"Mona's Heritage Cabin Home to 7,000 Firends"

Mona Staats has at least 7,000 friends.

And they're from all over the world.

They were all visitors to her Wildlife Trail and Heritage Cabin on Chiefswood Road.

Mona's Heritage Cabin is her unique way of teaching both native and non-native people about aboriginal culture. So she launched the trail and cabin five years ago.

She teaches about plants, the importance of the environment she loves.

She is thrilled when children come to visit. She just loves teaching them about their heritage.

Since Mona started her cabin she has had about 7,000 people visit the Wildlife Trail and Heritage Cabin. She even had a group come from France and is presently working on her forth guest book.

The cabin is filled with an assortment of items that she has either collected or has had donated to the cabin.

Various animal pelts hang from the cabin walls, snowsnakes among other things can also be found in this quaint one room cabin.

The trail that has been cleared for Mona can be found behind the cabin and circles around her two acre lot.

Various birds nest in the trees that line the trail.

Mona will personally take you out on the trail and point out the birds to her visitors. She will also show you various plants and tell you about their uses.

Mona collects and dries her own herbs, she does not promote the use of herbs but does collect them for herself.

"I would rather be outside than inside," Mona says. On any given day you can find her splitting wood for her log cabin or just enjoying her trail.

She said that she would have liked to expand her trail but it is took much up keep for one person.

Her love for the outdoors began when she was very young. "My love of nature comes from walking to school every day." When Mona was younger she and her twin brother used to have to walk through a field to get to school. They used to stop and smell the flowers.

Being able to identify plants, trees and animals is something that Mona wants to be able to teach young children as well as adults. "I want to be able to identify the nature of things," she says.

When Mona's son was younger they used to go arrowhead hunting. The arrowheads that she has found are also included in her collection in the log cabin.

Corn grinding stones and clay pipes can be found on display at the Heritage Cabin. Each piece of history that Mona has in her cabin has a story and can be told to you, if you just ask.

When you go on Mona's trail and visit her cabin you won't be able to leave until she has told you a legend. This is the favorite part of the tour for many of her guests.

When Mona is not out on her trail you may tune into her show "Cabin Talk", on Channel 8.

The Nature Trail and Heritage Cabin can be located through Six Nations Tourism.