutrients to the soil, its roots keep the soil in place, and its leaves filter carbon out of the air and release fresh oxygen. A marsh’s footprint expands to collect water after storms and slowly releases it back into the soil, rather than allowing water to run off and flood your basement.
Forests, grasslands, marshes and wetlands can counteract the effects of climate change if we don’t chop them down or fill them up. The Couchiching Conservancy is working as fast as we can to protect as many as possible.
I thought it might work to turn this column into a space to talk to people about the environmental concerns they’re experiencing and what they think we might be able to do. A fresh new year feels like a good time to start.
Meg Whitton spent 15 years as a morning show host with 104.1 The Dock and then Bounce Radio. She is now fumbling her way through a new career in conservation at the Couchiching Conservancy. She wants everyone to know about this small but mighty non-profit that is protecting the gorgeous natural areas we are lucky enough to call home.
