Climate change coordinator, watershed monitoring, wetland education, and energy retrofits in Tantramar among projects funded by NB’s Environmental Trust Fund
The province of New Brunswick has announced another year of project funding with its Environmental Trust Fund, and about $500,000 of the $8.6 million funding package will go towards 13 projects directly impacting the Tantramar region.
A large share of the funding—$190,000—will go to the Southeast Regional Services Commission for five different projects including mattress recycling, glass recycling, a re-use expo, waste education, and a program to help communities clean up illegal dump sites.
Another large share will go to EOS Eco Energy, to help fund three ongoing projects: water quality monitoring in the Rockport-Dorchester area, a program to help residents with energy retrofits for their homes, and another to help people in the Chignecto area reduce their flood risk.
EOS is also involved in a fourth project in partnership with the town of Tantramar. The town will receive $35,000 in funding towards continuing its climate change coordinator position. Corporate services director Kieran Miller shared the news with council this week, and said they would see a motion come through as soon as the province sends a formal letter of offer.
“This is the Environmental Trust Fund that we’ve applied for for the past three years to fund the climate change coordinator position,” said Miller.… Continue
Sackville non-profit raises funds to protect, restore ‘forgotten’ Wabanaki forest
Community Forests International, a non-profit based in Sackville, has launched a fundraising campaign to purchase and restore 2,500 acres of forests in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
The Wabanaki Forest, also called the Acadian Forest, historically spans the Maritime provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula and parts of New England.
It includes a mix of northern adapted species, such as spruce, poplar larch and birch, along with southern adapted species including oak, pine, maple and hemlock.
But this unique forest is endangered, according to CFI.
A media release announcing the Forgotten Forests campaign says that “scientists have affirmed what Indigenous communities already knew — that most of the Wabanaki forest has been drastically altered.”
“The small remnants of this forest that remain intact today are often on hilltops and in hard-to-access ravines, where forest clearing could not easily reach.”
For more on this story, CHMA spoke to Craig Tupper, CFI’s forest program manager.
Tupper and his colleagues have been searching for remnants of the Wabanaki Forest — usually found in corners of larger properties — lining up sales agreements with landowners.
The group also plans to purchase and restore areas that have already been harvested, “actively managing younger forests back to their full ecological potential to augment their ability to sequester carbon and adapt to climate change.”
CHMA’s David Gordon Koch asked Tupper about efforts to locate those remnants of the Wabanaki forest.… Continue