2024 Fall Regional Meetings |
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SAM would like to say a big thank you to all of the SAM members, staff, councilors, and organizational representatives who attended the recent Fall Regional meetings! We appreciate the time, thoughts, and energy you all gave to these meetings. Thanks to the towns that hosted the meetings, giving us a welcoming space to gather. These meetings were a great opportunity to share and learn from one another. For the first time in its history, SAM held separate Fall Meetings regionally, hosted by the Towns of Whitbourne (Eastern Region - September 27th), Stephenville Crossing (Western/Labrador Region - October 2nd), and Gambo (Central Region - October 3rd). We also held an additional meeting on the Great Northern Peninsula, in Flowers Cove (October 18th), to discuss stewardship and conservation efforts within the important Limestone Landscapes. We are incredibly appreciative to have seen so many representatives at these meetings. |
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 | | Attendees of the 2024 SAM Central Fall Regional Meeting in the Town of Gambo |
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In total we engaged with 20 municipalities over four meetings ( Flower’s Cove, Port au Choix, Hawke’s Bay, Stephenville Crossing, Corner Brook, Codroy Valley, Gambo, Gander, Elliston, Indian Bay, New-Wes-Valley, Carmanville, Whitbourne, Torbay, Harbour Grace, Portugal Cove-St. Philips, Spaniards Bay, George’s Brook-Milton, Bay Roberts, and Bauline). We were also fortunate to have several partner and community organizations in attendance, including partners from the Eastern Habitat Joint Venture ( Intervale, Provincial Department of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture: Wildlife Division, Provincial Department of Environment and Climate Change: Natural Areas Division, Nature Conservancy of Canada, Indian Bay Ecosystem Corporation, Codroy Valley Area Development Association, Carmanville Habitat Committee Inc, Thomas Howe Demonstration Forest, Ducks Unlimited Canada, Birds Canada, Environment and Climate Change Canada, and Memorial University of Newfoundland). Every meeting was different, bringing together various perspectives helps to bridge challenges of intersectionality and should help to foster solution building by working together for a common good. |
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“It is always a good idea to get together as a larger group and share our stories. The smaller, more intimate regional meetings that SAM has created are a safe space for learning and general discussion without the sometimes-unnecessary formalities that come with municipal engagements. I think its important for us to continue to share our experiences (good, bad, and all in between) about how we approach conservation and stewardship, so that we can all learn and grow as a community of stewards. Its important to be able to look across the table at another municipality in our province that shares a similar mindset towards the land and have made a public commitment to support it. The real strength of SAM is the united network of likeminded people, where a sense of community helps to validate our understandings about the ever-changing environment.”
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At each meeting, we had some strong discussions that each generated some unique conversations. Experiences were shared, some with emotional connections that really helped to express the passion that we all collectively share. We discussed hopes and dreams, both personally and within each municipality. Through open sharing and dialogue in an accommodating and comfortable space, we were able to gain a better understanding of issues that municipalities face and collaborate on potential solutions. These in-person meetings also help to recognize the great and diverse collective of environmental efforts that already exist within our Province. |
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2025 will see the SAM Spring AGM return to the West Coast Region - this will give us all another opportunity to gather and share in our conservation experiences. SAM AGMs are by invitation only. Members and Invitees can expect to receive their invitations in the new year once more details have been finalized. At this meeting there will be two SAM Board of Director positions becoming vacant and we will be looking for volunteer candidates to fill these roles. |
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"I joined SAM as the Town of Bay Roberts representative for SAM in 2021 in Deer Lake, the same year Zach and Karleena joined as SAM staff. Connecting with them at the Fall Business meeting was a great introduction into the larger SAM, environmental and conservation community. I joined the Board of Directors in the spring of 2023 and have enjoyed my time with everyone, being able to share our experiences to help strengthen our province. I feel we are making a real contribution to the conservation community."
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Save the Date:
Habitat Conservation Workshop |
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This June, SAM will be leading a Habitat Conservation Workshop, which aspires to be an annual gathering of those involved in and dedicated to the conservation community within the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Starting with our inaugural event in June 2025 in St. John’s, this workshop will unite conservation groups, promote knowledge sharing, foster collaboration, and ultimately advance action to stimulate solutions, with a goal to protect and preserve our natural habitats for future generations The theme for the inaugural 2025 workshop is: "Conservation, Connections and Community". |
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Goals of the Habitat Conservation Workshop: - Raise Awareness: Highlight current initiatives and best practices in habitat conservation and land management.
- Advance Action: Foster collaboration and develop strategies to accelerate habitat conservation efforts.
- Promote Knowledge Sharing: Create a platform for experts to share insights and experiences.
- Network Building: Foster collaboration and partnerships between diverse stakeholders.
- Capacity Building: Provide training and resources to enhance the capacity of individuals and organizations.
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More information to come in the new year, we look forward to seeing you! |
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Limestone Barrens Meeting |
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Following the Fall Regional Meetings, SAM held a meeting on the Northern Peninsula in the Town of Flower's Cove with a focus on the Limestone Landscapes, found in many nearby municipalities. We shared updates on the restoration work being done in Sandy Cove, where efforts have been made to restore a more natural limestone habitat for native plants like the endangered Long’s Braya (Braya longii). Municipalities shared their goals for the region, and what they hope to acheive for their town. Conversations revolved around lingering fears about conservation in the area, with public interest in change and uncertainty. These meetings were a chance to clarify misunderstandings or lack of information, and unpack some of these concerns - it is stewardship and conservation that supports sustainable land use rather than limiting access. |
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This meeting was very rewarding. The smaller format allowed us to dig deeper into the Limestone Barrens specific needs while fostering meaningful discussions in a respectful environment. People are more open and honest when they feel heard, and this format was a game-changer for understanding everyone's hopes and concerns. While there is always room for improvement, this gathering was a big success! |
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Thank you to everyone who joined us - your passions and input are the foundation of our shared conservation efforts, and we are excited to see what we can achieve together in the coming year! |
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SAM continues to tirelessly pursue wildlife habitat conservation, and help municipalities in their environmental stewardship efforts through securement, enhancement, restoration. As a network of communities, we are all contributing to maintaining biodiversity in our Province. |
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The Municipal Habitat Stewardship Program, core and central to our mission, continues to partner municipalities with the Provincial Government, Forestry, Fisheries and Agriculture: Wildlife Division and limit development in highly functioning and important ecosystems including wetlands and peatlands, forests, Atlantic salmon habitat, riparian habitat, Species at Risk habitat, beaches and dunes, coastlines, Limestone Barrens, and other areas. |
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 | | SAM Conservation Biologist Natalie Parsons assisting to install new data loggers in Sandy Cove |
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Stewardship, Citizen Science, and You! |
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From astronomy to biology, from bird surveys to surveying the ruins of ancient civilizations, there is a long history of members of the public joining the ranks of the scientific community. Citizen Science can help answer questions on everything from how many craters are on the moon to the meaning of a neolithic proto-writing system. National Geographic defines Citizen Science as "the practice of public participation and collaboration in scientific research to increase scientific knowledge". Through Citizen Science, people share and contribute to data monitoring and collection programs. One of the biggest and longest running Citizen Science projects is the Annual Christmas Bird Count from Birds Canada, which recorded over 3 million individual birds across 279 species during the 2022-23 season. |
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SAM is no stranger to working with members of the public on our conservation goals. The insight, knowledge, and passion of the residents of our partner municipalities is the lifeblood of our organization. SAM has partnered with the organization GeoReach to collect important scientific data on Canadian landforms. GeoReach has a research initiative that aims to capture standardized imagery of various landforms across Canada, with the goal of promoting environmental awareness and understanding of the natural landscape. By engaging the public in this effort, they hope to create a comprehensive dataset that can be used for scientific research and conservation efforts. |
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By partnering with GeoReach, we are thrilled to expand CoastReach in Newfoundland and Labrador! We’ve piloted the project in two of our member municipalities - Torbay and Harbour Grace. Residents of these communities have had the opportunity to take pictures of the coastline at the designated sites and upload the photos they have taken to the GeoReach database. These photos will then be used to monitor changes over time to the local coastline, river system, or wetland. This information is valuable to scientists and community residents alike and can help both groups better understand the environmental dynamics occurring in their municipality. Through this project, we believe that we can empower individuals to contribute to a larger scientific effort and make a positive impact on the environment. |
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If this project interests you, or you are interested in setting up the project in your municipality, please reach out to us! SAM is excited to expand this fantastic initiative and grow the passion for conservation and stewardship in our province. |
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Aquatic Invasive Species
"Don't Let It Loose" Campaign |
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The "Don't Let It Loose" Campaign aims to encourage people to never release aquarium pets into our waters. Plants and animals that are not native to Canada can become aquatic invasive species if they are released into our waters. These aquatic invasive species can harm our native species, the environment, and more. |
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As a part of the campaign, SAM has been installing informative signage in some of our SAM Municipalities to remind people of the harm caused when releasing aquarium pets. This Fall SAM installed signage in Gander, Grand Falls-Windsor, and Corner Brook. |
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One of SAM’s core missions is to conserve habitats across our beautiful province, with an emphasis placed on wetlands as they provide a significant amount of ecosystem services to our members. We conserve habitats for many important reasons: limiting biodiverse habitat from development, preserving nature’s ability to regulate water and control floods, and ensuring the ecosystem retains its ability to filter contaminates and improve water quality for all species, including humans. But there is another important ecosystem service that wetlands provide that is not as well understood. Wetlands act as amazing carbon sinks: absorbing and trapping huge amounts of the climate altering green house gas carbon dioxide. |
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 | | SAM Conservation Biologist Willem collecting Peat Samples in Winterland |
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With wetlands covering nearly 5% of NL’s landscape, our province could potentially be a very important sink for carbon, thus keeping harmful greenhouse gasses out of our atmosphere. However, the question remains: How much carbon do our wetlands actually store? |
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 | | SAM Outreach Coordinator Karleena with the collected samples in Winterland |
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That is a question a research team out of Memorial University’s Grenfell Campus hopes to answer. By collecting peat samples from across the province and analyzing them in a laboratory, researchers hope to determine the amount of carbon stored in the peat samples and extrapolate that value to get an estimate for all wetlands in the province. Getting enough samples to do this is no easy task and that is where SAM comes in. |
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 | | Rainbow above Cape Freels after a very blustery afternoon collecting samples |
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This Fall, East Coast Biologist Willem Peters and Outreach Coordinator Karleena Squires spent two days in the field collecting peat samples in Winterland and Cape Freels to send to the researchers in Corner Brook. They had an amazing time in some of the province’s amazing environments (despite the crazy weather) and they can’t wait to learn the answer to the question: Just how much carbon do NL wetlands store? |
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Highlighting Wildlife in Carmanville |
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This summer SAM worked closely with many of our member municipalities on different projects. In central Newfoundland we had tremendous success assisting and supporting the Town of Carmanville and their impressive Wetlands Interpretation Centre & Nature Trail. The Town of Carmanville hired Conservation Biologist Renee Bursey to open the Centre and provide valuable interpretation, education and outreach to the community for the summer and into the fall. |
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Renee was busy welcoming hundred of visitors to the Centre, hosting interpretive walks, special events, fundraisers and more! From BBQs and Raffles, to tree plantings, habitat assessments, bird surveys, rock painting, and photo contests - the Carmanville Wetlands Interpretation Centre & Nature Trail was busy all summer long! Renee, with some assistance from SAM's Outreach Coordinator, also developed a Guide for Local Common Songbirds found along the trails at the Wetland Centre! Congratulations on a fabulous summer Renee and the Town of Carmanville! |
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Species of importance found within SAM’s Conservation Areas |
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The Red Knot (Calidris canutus rufa), is a medium-sized, migratory shorebird that winters in South America and breeds in the Canadian Arctic, and during their fall migration, they stop over in Newfoundland and Labrador. |
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Red Knots have a long, straight bill, small head, short neck, long legs, and long tapered wings, with an elongated and streamlined body profile. In breeding plumage, the Red Knot's face, neck, breast, and much of the underparts are reddish-brown. Wings have a white stripe and feathers of upper parts are dark brown or black interspersed with red or grey. The breeding plumage of the rufa subspecies tends to be a lighter shade of red than that of other Red Knots. Winter plumage is similar between sexes and among subspecies. Red Knots have a plain grey back with light fringes on scapulars and wing-coverts, and a white underbody |
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Six subspecies of Red Knot are recognized worldwide, with three occurring in Canada and only one occurring in Newfoundland and Labrador ( Calidris canutus rufa). In the late 1990s, the national rufa subspecies population size was estimated at approximately 60,000 individuals. In 2005, the population was estimated to have declined to approximately 18,000-20,000 individuals. |
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 | | Red Knots in flight (Image Credit: Sean Fitzgerald) |
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Red Knot sightings have been reported around almost the entire coast of the island of Newfoundland, however, the majority of sightings have been on the west coast at Stephenville Crossing, Sandy Point, and St. Paul’s Inlet, and on the east coast at Bellevue Beach in Trinity Bay. In Labrador, there were approximately 5-10 historical Red Knot sightings (presumed to be rufa subspecies) reported between 1860 and 1950, the majority of which were during the fall migration along the east and south coasts. There is no mention of Red Knot in the inventory of fauna completed for the Torngat Mountains area in northern Labrador. There is a noticeable lack of data from the Labrador coast, and therefore very few records of Red Knots from areas where they are expected to occur during migration. One of the few spring sightings reported in Labrador was inland near Labrador City and was part of a grounding of migrant shorebirds during a spring snowstorm. |
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 | | Red Knot (Image Credit: Hans Hillewaert) |
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Did you know? You can follow SAM on a variety of Social Media Platforms! Check us out on Facebook, Instagram and X (Twitter) @SAM_Stewardship |
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Do you have a conservation story you would like to see featured in a future newsletter? Send an email with the details to
samengagement995@gmail.com! |
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