Back from the brink: Wild salmon return to inner Bay of Fundy following efforts led by Fort Folly First Nation
The Inner Bay of Fundy wild salmon population, which collapsed in the 1990s, is experiencing an apparent rebound following efforts led by Amlamgog, also called Fort Folly First Nation.
To mark the return of the endangered wild salmon this season, a ceremony is taking place to bless the waters for their safe passage at Alma Beach today, National Indigenous Peoples Day.
Tim Robinson, director of Fort Folly Habitat Recovery, credited the leadership of the small Mi’kmaw community with ensuring the survival of wild salmon in the inner Bay of Fundy.
“Chief Rebecca [Knockwood] speaks of salmon as being traditionally, culturally one of those iconic species that’s so important to the First Nations peoples across Canada and the non-Indigenous people as well,” Robinson said in an interview with CHMA.
“People want salmon back in their rivers,” he said. “And, you know, we’re determined to do our part and make that happen, and it’s just not acceptable to be inactive.”
Listen to the report from CHMA:
Wild salmon saw a major decline throughout the Atlantic region starting in the 1980s, particularly in the area known as the inner Bay of Fundy, which includes some 50 watersheds north of the Wolastoq River.
That population has been listed as endangered under Canada’s Species at Risk Act since 2003. … Continue
Volunteer work party Saturday to get rid of invasive species along Tantramar River
The Nature Conservancy’s stewardship team has put out a call for volunteers to go to the Atlantic Wildlife Institute in Cookville this Saturday from 10am to 1pm, to help get rid of an invasive shrub that is strangling out other native species.
Aaron Dowding, New Brunswick Stewardship Manager with the Nature Conservancy of Canada, is hoping many hands will make light work in an effort to control glossy buckthorn in areas along the Tantramar River that pass through AWI’s 70 acre property in Cookville. The property has been under a conservation easement with the Nature Conservancy of Canada since 2009, and makes up part of the conservancy’s Chignecto Isthmus Nature Reserve.
CHMA called up Dowding to find about more about Saturday’s work party, and glossy buckthorn.
Glossy buckthorn is not actually thorny, so volunteers don’t need special equipment, but Dowding recommends bringing a good pair of gloves, a water bottle, and a lunch.
People wanting to participate can contact Caroline Blakely via email (caroline.blakely at natureconservancy.ca) or register online at www.conservationvolunteers.ca until noon Friday.
Glossy buckthorn was introduced to Canada about a century ago, says Dowding, as an ornamental plant that attracts birds. Unfortunately its popularity with birds also helps it spread its seeds and propagate easily, and as the plant moved into wild forests it took over the understory and mid-canopy, says Dowding.
Sackville ditches (most) single use plastics in advance of federal regulation
Sackville town council plans to reduce the amount of single use plastic garbage being generated by town activities with a new policy passed on Monday.
The Reducing Plastic Waste policy comes in anticipation of federal rules to eliminate plastic waste that might be in place as early as the end of the year.
The town’s climate change coordinator Kirsty Mrazek explained the basics of the new policy to council at their meeting last Monday night. “This policy would apply to all council members, town employees, and Sackville Fire Department,” said Mrazek, “during meetings and events, as well as in all of the town’s facilities, in the kitchens, public works and the [Visitor Information Centre], as well at all public events where the town would provide food or beverage services.”
Mrazek said the Town will provide dishes and access to dishwashers, to make the change more feasible.
The only times the policy would not be in effect is during an emergency, such as when firefighters go out on call, or at the canteen at the Tantramar Veterans Memorial Civic Centre.
Councillors Bill Evans chimed in last week with positive comments on the plastic ban, and to ask why the Civic Centre Canteen would remain exempt from the policy.
CAO Jamie Burke explained the town had yet to find a replacement for the Red Solo cups currently used to sell alcoholic beverages at the Canteen, so it was left out of the policy, but staff were still looking for a suitable replacement.… Continue
Taking a closer look at the Tantramar River watershed
World Water Day is coming up on Tuesday, and in celebration, EOS Eco Energy is offering people a close-up look at some of the brooks and streams in their own watershed.
In an online lunch and learn session on Tuesday, EOS’s Miranda Corkum and Lauren Clark will present the results of water and habitat assessments from the Tantramar River Watershed.
CHMA spoke with the pair earlier this week to find out more about how they are studying the watershed, and what they learned.
This is the second time that EOS has done sampling in the Tantramar River watershed after starting its water monitoring project in 2018, funded by the New Brunswick Environmental Trust.
“The health of the Tantramar River watershed is good,” says Corkum, but that ‘good’ should be taken with a grain of salt. In the index system used to measure watercourses across Canada, “good actually really means average,” says Corkum. “It doesn’t mean, you know, pristine water or anything… There’s a lot of room for improvement. We have some highly impacted rivers in this watershed.”
Corkum will present the detailed results of testing in tomorrow’s session, including looking at pH, temperature, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, total dissolved solids, and salinity. In addition, Corkum also sent samples for lab analysis regarding 59 different parameters. “We got down really into the nitty gritty of the chemistry of the water,” says Corkum.… Continue
Three Tantramar schools now home to ‘food forests’
Tantramar Regional High School is home to a newly planted food forest which will help supply the school’s breakfast program and culinary classes well into the future.
The project is one of three perennial, edible gardens happening at Tantramar region schools thanks to funding secured by EOS Eco-Energy.
CHMA dropped by on planting day at TRHS to hear more about the project:
Jory Parsons is graduating from TRHS this year. While he won’t be reaping the rewards of the food forest directly, he is proud to be part of the planting so that future students can harvest.
“It’s kind of a big thing to leave a legacy here,” says Parsons about TRHS. “My parents have gone here, my uncles have gone here, my cousins have gone here. And a lot of people in the community, a lot of our family friends, a lot of business owners in Sackville have gone here. And so it’s just nice to know that you’re putting your footprint at the school, and kids can enjoy it in the future.”
Another fringe benefit of Parsons participation is that it may have sparked some interest in his own potential future garden.… Continue
NBEN thinks you should have a right to a healthy environment
At 3pm Wednesday, the New Brunswick Environmental Network is officially launching proposed legislation that would see the right to a healthy environment enshrined in New Brunswick law.
The New Brunswick Environmental Bill of Rights: An Act to Protect Children, All New Brunswickers and Nature is what NBEN calls a “locally made solution” that they hope MLAs will pick up and bring into the New Brunswick legislature.
Today’s launch features a keynote presentation from Dr. David Boyd, lawyer, author, and UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment.
CHMA called up organizer Bonnie Hamilton Bogart to find out more about the bill, and today’s event.
The focus on children is right in the title of the proposed legislation, but Bogart points out, “when children are protected from environmental harm, then we are all protected.”
“Basically, it is to ensure that children, and therefore all New Brunswickers and future generations, have the right to a healthy environment,” says Bogart. “It’s also going to ensure that people have access to the necessary environmental information that they need, so that they can participate in environmental decision making. And it’s going to provide mechanisms for New Brunswickers to obtain legal remedies to prevent or redress environmental harm.”
The proposed act establishes an environmental registry, to be a sort of public storing house for all information and activities related to the environment in New Brunswick.… Continue
Fort Folly lends a helping hand to inner Bay of Fundy Atlantic salmon
These days, Alanah Annis spends her days catching fish. But as a senior technician with Fort Folly Habitat Recovery, Annis is not your typical fisher.
Annis and her team are working in the Pollett River as part of the Inner Bay of Fundy Salmon Recovery project, collecting out-migrating Atlantic salmon smolts, and bringing them to an open net pen farm to grow safely into adult salmon.
Hear Alanah Annis on Tantramar Report:
The smolts are juvenile salmon, who’ve spent three to four years growing in rivers, and are now ready to head out to sea to feed in the Bay of Fundy.
“We take out-migrating smolts who are trying to make their way out to the ocean,” says Annis. “We intercept them, and then bring them out to the sea cage where they are grown to maturity. Once mature, we release them back to their natal rivers to spawn naturally.”
At one time, there were up to 40,000 adults in the inner Bay of Fundy Atlantic salmon population, but by 1999, less than 250 remained, and the entire population was facing extinction. These days, says Annis, it’s estimated there are less than 200 left.… Continue