About Inglewood Nature Press
Inglewood Nature Press, founded in 2020 by husband-and-wife team Paul Aird and Linda Pim, presents
BUTTERFLY BEAUTIFLY BEAUTIFUL: Nature Poems as its first publication.
Inglewood is a village nestled at the foot of the Niagara Escarpment in the town of Caledon, Ontario, Canada. It lies within the Niagara Escarpment Biosphere, an international United Nations designation that recognizes the ecological significance of the escarpment.
Inglewood is on the shores of the Credit River and is surrounded by forests, fields and farms. The Bruce Trail, Canada’s longest hiking trail, runs through the escarpment forests nearby.
Inglewood Nature Press is located in Paul and Linda’s heritage-designated home, built in the 1880s. It was originally a millworker’s cottage; Inglewood had a woollen mill in its early days.
The half-acre wooded property boasts many species of native trees, a tributary of the Credit River and a small stone barn which likely predates the house.
Paul left this Earth on February 18, 2024 at age 94, after a long illness. His soul is flying with the loons. He was much loved and cherished by his wife Linda Pim, previously his wife the late Margaret Aird, his daughters Lyn Barsevskis (the late Paul) and Diana Aird, his grandsons Mark Barsevskis (Leanna Turchet) and Peter Barsevskis (Sarah Hirschfeld), and extended Leet, Aird and Murray families, as well as Linda’s sisters Barbara Gay, Elizabeth Pim and Carolyn Pim and extended family.
Paul was the beloved son of the late Maiben and Pearle Aird and cherished brother of the late David Aird (Barbara) and the late Joan Aird Jacobsen (the late George Jacobsen). He grew up on the Aird dairy farm in Hudson Heights, Québec on the shores of the Ottawa River.
Paul was a person of diverse interests and passions, and great intellectual curiosity and accomplishments, most of them focused on conserving nature, especially forests. He graduated from Macdonald College of McGill University with a B.Sc.Agr. in 1952 (Soil Conservation), from Cornell University with an M.S. in 1953 (Forest Soils, Conservation) and from Cornell University with a Ph.D. in 1957 (Forest Soils, Conservation, Biometrics). He was a forest research scientist in the Québec forest industry from 1952 to 1974 (Canadian International Paper Ltd. and the Pulp & Paper Research Institute of Canada). From 1974 to his 1995 retirement, he was Professor of Forest Conservation Policy at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Forestry. Paul was a Registered Professional Forester in both Ontario and Québec. Paul was a member of the U of T Governing Council 1984-87 and a Commissioner on the Niagara Escarpment Commission 1993-96.
Paul continued his involvement at U of T for several years after retirement as a Professor Emeritus, for example taking new forestry graduate students, during orientation week, on a “Walking Tour of the University of Toronto from a Forester’s Perspective.” Also after retirement, he did freelance work as a Plan Approver under Ontario’s Managed Forest Tax Incentive Program, helping private landowners manage their forests for conservation.
Paul became a well-recognized expert on the natural history and distribution of the Kirtland’s Warbler, a bird species regulated as endangered in Ontario. He searched suitable habitat (young Jack Pine stands) in the wilds of Ontario and Québec for the presence of the species for 40 years until 2016. His discovery of a singing male at CFB Petawawa, Ontario in the late 1970s led to the species being listed in Ontario as endangered. He served for many years on the Kirtland’s Warbler Recovery Teams of both the United States and Canadian governments.
Paul was a prolific writer about nature and conservation right through to 2021. He was the author of both scientific and popular papers, reports and commentaries on forestry and nature conservation issues. He authored the book Loon Laughter: Ecological Fables and Nature Tales in 1997 and the book Butterfly Beautifly Beautiful: Nature Poems in 2021, which collected his best poetry written over a 60-year period. Two of his poems became songs recorded by Canadian musical artists.
Paul received several awards, including the J.A. Bothwell Award from the Canadian Pulp & Paper Association “for the most meritorious work of the year on behalf of forest conservation in Canada” (1971), an Endangered Species Stewardship Award from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (2008) and a Conservation Pioneer Award from the A.D. Latornell Conservation Symposium (2011).
Paul loved to walk, hike, skate, ski, snowshoe, paddle a canoe and camp in Canada’s wild places. Sharing these experiences with family, friends and students stimulated his writing of fables, stories and poems.
Specials thanks to Nicole Robitaille (PSW) for her help with care of and companionship for Paul in the last year and a half of his life.
A gathering to celebrate the life of Paul Leet Aird was held May 11, 2024 in Inglewood, his home with Linda for the past 28 years. Over 100 people packed the auditorium of the village’s community centre auditorium for the event. You can view the one-hour celebration here:
In lieu of flowers and according to Paul’s wishes, the family requests that you consider a donation in Paul’s memory to Macdonald College of McGill University, the First Nations University of Canada, or any organization that promotes literacy (such as United for Literacy, formerly Frontier College).
She has worked in both environmental non-governmental organizations and the Ontario government over her 40-year career.
She has authored or co-authored books on food additives, environmental contaminants in food, protecting the Niagara Escarpment and smart urban growth.
She had served as a Commissioner on the Niagara Escarpment Commission and continues to pursue her passion for the escarpment in her work with the Niagara Escarpment Foundation, as well as by maintaining a section of the Bruce Trail, her favourite place to hike.
Land Acknowledgement
Inglewood Nature Press is located on lands that have been inhabited by Indigenous Peoples from the beginning. We are grateful for the opportunity to enjoy this land and we thank the generations of Indigenous Peoples who have taken care of this land for thousands of years.
We live and work on the Treaty and Territorial Lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. This is also the territory of the Huron-Wendat, the Haudenosaunee and the Métis. We recognize and deeply appreciate Indigenous Peoples’ historic connections to this place.
The lands in our area are now home to many Indigenous peoples (First Nations, Métis and Inuit) from across Turtle Island.
We are grateful to have the opportunity to live and work on this land, and in doing so, we express our respect for its first inhabitants. We strive to help protect the land, water, plants, animals and ecosystems of this place.
We are deeply aware of the cultural injustices experienced by Indigenous peoples in Canada and express our commitment to continue to learn more about the truth. Only by understanding such truth can reconciliation become real through actions in our communities.
BUTTERFLY BEAUTIFLY BEAUTIFUL: Nature Poems
is a companion to Paul Aird’s 1998 book Loon Laughter: Ecological Fables and Nature Tales.
Visit Paul Aird’s website loonsforever.ca.