u/Hour-Blackberry1877

July 5, 2026

This female Ruffed Grouse was killed on Simpson Pit Road in K.H.R. TWP. on June 16. Grouse often can be observed hesitating on the verge of rural roads before they abruptly decide to cross. Their nickname is the "stool pigeon" because hunters could capture them with a wire loop at the end of a pole.

However, like all animals they do not lack intelligence. This behavior is merely an adaptation to their environment. In the modern world they are poorly adapted especially in this scenario when the mother emerged from a ditch with a cluster of chicks. The mother was immediately struck and killed by a vehicle. Tragically within minutes her offspring emerged from the brush and congregated around the body. When I stopped to investigate the fledglings scattered into the adjacent forest.

The vehicle that struck this bird was being tailgated and had no other option but to plow into the hapless bird. Tailgating will only increase now that the Ford government has raised the speed limit on highways.

Prudent drivers keep below 80 km/h as it is the most economical speed for fuel consumption. Secondly, a person's reaction time diminishes and the severity of an accident ( personal injury or death) multiplies exponentially over this 80 km limit.

Who is the real stool pigeon? The politician who raises the speed limit or the bird who crosses the road?

July 5, 2026

Lathyrus odoratous

A "threatened species" I found flowering near the Madawaska River below the Bark Lake Dam which apparently is native to Sicily and Sardinia.

July 4, 2026

Keywords: literacy, enrichment, meaning, importance of, Nature

To understand the Natural World and our relationship with it, we must first be literate. Education (assessed by literacy levels), should receive the highest priority for human development.

Without it we cannot differentiate between fact and fiction. We cannot unravel motives and intentions ; neither benign nor nefarious with people we interact with.

Without literacy we cannot effectively form predictions on events that have happened in the past and how they will evolve into the future.

No more evident is this than forming predictions for future forests cut down today and natural landscapes irreversibly paved over tomorrow.

Literacy is not restricted to the simple function of reading. It involves the discernment and interpretation of words including the subtle symbolism characteristic of good literature.

Rural literacy has been on the decline for decades. Less than 80 km from Canada's Capital, West Quebec has some of the highest illiteracy rates in Canada. A literacy council to raise adult literacy was formed in Shawville, Quebec to help tackle this crisis.

Compelling conspiracy theories published in right-wing tabloids masquerading as liberal democracy like "Druthers" require discernment to assess authenticity, especially when an article on the adjacent page may be completely legitimate.

Aligning credibility and authenticity adjacent to propaganda and lies is an age old psychological strategy to normalize unhealthy pursuits with those that are enriching. No more evident is this than in contemporary Rave music festivals. Only the astute realized that activities which were formally viewed as excessive and promoting self- harm through drugs and excessive permissiveness are becoming increasingly normalized through a process of desentization.

Television, films and popular culture have normalized and continue to escalate profanity, vulgarity, dehumanization and degradation to attract a jaded audience already saturated on a similar dark and disturbing diet from an early age. Current generations born into this world have difficulty interpreting its evolution. It is like a fish who has always been surrounded by water. It is viewed over television or online as completely normal. Only through education can these pitfalls masquerading as normality be avoided.

Public complacency legitimize these base activities under the guise of respecting the freedom of expression. But is this not a "perversion of intent" by manipulating the Charter of Rights... not for good; but for evil? What has happened to plain human decency?

How does my commentary relate to Nature?

Nature is the opposite of all this. It is the fundamental origin before humans orchestrated the quagmire of delinquent noise we call modernity.

Literacy provides a mechanism to strip away the lies and better arrive at unveiling the truth.

This has been the weakness of our neighbors in the United States who elected a president who appealed to the lowest common denominator of intelligence. This also is reflected in our present provincial premier who appealed to the lowest common denominator in Ontario promoting a "buck a beer". Both these politicians were successful in attracting adherents and their policies profoundly destructive to the natural world.

I believe a return to our origin is necessary to help solve world problems, which each week are escalated by global climate change.

Since the late 1970s the secondary academic curriculum has gradually been dumbed down to appeal to a larger teenage audience as students began dropping out of highschool.This dumbing down was considered a necessity as literacy rates were plummeting in concert with divorce rates.

Struggling single parent families are not conducive to nurturing learning in offspring .There is a reason the emotional pair bond in humans is so intense. Without two parents raising children their success and survival outside of a social support network is doomed to failure.

Social disintegration and ecological fragmentation begin to feed on one another.

Males lacking fathers as role models have long been tasked to a future as unskilled labourers while their female counterparts now outnumber them several times over as successful university graduates. Depending on the academic field three times more women graduate in the life and health sciences. Seventy percent of Ontario college students are women compared to only 30 % men.

Literary institutions, from local libraries to University faculties are crucial to raise rural populations out of darkness to better understand how to live free of undue political influence and harmonize their behavior with the Natural World. Rural Canadians are at a district disadvantage as reading is seldom encouraged, quality education rare or non-existent and the motivation to achieve excellence absent.

Photo: library box Red Rock Road KHR Twp.

July 4 2026

OTTAWA VALLEY NATURE IS NOT ACCEPTING COMMENTS UNLESS READERS APPLY FOR PRIOR PERMISSION FROM THE MODERATOR. THE SITE IS CLASSIFIED AS RESTRICTED.

Posted July 2nd 2026

Local KHR Township Council considered two years ago to open Foy Provincial Park on Red Rock Road to vehicular access to accommodate parking.

Over 60 vehicles were parked along Red Rock Road outside Foy Park on Canada Day 2026. There are safety concerns for visitors crossing the road into the park.

The park is not large enough to accommodate a parking facility and vehicles would depreciate from the park's natural ambience. Moreover, the growing number of vehicles could not physically be accommodated inside the small park.

Congestion is usually limited to the two hottest months, July and August.

A simple solution would be to reduce the speed limit from the current 50km/h down to 20km/h. in proximity to the park.

Counselors have yet to consider this initiative.

There are concerns that Ontario Parks will faulter to local political pressure and open the non-operating recreational zoned park to vehicles.

Note: This subreddit is private and does not solicit public comments.

Bonnechere Provincial Park Winter of 2026 harvesting to enhance biodiversity, by Ontario parks.

The word " Bonnechere" means beautiful in French. After viewing the above photograph, can you argue otherwise?

Each one of us believes our perspective is the only reality. I attempted to convince you otherwise.

It seems I failed.

Signed,

The moderator of Ottawa Valley Forests and Ottawa Valley Nature

Quote by existential philosopher:

F. Nietzsche

Keywords: graffiti, urban vs. rural Canada

One of the indices that differentiates rural Canada from urban Canada is the lack of graffiti in the country. The above photograph is the first instance I have encountered living here showing graffiti. It was written during the last week on road signage over the Supply Lake's new bridge crossing the Pine River on Gunns Road.

Whoever the perpetrator was, in all likelihood he/she was not a rural resident but came from the city. This is unsettling because it superimposes an Urban culture bordering on juvenile delinquency that we don't need or want in rural Renfrew County.

I witnessed the same phenomenon when I lived across the river in Aylmer Quebec. After the town was amalgamated with Gatineau and Hull the population steadily increased. With that population increase came a plethora of social ills.

"Tagging" is a term of repeating the same graffiti several times in the same area. Teenagers climbed onto a flat roof adjacent to the St- Vincent de Paul thrift store in the heritage District and spray painted at least 30 m of brickwork.

I hope that the graffiti on the traffic sign over Supply Lake Bridge is the first and last incident within our community.

We have many heritage and historical sites throughout our jurisdiction including this corridor into Algonquin Park. Defacing public property should not be tolerated.

Photos taken yesterday; June 26 2026 Gunns Road

Does anyone out there on Reddit know what these plants are growing near my deck?

Keywords: Bonnechere Airfield, research robotics and drones, updates, news

Willful blindness on expanding facility fails to raise eyebrows from neighbors hungry for economic stimulators in a mill town facing an uncertain future.

Survey cews were busy surveying and mapping the Bonnechere Airfield yesterday, June 25, 2026 which has recently been converted to a top secret research facility. This story was covered following the completion of a massive aviation hanger earlier this spring.

Public information remains scant and security tight at the publicly funded facility which some skeptics believe masks military intelligence and surveillance undertones.

"Mission impossible" appears to be rapidly evolving into "mission possible" while the naive public remains willfully ignorant. The location is situated ideally because of its feasible travel distance from Ottawa, proximity to military intelligence at CFB ( Garrison) Petawawa, and an unquestioning and indifferent rural population.

Photos : GPS surveying adjacent to Turner's Road June 25 2026.

Megarhyssa spp.

A parasitic wasp found in deciduous and mixed forests with dead and dying broadleaved trees. Found throughout North America the adults cannot eat. The larvae are parasitic to the pigeon horse tail larvae.

The mated female flies from tree to tree pressing her long antennae against the bark in an attempt to detect vibrations made by horsetail larvae in wood. The ovipositor is curled over her abdomen and inserted through the bark at a right angle. When it reaches the larval tunnels of its host she inserts her eggs into it. The larvae of the wasp then consume the eggs of the unfortunate pegion horse tail larvae.

Several individuals were discovered on a dying American Beech affected by the beech bark disease.

Photos by the author June 26 2026

Keywords environmental movement, women's rights, animal rights,

Ever since Rachel Carson released her 1962 groundbreaking book; Silent Spring, condemning the use of pesticides, women have adopted a dominant role in protecting the environment. Every campaign I have participated in was organized primarily by women.

This includes protecting the West Coast rainforests on Vancouver Island to the Temagami wilderness in northeastern Ontario. They were the first to be arrested for civil disobedience and the last to seek recognition.

At home when I lived in western Quebec women were first and foremost to challenge the contamination of groundwater, salvage greenspace from subdivision, and protect wetlands from highways in places like Gatineau Park. They were the sole creators of park foundations and associations designed to protect the quality of life in parks and neighborhoods. They were first at the mic at Council meetings to condemn greedy developers and counselors in a conflict of interest.

I even recall a young woman blocking heavy equipment to save a forest when her father - a policeman - was ordered to remove her.

In indigenous cultures the Earth is referred to as Mother Earth. This appears to be for good reason.

This female dedication has not gone unnoticed nor unappreciated by myself and greater society over the decades I was privileged to work alongside these courageous individuals.

This unwavering gender trend appears to have continued into the present generation and the fight against climate change in campaigns such as Climate Action spearheaded by Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg.

Women frequently put their male counterparts to shame. This trend is clear in many of the comments received by this subreddit where males disproportionately feel entitled to condemn and insult the post's attempts to safeguard the environment.

Why does there appear to be a gender disparity in those showing compassion for the Earth and its creatures?

Photos authors archives:

1. Women confront West Coast logging. 2) A woman challenges dry wells following golf course construction, ( Aylmer Quebec).3) A daughter of a police officer blocks heavy equipment to save forest, (Aylmer Quebec). 4) A woman locks her neck onto heavy equipment in Temagami, Ontario.

Keywords: pileated woodpecker, cavity nesting species,

"Woody Woodpecker" the 1960's cartoon character was modeled after the Pileated Woodpecker which is the largest woodpecker in North America.

This large crested bird is recognized by the loud thumping resembling an ax when it excavates holes to retrieve the insects inside.

These holes provide habitat for numerous cavity nesting bird species, such as the Black Capped Chickadee, Nuthatch and the Northern Flicker.

In these photos the Pileated Woodpecker has excavated to the heartwood where Carpenter ants have traveled up and down the middle of the tree. Surprisingly there was no heart rot inside the middle of this tree. These holes are also used by the woodpeckers to roost during storms and inclement weather.

The question remains whether pileated woodpeckers damage trees following their excavation.

These photos were taken at Pine Point on Round Lake not far from Foy Provincial Park.

Post under construction.

Keywords: conservation, dedication, 1960s, role model, Jane Goodall

When I was growing up in the 1960s and seventies Jane Goodall was seen as a positive role model for children. My mother, who was around the same age, introduced my siblings and I to Jane's research on primates. Television documentaries and magazine publications in National Geographic were consistently covering her exploits in the early 1970s. She was a true hero.

We would cut out the photographs of her apes and back them with cardboard. I still remember the chimpanzees to this day half a century later. My favorite ape was called Floe an old female with tattered ears.

In the UK where I was living at the time, Jane Goodall was a household name and unlike today, animals and Nature were considered the subject of greatest interest and fascination for children. All my relatives were equally enriched and inspired by her pursuits.

Jane Goodall with support from the National Geographic Society provided a positive role model for both girls and boys which unsurpassed anything we witness today.

Moreover, not only did this woman have courage, but tenacity to pursue the moral imperative to protect the natural world until her last breath; to die on tour pursuing this noble cause.

In every human endeavor, excellence and dedication to a principle is derived not so much from an intellectual understanding of it but from its visceral, emotional and spiritual pursuit.

Thank you Jane.

Photo: Jane Goodall

Keywords: literature, influence on the environment, Eric Fromm

Revisiting good literature.

Eric Fromm was one of the most influential authors in modern time. His book; "To Have or To Be" published in 1981 immediately became a bestseller and is more relevant today with the Earth facing the catastrophic effects of climate change than 45 years ago.

If I were limited to endorsing one book that people should read concerning over- consumption and materialism this would be it.

He argues that throughout civilization there have been two modes of relating to the world. One is the "having mode" and the other is the "being mode".

Every aspect of human existence can be viewed through these two different lenses.

He systematically explains the differences between the two modes of experience .The "having mode" is dedicated to material possession and property, aggressiveness and personal gain. While the "being mode" is suffused with love, caring, and contentment with less consumption and a profound kinship with Nature.

This book may be a bit heavy for a contemporary audience, and the writing antiquated for gender equality but aside from these minor distractions it points to two important distinctions of how we should interpret the world.

This piece of literature, shares the shelves with his other major works "The Art of Loving" and "Escape from Freedom." Both groundbreaking manifesto's for thought.

Keywords: Pine River Watershed, Rock and bass pop culture, Raves,

CONTRARY TO THIS SERENE IMAGE ON THE PINE RIVER ; THIS SITE IS EXPOSED TO MORE NOISE THAN THE LOUDEST CONSTRUCTION SITE IN ANY CANADIAN INNER CITY.

Lower Pine Lake has become a summer staging ground by the Rave "wellness" festival "Summerdaze".

For generations this seldom used canoe route exiting Algonquin Park into Bonnechere River Provincial Park was a hidden gem for paddlers.

About four years ago an elderly Pembroke resident, Joe Vandusen sold a 100 acre hunt camp off Gunns/Pine River Rd Road to a commercial Rave company, "Summerdaze", from Toronto. The property backs onto Algonquin Park.

Each summer thousands of young people arrive dressed in outlandish and bizarre urban pop apparel with a healthy assortment of tattoos and body piercings.

Similar to the "Nowhere" festival at Raven's Knoll in NAW township which sent subsonic sound waves audible 12 kilometers away, the electronic bass at Lower Pine Lake affects wildlife kilometers distant.

The spectacle is somewhat unsettling to local hunters, fisherpersons, and paddlers. It's a cultural jar which borders on psychologically disturbing and leaves many feelings uncomfortable.

Popular culture has adversely influenced young people for generations with sex, drugs, rock and roll. This sub- culture continues to masquerade as anti- establishment and gender empowering by our increasingly secular society. Hedonism is its hidden objective sanctioned and normalized simply by the vast numbers of enthusiasts and participants. Huge profits are channelled out of the region into the pockets of Toronto investors.

Collateral damage to peoples health and mental well-being by these permissive events has sewn the seeds of numerous social ills from drug addiction, promiscuity, to personality disorders.

Freedom of expression, like all Charter rights, is a double edged sword which without inhibition can spell ill for the uninitiated, emotionally vulnerable and naive.

Unlike the safeguards of police presence and paramedics at the Nowhere festival : the Summerdaze festival buried from sight bordering Algonquin Park is an arena waiting for tragedy to happen to intoxicated and drug induced individuals.

How much difference is a Rave Event than a Cult Gathering?

Only after tragedy strikes, people die, or forests burn will an inquiry into events like these be investigated. In the meantime for the digital world to see this is my premonition.

Photo by the author: Pine River entering Algonquin Park 2025