Junior Conversationist recalls experience at Ausable Bayfield Conservation this summer

During the summer of 2025, I had the incredible opportunity to be the Junior Conservationist for Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA).

This two-month position was an amazing chance to showcase all the different fields at ABCA.

Learning about this position after working at the first-ever March Break Summer Nature Day Camp, the staff at ABCA encouraged me to apply after I showed interest in some of the other fields of work.

My first day didn’t disappoint, as I went in with expectations of working in the environmental field.

The first day of every week was out beach monitoring with Rosalind Chang, ABCA Healthy Watersheds Technologist, sampling water at four different gullies and beaches for E. coli levels.

This summer, we partnered with the University of Guelph in research to look further at the DNA of E. coli.

After that, I never experienced the same week twice. I was moving all over, and got to try a little bit of everything from turtle monitoring to Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) Passive Swabs, to looking at Stream Loggers, looking at the Butternut orchards and surveying for mussel populations.

Throughout two months I was able to take on a variety of tasks that opened my eyes to the many sides of conservation work.

From walking the fields looking for loggers, to collecting water samples across the watershed, and even helping out at summer nature day camp, every single day brought me something new.

What stood out most to me was gaining an inside look at just how many different responsibilities the conservation authority carries.

Without this experience, I never would have understood the true range of their work, or the massive positive difference ABCA makes the community.

I would like to thank ABC Foundation for funding a position like this for young people like me to get the experience in career paths in their field.

I would also like to thank all the incredible staff at ABCA for being so welcoming and making the office a place I looked forward to coming to every day.

Everyone was clearly very passionate about their work, and their enthusiasm was contagious.

For more information about ABCA, student opportunities and the work they do in the area visit https://www.abca.ca

Mercedes Prout was a Junior Conservationist during the summer of 2025. Prout is from the Exeter area and is in Grade 12 at South Huron District High School