New River Island Preserve

This preserve is located in Maces Bay, between Pocologan and Haggertys Cove, approximately 2 kilometres southwest of New River Beach Provincial Park, in Charlotte Co. NB. The Island is small, 13 hectares (33 acres) and roughly circular. It is one of only a few islands in Maces Bay, a small bay in the larger Bay of Fundy, which boasts the highest tides in the world. As it has not been developed, the majority of the island is covered with mixed growth forest, including young to mature hard and soft wood trees.

On the north shore of the island, there is a well developed cobble beach composed of smooth granitic and volcanic Precambrian rocks. The outer perimeter of the island is mostly composed of a broad intertidal zone, consisting of rocky ledges covered by thick mats of rockweed and other marine algae.The preserve is isolated enough from disturbances to maintain nesting seabird colonies of gulls and eider ducks on the southern shore, as well as a colony of great blue herons. Bald eagles also frequent the shoreline and species typical of coniferous forests such as golden-crowned kinglets and black-throated green warblers are found in the interior of the island. The preserve is also home to rare ferns and bryophytes on rock exposures along the shoreline or in shaded forest near cliff edges.

New River Island was donated to the Nature Trust by long time trustee Robert Stewart after an initial discussion about protection of the island in 1998. In 2001, 13 years after his purchase, the island was generously donated and became part of the system of nature preserves of the Nature Trust.