Arthur Kyle Preserve

Middle Becaguimec Island was donated by Dr. Joseph Kyle in March 2004. It is a 7 acre island located in the Saint John River at the confluence of the Becaguimac Stream and Saint John River, in the Parish of Wakefield. The Island is, for the most part, a gravel bar with no visible vegetation, and is submerged for a portion of the year. The southern end of the island does have some timber and shrubbery year round.This preserve will see formal protection bestowed on a healthy population of the threatened Anticositi aster. This preserve is the first of its kind for the Anticosti aster in New Brunswick, and possibly its entire range. The species is known only from the upper shores of the Restigouche and Saint John Rivers, the Gaspé Peninsula, Anticosti Island and northern Maine. Other species found on Becaguimec Island include: Brunet’s milk-vetch, stemless locoweed, blueflag iris and giant Jerusalem artichokes.