Conservation Federal and provincial matching funds at stake in Nature Conservancy's campaign

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Adam Huras
Telegraph-Journal

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MONCTON - Both levels of government have delivered and it is now up to private donors to maximize the amount of money the Nature Conservancy of Canada can put toward land conservation in Atlantic Canada.

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Cindy Wilson/Telegraph-Journal

Fundy Baykeeper David Thompson and Camilla Dalglish of the W. Garfield Weston Foundation look out over the Musquash River at the opening of the new trails on the Musquash Estuary. Thompson took Dalglish’s older sister, the late Miriam Burnett, for a canoe tour of the estuary in 2001. She was so impressed with the beauty of the area that she gave $1 million to the Nature Conservancy of Canada to help preserve the area, as chairwoman of the foundation.

An elaborate fundraising dinner tonight at the Université de Moncton will provide a major step toward that goal.

"We find ourselves now in this unprecedented situation where both federal and provincial governments have stepped up to the plate, conditional on the citizens saying 'yes, this is something we believe in,' " said Linda Stephenson, regional vice-president of the conservancy.

Every dollar the conservancy now obtains from a private source will be matched with a dollar from the province and a dollar from the federal government.

"We're taking that message and starting with some of the leadership in our province and other provinces in Atlantic Canada and encouraging them to actually bring this incredible opportunity into a reality," said Stephenson.

Leading donors and advocates for protecting the province's rarest habitats, including Jim Irving, Paul Desmarais, Shawn Graham, Aldea Landry and Frank McKenna, will be in attendance at the dinner.

Premier Graham held a press conference in August to say the province will match donations up to $1.5 million over the next three years.

"That's our magic number, we need at least $1.5 million in the next three years," said Stephenson. "Three years will pass very quickly, and if we leave any of this money on the table it is a loss to future generations."

Wednesday, the Nature Conservancy of Canada celebrated two new hiking trails and the expanded protection of a rare New Brunswick habitat along the Musquash Estuary, west of Saint John.

More than 10 kilometres of new hiking trails now traverse the coastal rocky beaches, bogs, tidal flats, and coastal forest that are situated along the Musquash Estuary.

The trails afford hikers potential views of harbour seals sunning themselves on rock ledges and some of the 290 species of birds sighted in the area.

The conservancy began working in the area in 2000, when threats to the estuary were identified. They have since acquired over 3,000 acres (1,215 hectares) of land.

"The importance of protecting this area is that we have so few natural sites like this left, especially on the coast," said Noel. "We think of Atlantic Canada as still have a lot of wilderness area, but really, especially along the coast lines, that's where our cities, people and development are concentrated."

"That's why it's important to protect the few places that are left that are still wild."

Johnson's Mills, near Dorchester, is another of the conservatory's success stories.

J.D. Irving, Limited, a long-time supporter of the nature conservancy, has a 21-hectare site there that has been dedicated to protecting migratory bird habitat since 1997.

Since 1962, the conservancy and its partners have helped to conserve more than 800,000 hectares (over 2 million acres) of ecologically significant land nationwide.

The public can contribute by visiting the conservancy's website.