{"id":27393,"date":"2017-02-23T05:28:10","date_gmt":"2017-02-23T10:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/huntsville.dopperonline.ca\/?p=27393"},"modified":"2018-10-01T13:11:23","modified_gmt":"2018-10-01T17:11:23","slug":"birds-bees-fish-meet-heather-van-duuren","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/birds-bees-fish-meet-heather-van-duuren\/","title":{"rendered":"The birds and the bees (and fish, too): Meet Heather Van Duuren"},"content":{"rendered":"

A picture is worth a thousand words.<\/p>\n

Heather Van Duuren was around six years old at the time that it was taken. Perched atop her head is a monarch butterfly. She has that look of innocence, only seen in children who haven’t yet been tainted by the stresses of growing up and becoming an adult. If you look closely at her beautiful brown eyes, you can just tell she’s intrigued that this magnificent little creature found the perfect spot to rest its wings. She was captivated by nature then, and now, at 33, that wonder and enthrallment hasn’t lost its momentum.<\/p>\n

Heather’s love for all creatures big and small began at an early age. (Photo courtesy of Heather Van Duuren)<\/p><\/div>\n

Really, Heather hasn’t changed a bit, except now she’s a whole lot smarter and more aware of what’s going on. She knows nature is struggling. Every day precious ecosystems are destroyed, and that inevitably leads to the destruction of habitats for the birds and the bees and all creatures great and small. Whether they are furry and four-legged or winged and bug-eyed with antennas, it doesn’t matter to Heather. She has an affinity for animals. And when it comes to her love for the planet, she hopes that by doing what she loves to do and sharing it with people, it will have a positive impact even if it’s a small one. That matters to her greatly. And the only thing she can do to ensure her seven-year-old son does the same, and grows up with the same morals and respect for the environment she did (and does!), is to lead by example. Heather says he’s already a nature nut, just like his mom.<\/p>\n

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Heather says there’s a reason there’s a small stool to sit on beside the aquarium. She finds looking at the swimming fish to be peaceful and seeing all the thriving green growth can actually give her a bit of a boost during the dreary winter months.<\/p><\/div>\n

She’s a wealth of information when it comes to anything she’s passionate about. Birds, horses, what kind of native plants and shrubs you should plant on your property if you want to attract an abundance of wildlife, including insects that aren’t as pesky as they are beneficial. If she wants to know about something, then she follows through with research, and that, in turn, ignites a desire to want to share that knowledge. Her Facebook posts are all relevant: David Suzuki’s message that Canada must ban the use of neonicotinoids, four things you can do to save the monarch butterflies, tips on perennial garden must-haves, and a wonderful message for humanity from Dr. Jane Goodall. And then there’s this eye-opening article on the horror native pollinators are facing with loss of habitat and what we can do to help save them. Heather actually wrote it. She believes we need to be doing a lot more to protect the thousands of dwindling species we are carelessly killing every single day. But the difference between Heather and so many people is that she is trying her best to do something about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf every homeowner made an effort to plant a patch of native perennials or even one native flowering shrub, together we could change this fragmented landscape into one large connected garden. A paradise for life to feed on,\u201d she wrote in her story. Which, by the way, is to-the-point and bang on when it comes to not only insect extinction but our own demise if \u201cwe don’t wake up and care for the only complex ecosystem that we have. We are not the only creatures that need space and sustenance on this planet and its high time we stop treating it as if we are.”<\/p>\n

Heather has turned her beautiful Huntsville property into a little piece of paradise. She’s planted all the right native shrubs and trees and wildflowers for wildlife to thrive on. It’s two-fold: she gets the chance to see the animals come back year after year and the animals and insects will actually stand a chance of surviving. She knows about the negative effects deer feeding is having on the ecology of our local forests. Cedar trees aren’t regenerating anymore; as soon as a seedling starts to grow deer will eat it. Unless dogwood trees are above reachable height, the deer are going to eat that, too. And dogwood is essential to many of the pollinators. She doesn’t agree with feeding the deer. It’s not healthy for them and it’s destroying habitat for countless other species as well.<\/p>\n\n\t\t