Nature Trust Aims to Preserve the Bay of Fundy

The Bay of Fundy has a lot of people looking out for its best interests.

Although there are a fair number of risks to the biodiversity,
landscape and overall wellbeing of the natural wonder, there are many
groups and individuals who put a great deal of time and effort into
preserving and honouring the Bay of Fundy.

"Being a land trust,
we are concerned about the land aspect of the Bay of Fundy, but there's
a direct correlation between the health of the land and the health of
the water," said Margo Sheppard, the executive director of the Nature
Trust of New Brunswick. "I guess in that respect we want to see some of
the most pristine and undisturbed parts of the Bay of Fundy be
protected in one manner or another."

The Nature Trust of New Brunswick was established as the province's first provincial land trust in 1987.

It
is dedicated to identifying, promoting, protecting and maintaining the
province's finest remaining ecological landscapes. It acquires and
stewards a system of nature preserves, representing a diversity of
ecosystems and attempts to promote respect for and knowledge of natural
surroundings amongst New Brunswickers.

Sheppard said the Nature
Trust has a "long-standing relationship" with the Bay of Fundy, as many
of their early nature preserves were established down on the coast.

"Actually,
over the course of our history, we have protected 14 islands in the Bay
of Fundy and a lot of pretty spectacular mainlands as well," she said,
noting they have property at Cape Enrage, as well as other properties
which extend from Saint John westward to the main border.

Sheppard
said many of the nature preserves have been donated to them and they
are now currently fundraising money to double the size of one of their
pieces of land, as well as purchasing another one.

There are
approximately 450 members of the Nature Trust, upwards of 30 to 35
stewards and as many as 50 different volunteers who help the
organization operate.

Once the Nature Trust owns a piece of land, there are a number of things that then take place.

"We
develop a management plan with some of the data we've collected over
the process of examining it ... When we take on a new property we
always have to have a stewardship fund, which effectively is a way of
paying for the management plans we'll develop -- an idea of what we
want to do on the property," Sheppard said. "We will also recruit
people to become stewards of the property, so those are people that
live in the area that might have an interest in going out a couple
times a year and keeping an eye on things."

Sheppard adds that
there are also many other groups trying to make positive impacts and
changes in the region, such as the Nature Conservancy of Canada.

"They
have the talent and the foresight to be identifying areas that really
need to be set aside for posterity and for our own ability to adapt to
climate change and to allow some of these natural systems to be
perpetuated as the climate is warming and as the weather systems are
changing," she said. "The Petitcodiac Riverkeeper is another really
good one, looking at land use, looking at the Petitcodiac as a
functioning ecosystem and trying to do the right thing there."

Andrew
Spring is the executive director of the Fundy Biosphere Reserve, which
he describes as the land territory between Sackville and Saint Martin's
and around Moncton, which was designated by UNESCO in 2007 as a World
Biosphere Reserve.

"It's international recognition for not only
our natural landscapes ... but also our cultural heritage and history
as well," Spring said, noting the purpose of the Fundy Biosphere
Reserve is multi-faceted.

"We're charged with promoting
conservation and sustainable development in the region, to ensure that
what we have here stays here, so our environment stays healthy and we
promote initiatives that lead to sustainable development."

One area in which Spring said the group is trying to make strides is through sustainable tourism.

"We're
working with stakeholders in the tourism industry to make that industry
more sustainable," he said. "We're also going to be having a local food
forum in the near future to kind of discuss local food issues and we're
starting a kind of research and monitoring project to assess the state
of the Fundy Biosphere Reserve."

As much as there are
environmental groups doing good work to preserve the Bay of Fundy,
there are also tourism operators doing their best to promote the
natural wonder to the masses.

"I think the one thing we need to
remember about tourism operators around Bay of Fundy is that they are
people of the bay," said Terri McCulloch, of the Bay of Fundy Tourism
Partnership. "They live often in their home communities and started
tourism businesses there as a way of sharing their corner of the bay
with visitors and as a way of making a living in a rural area.

"Tourism
here is not like it is in large cities where big companies come in to
develop mega-businesses. Ours are small, local businesses who see
tourism as a vehicle for rural economic survival."

McCulloch said
that while many people -- visitors and locals alike -- understand the
true beauty that the Bay of Fundy possesses, some people take the
natural wonder for granted.

"I think sometimes we can be a bit
ho-hum about the extremes of tide we have here. We grew up with an
extraordinary natural wonder in our backyards and we're used to it. We
even plan our days around it -- it's just what we do," she said. "For
example, I know there are certain beaches where I can take my dog for a
walk that are better to walk at low tide than high or vice versa. All
part of daily life."

It may be part of daily life for some, but
the Bay of Fundy will continue to be a marvel for many the world over
for years to come.