S06 E04 - Peter Simons - Chief Park Naturalist at Algonquin Provincial Park

On this episode we chat with Peter Simons. Peter works for Ontario Parks as the Chief Park Naturalist out of the Algonquin Provincial Park Nature Center! Peter talks about his experiences working in a popular provincial park as well as shares tips and tricks to land an environmental career.

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0:00

Hello everyone. And welcome to season six, episode four of the emerging leaders for biodiversity. How do I do this? And environmental career podcast? Today we are joined by Peter Simons. Peter works for Ontario parks as the chief park naturalist out of the Algonquin provincial park nature center. Let's dive right in. And here's some more about what he does here and how he found himself in his role today.

Peter 0:32

My name is Peter Simons, and my pronouns are he, him.

Alex 0:37

And where are you calling in from today, Peter?\

Peter 0:39

I'm calling in from the Algonquin Ferential Park Visitor Centre. In the heart of Ontario.

Kandyce 0:44

For everybody listening, do you mind telling us a bit about yourself? Who you are, what you do, and Why you're at the Algonquin Park Visitor Center today.

Peter 0:55

Sounds good. I'm a nature lover through and through and I call myself a naturalist and I work as a naturalist. So I work for Ontario Parks and I work in Algonquin as the Chief Park Naturalist here for the Parks Discovery Program. It's an education program that's across the province and many of our different parks. And it straddles the line between science and education with a dash of art. It's a very broad job and talking to you guys today, I think I'll get into that. As a park naturalist, I'm entirely aiming at enhancing visitors experience in exploring the park's cultural and natural history. I'm definitely a bit more interested personally in the natural history but the park also has a lot of cultural history stories to tell, but I think in this podcast, we'll focus on the natural ones. That is so we do this as a team of naturalists. So there's about 10 of us and we build different programs. So we had guided hikes, special events, talks, walks to hopefully help visitors discover some of these stories. Natural stories in the park and try to make it as interesting and as fun as possible. And I really want to help people harness their own natural curiosity, because I think everyone deep down and for some it's like really out there and others they have to discover their curiosity for our natural world. And so being out in the park, helping people learn about it is really what my job entails. There is a side that is like monitoring and we do get into a bit of science work in general, but for the most part, we stick to monitoring rather than research. So that's through bird counts, insect counts telemetry, wildlife tracking and basically when we do those monitoring projects and we're learning about science, we're just becoming better teachers. Which in turn helps the visitors learn. And luckily for Algonquin, there's a lot of different studies going on. Anyway, that's a little bit of a ramble, but that's what my work entails. And that's my job description, loosely.

Kandyce 3:16

Awesome. That sounds like a lot of fun.

Peter 3:18

Yeah, I've been doing it for nine years now. I should say I've been working in the park for nine years, but only two as the chief. But yeah, I have a lot of fun doing it, and that's all it really is as long as you're having fun and you're sharing and it's usually pretty infectious.

Alex 3:35

That's great. You touched on how your day-to-Day looks, but does that take you all around the park or is there one area you're in more often than not?

Peter 3:44

So I am based out of the Visitor Center, so our team works out of this building. Obviously it's a big draw for visitors.

3:50

According to Peter, the visitor center can see over 140,000 visitors each year.

Peter 3:56

The park itself has about 1. 2 million people visit it every year. But that's primarily close to the Visitor Center, so along the Highway 60 corridor. Although the park's bigger than PEI, 7, 700 square kilometers. I don't get to actually see the backcountry as much as I'd like. Although my work does take me elsewhere to the north end of the park. And definitely a lot to the east. So in the Akrae campground, for example.

Alex 4:25

Yeah, I grew up beside the park and I had no idea there were that many visitors each year. Yeah, I

Peter 4:30

think the east side of the park's a bit quieter. Most of our visitors are coming from the west. Like there's a, there are a lot of people coming from Ottawa, but you've got such a good draw in Quebec, like Gatineau and so a lot of our visitors are definitely centered around the GTA, because although people would call us the north, we're really not in fact, it's southern Ontario still, you could maybe stretch it and say central, but when you look at the province, we're really close to very busy parts of the province, So and with those highways that run you can be back in Toronto in three and a half hours on a good day, right? So a busy spot and you know the back country does see a lot of people but for the most part our park's really busy Just along this highway. And the bit we do have a busy season and and a shoulder season, right? So our busy seasons may to october and that's where we see the bulk number of people I mean we really shine in the fall with the fall colors we can see about 600, 000 people, so almost 300, 000 visitors within a month. So that's our really busy season. This time of year it's a bit quieter, but I can touch on some of the day to day work and get a little bit more specific if you'd like.

Kandyce 5:50

Sure, and maybe touch on how it differs from summer to winter in your role in the park.

Peter 5:57

For sure. So yeah, in that busy season from May and October my position is really centered around supervising and leading those other naturalists. So a team of 10 to 12. And so I do that and it just through a supervisory kind of aspect. So scheduling and preparing those programs, critiquing them. And delivering them in the summer. We're hoping that what we're doing is just out in the park. There's not as much prep time. We're not creating and preparing as much. It should be delivering. So this past year, we talked over 18, 000 people on our hikes, walks and talks. So we, we do get a small portion, a smaller sliver of the park visitation, but we do have the busiest discovery program in the province. We have the largest number of programs and the largest attendance rate of any other park. So in order to make this run smoothly, it's scheduling, it's allocation of resources. I'm making sure that my naturalists can do their job in an efficient, effective way, that they have everything that they need. But I do get to do a lot of the talks myself. I am doing talks for like school programs in the in those earlier months. So in May and June and also still leading a lot of those walks. So this past year, I was the lead character in our play long lost. It's not all office work in the summer, but Moving into the winter it's in this shoulder season, it's just getting ready for the busy season in short. So it's actually writing those new programs. It's updating old ones. Maybe it is writing a play. And it's also taking that data that we collected from the wildlife monitoring season and putting it where it needs to go. We're seeing a lot more visitation, though, in the winter, and people are starting to come to Algonquin for birding. It's becoming a big birding destination, so we're leading a lot more birding hikes, workshops that's the aim there. And then on the side my job can be super unpredictable Day to day it can switch. One day I might be designing a kitchen for a staff house, which is really not something I'm that knowledgeable about, but the next I could be filming a logging bit for a French TV show flying in the park to do a moose serial inventory. Or ice out flights. So this job keeps me on my toes. I have to be prepared to basically get up and go. With us being the wildlife people in the park sometimes if there's an injured loon on the beach, you've got to go collect it and bring it to a rehab. If other park operations need us for different surveys or studies we also might get called out to do that. We'll help out the park biologists and ecologists as well cause we've got a really knowledgeable group. Luckily with Algonquin, it's a popular park for many. It's also a popular park to work at. So we've got a really lovely team of birders, herpers, historians, artists that we get to use. Working with them and harnessing their talents is really what my whole job is centered around. And luckily I get to do some of it myself.

Kandyce 9:04

That's awesome. if you had to pick one favourite program to run, what would it be?

Peter 9:10

That's a good question. I think like our bread and butter wildlife walks are so much fun. I do that on my free time, just going out looking for wildlife, right? So having people that are keen and hungry and excited to see something, you can't get much better than that. And it's stressful though, being a guide and people have pretty high expectations. We do get asked the question, when do we let out the moose so people can have pretty unrealistic ideas, but I think hopefully by the end of that walk I've grounded them, but also set out realistic expectations and something, maybe they did actually get away with a look at a moose or something like that, because with those wildlife walks, you really never know what you're going to see. And if it's something like a great blue heron catching a bullhead on a pond that's really exciting. And other days you might see like a cow and a calf. And no matter what it is, big or small, you've got to make it exciting. And it reminds you that also those more common things are actually really fascinating. And there's more to learn about them than people think yeah, so I'd say yeah leading wildlife walks probably the top program But anything to do with wolves is also up there. I love doing the wolf talk We do a night at the museum program all the wolf mountain blood

Alex 10:35

That's awesome. This is normally a later question, but what's what's the coolest thing you've seen doing these guides?

Peter 10:40

Yeah, okay. That's, yeah, that is a good question. So I think our bird walks can be pretty exciting. You can see some rare birds on those walks. I think a spruce grouse displaying with a flutter flight, a nice male spruce grouse with those red eye patches and spangled white and black in front of people flying up is pretty sweet. People getting to hand feed Canada jays is pretty breathtaking. But I think one of the wildest moments I've had on a walk was actually one of my first. It was my first year in the park. And we were leading a wildlife tour on a rail bed. To the left and to the right was water. So you could only go forward or backward. And there wasn't much else we could have done. We had a large group of 90, which is not ideal for a wildlife walk, because you make a lot of noise as that big of a group. And to get everybody on an animal is really hard. But this time we didn't have that trouble because they came to us. It was a cow and a calf. And cow mother moose are very strong, 700 pounds of muscle, and they will defend their young quite heavily and protect themselves. They're dealing with things like bears and wolves. So unfortunately what happened was the cow was on the opposite shoreline and it walked into the front of the group and the cow was behind us. And so our group couldn't go, we couldn't get these people to jump in the pond. So the cow and the calf had to reunite in an organic away. And we basically had to keep as far away from them as possible, but the cow was actually coming towards the group. And although I was just being paid minimum wage at the time, I thought it's me. this group. So I stood in front with a little tree branch waving at it, trying to get the cow to go in the opposite direction. And luckily she did pretty quick and the calf followed. But that was one of the more wild, scary moments of leading a guided hike was having, being in between a mother and her child. So

Kandyce 12:37

that's crazy.

Peter 12:40

That's luckily only happened once.

Kandyce 12:42

Did you say 90 people in one group?

Peter 12:44

Yeah. So our wildlife walks are also really popular. People see that on our tabloids or on our events page, they see wildlife and they get excited. We've had groups of 90, we've had birding hikes with over a hundred. Oh, wow. And those can be really tough birds even more so because they're moving real fast. We only have so many binoculars anyway, but yeah our best hikes are typically 10 to 20 people, much more manageable, a little bit more of a intimate group. You can get to know them better and tailor the hike to a group like that or the few individuals that are like most keen when it's a group of 90 yeah, they're fun in their own right. And I think it's a bit of a spectacle when you're with that big of a group walking down a trail together, all looking for wildlife. That's cool. That's a cool aspect of it. Can't ignore.

Kandyce 13:33

Yeah. Everybody's noticing different aspects and different things. Yeah.

Peter 13:37

Yeah. So and people make friends. People just start chatting and families are like, Oh, what are you doing tomorrow? Let's do the hike together. That's not uncommon. So it's also just a nice social event too, right?

Kandyce 13:48

Nice. That's crazy. That's cool.

Alex 13:52

And it's awesome you guys didn't get skunked with a group that large. That does happen

Peter 13:57

quite a bit so in those cases, you can rely on plants that are quite literally rooted and not going anywhere. They're wildlife too. But On a hot ,summer day in August you can be hard pressed to find anything, even a turtle. We have had our share of skunks, but you just persevere and you make the most of it.

Alex 14:15

I've been hit with the same wildlife questions before. I remember doing field work for the MNRF. Someone asked me when we're going to get the government's geese off their property. And we were all laughing, thinking it was a joke, and they weren't. They were like oh, you're serious. You think we own the geese? Okay.

Peter 14:32

Yeah that's

Alex 14:33

tough. Yeah, what you said when you were releasing the moose, it just brought me back to that. And you're like, haha! And then you're like, oh no you're dead serious. Yeah,

Peter 14:42

It's fascinating everybody coming to parks and interacting with wildlife. It's, For many Algonquins, their first experience are, in that case, geese on their lawn. It's fun. Challenging but fun, yeah.

Kandyce 14:57

Can you tell us a little bit about the education that you received in order to get to your position?

Peter 15:03

Yeah, so I started at Sir Sanford Fleming, so Fleming College. I think it's just called Fleming College now. The Fish and Wildlife Technology Program. So that's that three year specialist diploma. So I started there at Fleming, luckily I had already a good background. I'd already been working in the park for a few years but it was really good for wildlife and more particularly like aquatic benthics aquatic plants I learned my trees. It's an amazing forestry school. Very hands on. I learned wildlife research techniques. Actually how to conduct a lot of these monitoring programs and protocols that I still do for work today. And it also taught me to be a good writer. Luckily with Fleming, they've got a good connection with Trent University and Fleming that third year is really focused on Connecting or bridging the gap between college and university. I was going to originally go to Trent right out of the gate, but if you do the three year at Fleming, you can get your Bachelor's of Science in two years at Trent. It made sense time wise, money wise, and I must admit, I really enjoyed my time at Fleming. Much more than Trent, but Trent got an unfair start because I went there during COVID. So I just, I didn't get that full experience, but Trent was really good for what is good science and report writing big time. So learning actually my communication skills was key. You get graded harder. It's definitely a bit more of a challenging education environment, but that's good challenges yourself. I think Fleming's no matter what level. You are, you can go to Fleming. You still have to work pretty hard, especially at the third year, that third, that three year program and fish and wildlife not as many people get in but between the two, they really complemented each other, the practical, theoretical side of things. So that combo I know is becoming more and more popular. And it definitely gives you a really broad set of skills. A lot of people go West. It seems like. Fleming Fish and Wildlife, it's like people get this idea that you have to go out west their idea of working with wildlife is like a bugling elk on a mountain, and sure enough, go for it. But I think it's funny that Fleming, because you're learning the insects and plants of our central southern Ontario region, you're actually really refined for work in your hometown or locally. So I think Fleming grads, so many people in parks come from that's my background. So I definitely recommend that for people. And the other thing too a lot of our interpreters end up going to teachers because like I said, it straddles the 2. A lot of people end up going to teachers college and becoming biology teachers or just, teachers in general, the public school or high school a lot of our alumni or professors. So that's a big route people go is education and teaching and then equally as much people go into the research field.

Kandyce 18:08

Yeah, I've heard great things from the Fleming program and have quite a few friends that have went to school at Fleming and it's great, but I'm curious. So I did the opposite. I went to university 1st, and then went to college because I needed all those hands on and ID skills and everything. Do you think that it was valuable to do the college before the university or.

Peter 18:29

Yeah, from like the money and time thing aside, I think Fleming was good to do first. I think you can't go wrong either way and you do what's best for you. Some people, I think universities, like they really want to do that first. I think it's a bit more streamlined if you're going from university straight to a master's or a doctorate. You could probably just follow that stream all the way through. With Fleming doing it first, I'd say the big benefit is you're seeing what you're writing and talking about later on in university. You're seeing, and I think it's a bit of a nursery for a good naturalist and biologist. You need to start with the world outside, not inside the classroom. You gotta get out. And I think to touch, feel, and know trees, and plants, and insects, and fish, and then have an idea of what really interests you and directs your passion. Is it's going to set you up for success even more so in university when you're writing a paper on something that maybe you have a bit better of an understanding. And I think when I went to university, a lot of my classmates just had that disconnect. They were far better at report writing than I was when being in a lab. But I had that benefit of really knowing the species and the ecology of them that could bolster those things that they didn't have. And the ID stuff, it's better to start early. Because you never know everything. It's really good to start early and you can work on that while you're at university too.

Kandyce 20:01

Yeah, that's a great answer. Thank you so much. Yeah, that's what I figured you'd say.

Peter 20:07

Yeah, I did it right. You did it wrong.

Alex 20:12

Yeah, no, I did this. The opposite. I just did general bio undergrad and then I had a lot of friends that went to Fleming and like walking the trails with them like I had to learn as I went to and they point out like every Little thing, And then I caught up for all the Ontario things and then call a spade. We were both laughing 'cause I was one of the people that ran away out west two years ago and then had to start all over. everything. Yeah.

Peter 20:40

I don't know why, but for some reason, I've got something against the West. I just it's so overrated. It really isn't. I guess I get bothered by the fact that I see filling out my Instagram feed of all these people doing such amazing things in big, epic environments. But anyway that aside it's funny how you mentioned going on a walk with some Of the college students, because what's supposed to be an hour walk turns into three, just because everybody's talking for a second or something. And now that I think about it like a little bit more also the university students, those were the people I'd partner with on group projects at Twentynine, because of their like, written communication skills and their work ethic. That's actually another thing, is the college, it's so streamlined, it's all done for you. You're, it's like going to high school in the sense that It's so fast paced. It's so condensed. You don't have a lot of pick and say with what programs you're doing. And it has to be so structured. Like the teachers have to have everything so down to a tee. That you don't have to read the syllabus like a university student does. Even though so many of them still don't. But, that's like the biggest thing to take away is Like I would partner up with university students because the way they think you really build how to break down a problem at university, taking on like big long projects. So those are some of the best students. So maybe it is actually better to go to Trent first.

Kandyce 22:15

Probably depends on the person. Yeah.

Alex 22:18

So you mentioned you've been the chief naturals for the last. Two years now. Can you tell us a little bit about your career journey and how you got into that position and where you started out at Algonquin?

Peter 22:30

Yeah, for sure. So I started in Algonquin when I was 16. So in grade 11 very young but just a sponge ready to learn. And I think when I got here and I lived here for the first summer in a dorm, like you find your people like I was like, Oh my gosh, there's other people like me. In high school, there just wasn't and so I quickly found my people, but more importantly, I found my place. I fell in love with Algonquin, and I think knowing that I really loved this place, I could focus all my time and energy of learning the flora and fauna here in the Florida. I was already on a racetrack for moving through. So I started in Algonquin as a junior naturalist for two years and then I worked as a senior naturalist. After that, so I did well in my first two and then I got promoted to senior naturalist, which is more pay longer contract it's three months rather than one and a half. And from there this position my boss right now is the assistant superintendent. He was previously the chief position came up when I applied. It was very lucky to get it. He's been my boss for nine years now. Because I've been Algonquin through and through, I've worked here every year and really the only other place I've ever worked is Rondo. I was so knowledgeable of this area that I think I was exceptionally competitive for that reason you're going to have a tougher time coming from somewhere else, right? To know the trails, to know the wildlife here really helped me. And I built a good network here. I think. It doesn't matter how much you know when you first start here, it's just how much of a sponge you want to be. As long as you're keen, it's super important. That's the big part. I guess the thing I'd also touch on is I've been really fortunate for the people that I've encountered over time. My high school biology teacher. Her son and her husband had both worked in Algonquin. So I'd already had this idea that Algonquin Park was this cool place to work. And then my parents honeymooned here too. And my biology teacher family Peter K and Alex, took me under their wing. It's just super power naturalist family grew up like no TVs, no phones. There's like hardcore kids that were just nature enthusiasts, their father ornithologist, their mother, a botanist. And they took me under their wing and just really helped me in those early years. And I realized that it's the people. That I learned best from not necessarily as much in a classroom like I learned from just peers and passionate people more than I do in a classroom and. So I worked really hard that even in my personal life that I'd surround myself with people that are like minded and that can fill up my glass and I can hopefully fill up theirs too, that you surround yourself, like you live, play. And work towards your career path, if you mold your social environment towards that it really benefits you. And I think that's something that my parents encouraged me, was like, make sure you surround yourself with people that are good for you, that are healthy for you, and that are also in this case, it's going to help your career. You're learning from them,

Kandyce 25:52

that's great advice.

25:53

Pick

Peter 25:56

your friends carefully, pick your friends carefully, and it's worth building a network in a workplace and reaching out. If you don't reach out and try to build that network and work with other people, you're just not going to get as many opportunities so building your network in and out of work is important.

Kandyce 26:20

Yeah. I was just going to jump ahead to a question just because I feel like it fits really right here. I was just wondering if there were any memberships or like memories from your childhood that maybe hinted that this was the career path that you would take?

Peter 26:36

Yeah, I think if I dive a bit personally I come from a very religious family so my mother and father are Christians, and my father is a priest, and I'm not very religious and I never seem to get into that. And I can picture going to church and going to Sunday school and just always running to the trees

Kandyce 26:59

and like

Peter 27:00

whenever we were outside that's what I was interested in. I can think about that being really young and wanting to be in the grass and the trees And that right there is already something because I just wasn't interested in the theology. But that being said, my dad actually went to to college for forestry before he chose the faith and going a religious route as a career. So he had put me in things like scouts and cubs. I saw that you listed there on the question and it's true. Those things are really good. So I have very supportive parents that they. They put me in programs like that, that I think was just good exposure. You're outside, you're having fun. Although I didn't know there was a different species. I thought a dragonfly and a bird was a bird. But I like being outside. So that was important. I tried cadets for a year. It was just like stricter school. So I didn't make it but another helpful one was doing theater plays. So I was in A Sound of Music and Wizard of Oz. I was the lead, lead monkey.

28:02

But

Peter 28:04

It got me out of my bubble. It got me out of my shell, and it taught me to not take myself too seriously. And be animated use my emotions for communicating and having fun with it. So that was good exposure, but definitely one of the bigger ones in my teen years was a naturalist club. So local naturalist clubs, they are hard to find. They're typically. The average age is probably 60 or 70 years old. And they're often small. It depends on the city. There's some really big ones and some really good ones. And I think it's amazing there's social media platforms now that make it easier to see other like Minded people and younger birders, but I truly believe there weren't that many young birders like 10 years ago, and it's exploded. It's exploded. So these naturalist clubs are becoming a lot younger, not to say I love old people talking about the old people is fantastic. It's such good stories and they're teachers and they just want to share and they're keen, they've been keen for their whole life. Going to a naturalist club, I was encouraged by my biology teacher to go to Brereton or Barrie Nature now. So I really encourage people to go to their local naturalist clubs because you're getting like the pros of your area. They know your area really well. They probably grew up there. They've been birding there or looking at wildlife there for many years. And so having that kind of expert, it's good. Again, good networking. So naturalist clubs. Was definitely a really important group and membership for me.

Kandyce 29:42

Yeah, that's great advice.

Alex 29:45

Definitely, I agree. I think in the last five, ten years, I'm noticing a shift from just, yeah, used to be, I'd only see 60, 70 year olds out birding. And now I'll see people in their 20s or teens.

Peter 29:59

Yeah, and like Pelee is the place where I've really noticed it and one of my best friends, Henrik, he's been birding there at Pelee every spring for almost his whole life. And he's talked about the same thing, like he used to know everybody. I've been Charlene over there and Wendy over there and now he's seeing a lot of people he doesn't know and like other people's agents. Oh my gosh, who are you? Like I need to talk to this person. They're my agent. And it's happening more and more. Oh, there's friend groups going out like people are realizing that it's definitely the best hobby out there because you can do it at any time. And I think birding is I hate using this term, but like a gateway. Because I feel like that's usually used for gateway drugs, right? It is.

Alex 30:45

It is. Oh, I agree.

Peter 30:48

Gateway drug to the naturalist life. Like, when you're out birding, suddenly you need to learn your trees because it's a little bit helpful to say, yeah, that great horned owl and the white pine, not the spruce. It comes natural. If you're interested in birds, you're going to get interested in so many other things, right? You're just out and you're suddenly seeing mammals and fish. Yeah it's amazing the difference and I can't we're not even going to see the effect of it for 10, 20 more years, but all these keeners are going to become experts in their fields. And even if they don't end up working in this field, the more people that just care and have that sense of respect for nature and interested in it, the more the management, conservation the easier that stuff's going to happen. Like I'm, yeah, I'm really happy.

Alex 31:39

Oh, it's definitely always just a net positive.

Peter 31:42

Yeah, oh yeah, and Discord's a great group for people to get involved now too, like with birding communities and naturalist communities it's in your pocket, like joining clubs and things like that now, right? Finding like minded people it's right at the tip of your fingers.

Kandyce 31:56

That's awesome. I jumped ahead a little bit, but just to go back to this question I assume in your position, you were on like contract work. I was just wondering if you had any downtime, like between contracts were you ever off for the winters? And how did you handle that? I know some people get stressed out having that downtime in between and trying to fill it with something useful. And yeah.

Peter 32:22

So I'm I've been lucky and unlucky because I haven't had much done. I right out of university I got a job at a branch, the main office, I was a school program coordinator. So I was delivering programs virtually. Which was tough in its own right, but so I was immediately out of school, I was like straight into a contract after that summer contract was done so there wasn't any break there, and then that's when this job came up and I was successful. I actually haven't taken any vacation time yet and I haven't really had much downtime, and dare I say burnout is approaching if I don't do something about it but I think I have had a lot of friends who have, and people who have had a lot more downtime. And I could even say my downtime was university, which it wasn't downtime, but like not is enjoy it. Like life's way too short to be stressing out about it. Like it's tough and obviously finances it's a never ending leech out of your life. But like for downtime and if you can and you're financially okay for a few months, just enjoy it. Go out and do the things that you want to do and build your resume and cover letter and, or go out and just learn a new tax app go study bumblebees for a week. Like use that time to your advantage because you can be out in the field. And you can be doing really incredible things and you're going to meet people naturally that way anyway, and you're probably going to learn about yourself and maybe do some discovery about working out west because you're visiting out there or maybe working out east or something like that. Use that to build your career and enjoy it. I'm only 25 and I'm like, holy smokes. That was the biggest thing I noticed out of university was a calendar year is not that long. It feels like eternity when you're in school, but when you're out, it flies by and to actually have some time just to be free and explore it's going to get harder and harder. One day, maybe you're going to find a life partner and you're going to have kids and that just, it just gets tough. So enjoy it. Yeah.

Kandyce 34:38

That's awesome advice.

Peter 34:40

And try not to buy a dog or a cat, I know this is a funny tip, but so many people that are like outdoor enthusiasts buy a dog, and then they're like stuck finding a rental, moving contracts becomes so much harder. It's a funny weird piece of advice, but I mean it don't get a cat or a dog, and sorry if you already do, but until you've got a house and you live a little bit longer.

Kandyce 35:11

Yeah, that played a role in my educational situation too. I ended up getting a cat and the only reason is because dogs are so hard, like it's so hard to find an apartment, so hard to rent a bedroom, and yeah, but yeah, that's right but

Peter 35:27

luckily I think like Gosh I want a dog and a cat so bad. And if you're gonna get one, probably get a cat, because at least they can stay

35:36

healthy.

Peter 35:37

Yeah.

Alex 35:38

That was also my game plan, and then I found a stray kitten, and I'm weak, and now I have a cat.

Kandyce 35:45

They get us. They get us.

Alex 35:46

Yeah.

Peter 35:48

Oh, you were doing a service that's different. Yeah, so just enjoy the downtime, and use it to your advantage.

Alex 35:54

So we were talking about this a bit earlier, but what do you like to do when you're not in Algonquin or in the field? That's also not nature walks. Do you have any other hobbies, passions?

Peter 36:05

Yeah, I think one that's actually benefited me a lot, even it's translated into work because of it, is videography. I've heard it on a few of your other podcasts, people are into photography. They go hand in hand, observing wildlife and things like that. But. I like pictures and there's that saying where it's like one picture can tell a thousand words There's 32 pictures per frame in a video. And so it's just, it's such a powerful tool for education. And so videographies I've become a bit obsessed with it, so I've started a vlog on YouTube to share my experiences, and it pushes me to capture really good moments, and experiences, and memories with friends, and also with going out, And geeking, so be it birding or fishing or boating I can capture it. I'll be able to look back on it when I'm an old man and enjoy life when I was young again. But also the video editing skills has benefited a lot because now I can do that for social media. I can put that in a PowerPoint or I can do that for programs. People love video. They love video, especially when it's being cut, so videography has been a big one. And I'm also a fan of drumming, so I have a little hand drum, a percussion drum. Another thing is When I was going to church, I did everything in my power to do something that wasn't just sit and listen. So I was a sound man for a little while, wasn't very good at that. So then they put me on a drum percussion, so shakers, the cajon, the djembe. And so I started playing music and that's a lot of fun too. So I try to enrich my life by adding some other hobbies that aren't wildlife focused.

Kandyce 37:48

Nice. Are there any certifications or trainings or workshops that you've attended that have been really helpful for you in your career? I

Peter 38:00

gotta think about that. Other than my education, I actually haven't too much, I think. It's good to have like if you have your voters license, like that's a super small one, but that's good because you like, there's not actually a lot of people that have that on staff as that's a good one. That's not a great example, though. Yeah, I can't think of if I think of 1, I'll bring it back up. But yeah, other than with education, that's another good thing about Fleming is you do get certifications there. So you got MNRF ice safety wildlife first aid was optional. I got my trapping, my fur management trapping license, so I'm a licensed fur trapper. Although I've never set a trap in my life, it also, it's a good resume builder, because you have to understand legislation and regulations really to a T in order to be able to do those things. And you also need to know mammal ecology. That was actually a really good certification that helped me was understanding for bears markets social change over years from markets overseas and it affects things and. But also just the whole hunting, fishing regulations and that, those kind of aspects of working in a wildlife field. That was a good one. Yeah.

Kandyce 39:19

Nice. Yeah.

Peter 39:20

Yeah.

Alex 39:20

I had no idea ice safety was an MNRF course. I had not heard of that one.

Peter 39:25

Yeah, we cut this gigantic hole in the ice and we put on a wetsuit and we jumped in. So You use it to learn how to identify ice, so from clear, blue, and black, what's safe to work on. So it's definitely helpful if you want to go out on the ice, but ice and water, working on either of those things, definitely is tough in a government agency. You have to be very careful. And so having those certifications, having already done them, looks really good on your resume, although you'll probably have to do them again when but safety is definitely taken very seriously. I imagine it's a little bit more loose in the private sector, but in government you've got to have that training and that safety protocol down. Because that's what a supervisor and a manager wants to hear. I don't want to worry about you.

Kandyce 40:16

Yeah, for sure.

Alex 40:18

If someone wanted to get more involved with some of your workshops or events, the plays in the park, where should they go to look into this?

Peter 40:27

Yeah, that's a good question. So our social media channels are a good one. So like Algonquin Park, Instagram is really good, but Ontario Parks actually has a pretty good website. I know I'm a biased opinion

40:38

on

Kandyce 40:38

that,

Peter 40:39

but they actually have a pretty good website and it has our events page on it for Algonquin. So you can see all of our events like months ahead, so you can actually plan things. That's definitely a good spot to go. And then when you're in the park, just look for our posters. They're all over the park and you can come to those events. But yeah, our website's good and it's also good for careers. Ontario Parks has really good blogs and written descriptions of our jobs. The OPS in general, but especially Ontario Parks is working really hard at recruitment. Everybody is, because there's just so many openings and jobs that go. Unapplied to or just don't get a lot of applicants. People don't see them. There's just they're everywhere or having a hard time. Doesn't matter if it's McDonald's or it's an Algonquin Park interior range or we're having a hard time getting people. So the parks put in a lot of money and efforts into making our jobs, the job descriptions accessible and so you can actually picture yourself in those jobs. So definitely explore our website if that interests you.

Kandyce 41:46

Awesome, that's great. Peter, was there anything further that you wanted to chat about? Anything at all?

Peter 41:54

Let me see. I'll quickly just look over the questions. Yeah, no worries. Yeah, absolutely. But no, this has been super relaxed and a lot of fun. You guys are really good at this. I can tell you've done this quite a bit. You're really easy to talk with. Thanks.

Kandyce 42:09

Thanks.

Peter 42:10

Yeah, I think the one thing I'd recommend that I've given tips to a lot of friends is make yourself a naturalist calendar. And what I mean by that is basically every month of the year has something really special to offer. And like the different seasons and their natural offerings. So I mean that with dragonflies and with herps, like turtles and snakes, and those windows are typically small when it's the best time to see them, or maybe the most ethical time to see them, or just the only possible time to see them and experience things. So one thing that I'd suggest is make yourself a spring, winter, summer, fall, naturalist calendar, write down and research the activities far in advance and put them on a calendar, which is going to help you make sense of it all. And I've had a lot of friends reach out and thank me for it. Telling them to do that and helping them build their naturalist calendar because like our world has so much to offer it flies by and having it on a bit of a plan and knowing when to go for certain things can help you plan your days off, but also your work. Even as a professional and working in this field, I still use that calendar to remind myself for work planning. And making sense of this really incredible, busy, wild world we have. Make a naturalist calendar. It's something I definitely recommend for people who are wildlife, nature loving enthusiasts.

Kandyce 43:39

Yeah, that's great advice. I've never thought to do that, but yeah. Yeah, me neither. I'm not

Alex 43:44

gonna do that when

Peter 43:44

I go back home now from the holiday. It's funny, right? Like you can be the smartest person, but you're gonna later on, you're like, Oh, I should have done that then or like when you're out doing those things. It's just really helpful and it's fun. Yeah, so thanks for having me.

Kandyce 44:01

Yeah, thanks for joining us. It's been great getting to know you and chatting with you.

Alex 44:06

Yeah, thanks for taking the time and I'm sure one of us will run into you in the park at some point.

Peter 44:11

Yeah, please do. Feel free to stop by the visitor center and just ask for a naturalist or ask for Peter and I'd love to chat and talk and hopefully help you out maybe. Or maybe you can tell me and share your experiences and sightings of all up here at whatever what people are seeing in the park or just in their lives. So thanks again for having me. Don't be a stranger. And yeah, it was a pleasure talking with you both today.

Kandyce 44:35

Yeah. Thank you.

Alex 44:36

Thanks so much, Peter. We'll talk to you later.

44:39

Thanks everyone for tuning into Emerging Leaders for Biodiversity. How do I do this? An environmental career podcast. Be sure to follow us on social media and our website using the handle EL number four biodiversity to get the latest news on upcoming events and other exciting opportunities.