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Mantario Ski Trip - FULL
Event Date: January 31, 2025 to February 3, 2025 Join a group ski trip in the Mantario Wilderness of the Whiteshell Provincial Park. Trip departs Friday morning and returns Monday evening (3 nights at the cabin). Your group will ski over 6 lakes, a distance of about 20km on ungroomed trails to get to the Mantario Cabin. This trip is for those with some backcountry experience and comfortable on cross-country skis. You need to be able to carry or pull your gear (clothing, sleeping bags, share of food). Participants split meal costs and duties. Nightly rate is $25/ Nature Manitoba member, $40/ non-member and $15/ student.
Jan 31 2025 to Feb 3 2025
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Mantario Ski Trip - FULL
Event Date: January 31, 2025 to February 3, 2025 Join a group ski trip in the Mantario Wilderness of the Whiteshell Provincial Park. Trip departs Friday morning and returns Monday evening (3 nights at the cabin). Your group will ski over 6 lakes, a distance of about 20km on ungroomed trails to get to the Mantario Cabin. This trip is for those with some backcountry experience and comfortable on cross-country skis. You need to be able to carry or pull your gear (clothing, sleeping bags, share of food). Participants split meal costs and duties. Nightly rate is $25/ Nature Manitoba member, $40/ non-member and $15/ student.
Jan 31 2025 to Feb 3 2025
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Manitoba’s Endangered Bats
Date: Tuesday, February 4, 2025 Location: Westworth United Church 1750 Grosvenor Ave Admission: $5 for members (non-member rate $10) Like other wildlife, Manitoba’s bats face familiar threats like habitat loss but in the last 15 to 20 years, two new impacts have emerged causing devastating declines. The invasive fungal disease, white-nose syndrome, has killed millions of hibernating bats in its spread across North America and we have lost ~80% of the once-common little brown bat in Manitoba. At the same time, industrial wind turbines are now known to kill hundreds of thousands of migratory bats across North America each year. As a result of these two impacts, five of Manitoba’s six bat species are now listed as federally endangered or have been recommended for endangered listing. The University of Winnipeg ‘Bat Lab’ has been studying these issues for over 15 years and Dr. Willis will report some of their discoveries as well as recommendations for conservation and recovery of these ecologically and economically important insectivores.
Dr. Craig Willis is Professor and Graduate Program Chair in Biology at the University of Winnipeg and leads the UofW’s ‘Bat Lab’. He first became fascinated with bats during an undergraduate field course and has studied their physiology, ecology and conservation ever since. Willis has co-authored over 130 publications and his work has been covered by outlets like CBC’s ‘The National’, ‘The Current’ and ‘Quirks and Quarks’, CTV National News and The Guardian. In 2019 he was awarded the ‘Erica and Arnold Rogers Award for Excellence in Research’ by the University of Winnipeg and in 2024, the ‘Gerrit S. Miller Jr. Award’ from the North American Society for Bat Research for outstanding service and contributions to the study of bat biology.
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Nimowin Trail guided snowshoe expedition
Location: Birds Hill Provincial Park, Nimowin Interpretive Workshop (heated building, parking lot, trailhead) at the end of Nimowin Road. A Manitoba Parks vehicle permit is required.
Time: Meet at 9:45 AM. The guided snowshoe expedition is from 10:00 to 11:30.
Description: A Birds Hill Park staff interpreter will lead a guided snowshoe expedition on the Nimowin Trail, over a marsh, and into the old gravel quarry. 3.5 km distance. We will examine tracks, scat, and other signs of winter wildlife. Discover how animal adaptations have inspired us to innovative ways to keep warm and survive the winter season. Snowshoes are available or bring your own. Afterwards, enjoy hot chocolate around the bonfire.
Lunch: Around the bonfire or in the building. We need to leave by 12:30 because a school group starts at 1:00.
Cost: Free.
Bring: A mug for hot chocolate, lunch, weather appropriate clothing, poles (if desired), and your name tag.
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Sustainable Gardening
Location: Earl Grey Community Club, 360 Cockburn St. North Date: Monday, February 10, 2025 Fee: $10 for Nature Manitoba members (or students), $15 for non-members With global warming and climate anxiety top of mind in the world today, gardening offers an opportunity to participate in climate action while also grounding us and connecting us with nature. Dave looks forward to sharing strategies that engage with these concepts, helping gardeners enjoy greater satisfaction and success while also being Earth-focused. Some of the topics that will be covered include cultivating living soils, planting intermingled gardens, eliminating pesticides, keeping things local, reducing our gardening footprint, and encouraging many forms of diversity in our gardening life. Everyone benefits from sustainability!
Important note: Dave has a health issue that leaves him with significant immune compromise. As a result, he is only able to offer in-person presentations in masked environments. Thank you for your cooperation in wearing a mask that covers the mouth and nose during this event.

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Tuesday Breakfast
Event Date: Repeats every month on the second Tuesday 2 times. February 11, 2025March 11, 2025 Date: The second Tuesday of every month at 9.00 AM Location: Smitty’s Family Restaurant, 580 Pembina Hwy (near Grant Ave) Registration deadline: The preceding Sunday at 6:00 PM. Charles needs to know who will be attending. Bring: Your name tag.
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Prescribed Fire in the Prairie Landscape
Date: Tuesday, February 25, 2025 Location: Westworth United Church 1750 Grosvenor Avenue Admission: $5 for members (non-member rate $10) Our grasslands and the species that call them home evolved with regular burning; now fire is largely absent from the prairies. We are seeing mounting fuel loads increasing the risk of more damaging fires, while woody encroachment and shifting plant populations are changing how our few remaining grasslands look. As Manitoba’s first and only prescribed burn association, the Stuartburn PBA is safely bringing fire back onto the landscape through prescribed burns, training, and education.

Laura worked as the botanist for the Manitoba Tall Grass Prairie Preserve from 1994 - 2012, monitoring, among other things, the effects of prescribed fire and other management techniques, on the vegetation within several habitat types. In that time, she participated in many prescribed burns with the Manitoba Naturalists Society and the Nature Conservancy of Canada. She currently resides next to the Preserve and, after two destructive wildfires in the RM, is eager to get fire back on the land in a controlled manner. Together with Bert Baumgartner, she started the Stuartburn Prescribed Burn Association in early 2023.
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Ski at Wildwood
Location / Time: Meet at the Wildwood Community Centre (Oakenwald Ave & North Drive) at 10:00 AM. Begin skiing at 10:15. There is on street parking. There are washrooms inside the community centre.
Description: We will begin skiing on the loop adjacent to the community centre and then cross to the main loop. Distance skied will depend on the group. Wildwood has a total of 6 km of trails. Skiers are welcome to do the trails more than once. Info, trail conditions, trails map
Distance: Approximately 5 to 6 km.
Bring: Your name tag and weather appropriate clothing.
Ski at Burwalde Woods
Contact / Registration: Kevin & Anita Miller -- register at k.a.miller@mts.net . 9 people have registered as of February 5.
Location/Time: Meet at the Oak Bluff Petro Canada, located at 4900 McGillivray Blvd at 9:15 AM to form carpools. Leave at 9:30 to arrive at Burwalde Woods at 10:30. Burwalde Woods is located between Winkler and Morden, 5 km north of the Boundary Trails Health Centre. Leave Burwalde Woods for home between 2:00 and 2:30 so we are back in Winnipeg before rush hour really gets going.
Description: We will be hosted by Phil & Vera Froese, Grey Hares members and Burwalde Woods land owners / trail groomers. Info about Burwalde Woods (including a 2025 trails map) 5K of easy trails are located in forest adjacent to the main trailhead / parking lot. When skiing these trails, you are always less than 1.2K from the trailhead. Another easy 1K trail is located on the creek beside the clubhouse. The outstanding Creek Trail is 5K out + 5K back from the main trailhead / parking lot. It is a moderate ski trail that crosses the creek several times. Vera will be leading the main group of skiers.
Lunch: In the clubhouse (AKA Nordic Centre).
Bring: Your name tag, lunch, cash for the donation box and to buy honey, if you wish.
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