As a youngster, Drew Monkman's interest in nature began with frogs and turtles but soon grew to include birds and, eventually, all of the rest. He is a board member and past president of the Peterborough Field Naturalists and popular field trip leader. Drew also participates in a number of wildlife monitoring programs such as the Breeding Bird Survey, the Marsh Monitoring Program and the new Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas. As an educator, Drew emphasizes environmental education in all his teaching and strives to develop in his students a basic literacy in the workings of the natural world. Drew has also been involved for the past twelve years in schoolyard naturalization and has written several articles on this topic. A journalism graduate from Université Laval in Quebec City, Drew is married with four children. Nature's Year in the Kawarthas is the result of twenty years of careful observation of natural phenomena in the Peterborough area where he has lived for almost his entire life.