Halifax Field Naturalists

Received from Sackville Rivers Association: Some great news – HRM is restarting the sampling program. It came out earlier this week. In total there are 43 sample stations, sampled 3 x per year for three years, with a possible one year extension, depending on budget. Good times! View RFP

At event at the Maritime Museum will highlight How Research Makes a Difference for People and the Environment on Canada’s Atlantic Coast. &pm reception, 7:30 Main Event. View Poster

Betty Hodgson, well known to HFNers, is featured in a Chronicle Herald story about volunteer efforts to remove the highly invasive glossy buckthorn from the Pugwash Estuary Nature Reserve. “It doesn’t directly threaten the estuary or the wildlife in it,” volunteer Betty Hodges [mispelling of Hodgson] explained as she trudged towards a grove of the unwanted trees with a crew of students, foresters, and conservationists. “But it does threaten the native plants that stabilize the land around the estuary. If they are gone, it could cause erosion and runoff that would threaten the fish and birds. It threatens the total ecology of the area.”

Just one year to go! Launched in 2010, the Maritimes Butterfly Atlas (MBA) is a five-year citizen-science project which documents the occurrence of butterflies in the Maritime provinces. John Klymko, the Atlas director, will discuss the highlights of the project as it enters its fifth and final field season, and will provide a briefing on how you too can contribute to this conservation effort. 7:30 p.m. at the NSMNH. Read more

Please plan to attend the HRM Public Meeting on Thursday June 5, to review the design of a new permanent building on the North Common. This permanent building is another major encroachment on the remaining ~ 30 acres of the 1763 land grand of 240 acres “to the inhabitants of the town of Halifax as Common forever”. Read more

Damon Conrad, Coordinator of the Sackville Rivers Association (SRA), will host a 3-km walk along the Bedford-Sackville Connector Greenway and the beautiful Sackville River. Read more

Several HFNers were spotted at the booklaunch today for Jamie Simpson’s Journeys Through Eastern Old Growth Forests. “Yes, there is old-growth forest in the Maritimes. The Acadian Forest, as it is known, is a complex mosaic of various species and ages. Now left only in pockets scattered here and there, these forests will stop you in your tracks, invite your gaze upward, and fill you with wonder…”

This will be a joint hike with the Blomidon Naturalists (it is their 40th anniversary!) to beautiful Cape Split, led by Jim Wolford and Patrick Kelly. read more

The Annual General Meeting of the Williams Lake Conservation Company will be held at 7:00 on Wednesday, May 14th at the Captain Spry Centre, 10 Kidston Rd, Spryfield. Dr. David Patriquin will present highlights of the Ecological Assessment of the Plant Communities of the Williams Lake Backlands that he and Dr. Nick Hill recently completed on behalf of the WLCC. The AGM is also an opportunity for us to review the year’s activities and for you to bring forward your concerns and observations. Everyone is welcome.

HRM regional Council will (tentatively) discuss amendments to the Regional Plan that would greatly reduce controls on development and our eventual greenbelt on Tuesday May 20th. OurHRM Alliance opposes these amendments because they were made last-minute, at the first reading of the plan, at which point there is little opportunity for public input. The date of the discussion will remain tentative until May 16, the same day staff will be releasing a report on the proposed amendments. Stay Tuned!

Join the Nova Scotia Nature Trust and HFN bird expert Clarence Stevens to count birds as part of an international citizen science event. The Meander River Conservation Easement (MRCE) is a fabulous spot to see warblers and other forest birds…read more

The Backlands Coalition invites Nova Scotians to participate in an afternoon of guided walks in the Backlands on Saturday May 3, organized as part of the annual Jane’s Walk events across Canada and around the world. HFN is one of the founding members of the Backlands Coalition. More about the walks