February and March SAM Community Updates

Blast Hole Pond Management Unit in Portugal Cove St. Philip's Municipal Stewardship By the Numbers Here at the Stewardship Association of Municipalities we have been working hard on updating our maps of Management Units across the province. With the signing of agreements in Indian Bay and New-Wes-Valley, we’ve now reached over 41 000 acres (over 16 700 hectares) of protected wildlife habitat! Great things can be accomplished when we work together and we’re proud to have worked with so many of you in achieving this impressive result. Continue reading on our blog to learn more fun facts that we discovered while mapping management areas this winter. SAM Network News & Updates Save the date for the upcoming SAM AGM in Torbay on June 2-3. Invitees will be notified by email this week. Please register by Friday, May 19.

Nest Boxes: Carmanville SAM and Ducks Unlimited Canada staff partnered with the Carmanville Habitat Committee to install 8 nest boxes for cavity nesting ducks around Carmanville pond. Many of the boxes will be clearly visible from the pond's popular nature trail, and will provide excellent educational opportunities for staff and visitors to the Wetland Interpretation Centre. 20 Years of Stewardship: Torbay The Town of Torbay celebrated an important milestone in March: 20 years since they signed their municipal habitat stewardship agreement! Since then, they have proven themselves a leader in stewardship, by increasing the amount of land protected as management units in 2015, and hosting several SAM meetings (including the next AGM). Congratulations! Environment Fair: Portugal Cove - St. Philip's SAM staff participated in the 2nd annual PC-SP Environment Fair on Earth Day (April 22). Attendees were able to find out about local environmental projects and volunteer opportunities, and were given the opportunity to mark areas of environmental concern on a map of the municipality. Organizers estimate that about 200 people attended.

June and July SAM Community Updates

Summer is a busy season for stewardship and conservation. Here are three activities that kept us out of the office this summer.

Interpretive Hike: Burgeo
On the last weekend of July, Burgeo invited SAM to participate in its Sand and Sea Festival. SAM staff led an interpretive hike through the trails and beaches of Sandbanks Provincial Park. The hike was greatly enhanced by the wealth of local knowledge provided by Burgeo residents. Burgeo has been a member of SAM since 2010, and is looking forward to being more involved in the SAM community moving forward!

Wetland Mapping Fieldwork
SAM is involved in a pilot project to produce an inventory and a map of wetlands in Newfoundland and Labrador. The project is led by C-Core (a non-profit research based organization based at MUN), and the fieldwork element is a collaborative effort between C-Core and the NL EHJV partnership. During July and August, these partners are collecting data on wetland classification in multiple pilot areas, including around Happy Valley - Goose Bay, Deer Lake and the NE Avalon Peninsula, near PC-SP, Torbay, Flatrock, St. John's and Bauline.

Nest Box Workshop:Codroy Valley
On May 30, staff from DUC and NCC partnered up to deliver a nest box workshop for students at Belanger Memorial School in Upper Ferry, in grades K-6. Three boxes were installed, which will provide nesting habitat for ducks that nest in tree cavities, such as mergansers and goldeneyes. The students at the school agreed to be stewards of these three new nest boxes, and to inspect them every year for nesting activity.

All About Eiders: Eider shelter installation near Musgrave Harbour

A volunteer carries an eider shelter on South Penguin Island

This is South Penguin Island, a small uninhabited island located north of Musgrave Harbour and northeast of Carmanville. In addition to being incredibly scenic, it is also important nesting habitat for several species of seabirds, including the largest duck in the Northern hemisphere: the common eider. Of the three sub populations that breed and winter in Canada, two are found in Newfoundland and Labrador: Northern and American.

SAM President Linda Bailet checks old eider shelters for signs of nesting.

On a calm afternoon in late September, Carmanville Councillor and new SAM President Linda Bailet accompanied local fishermen and residents of Musgrave Harbour and surrounding area on a mission to install 20 new eider shelters. Nest shelters, which were built locally with funding provided by Ducks Unlimited Canada NL, have been installed by volunteers and DUC NL staff for several years, and both North and South Penguin Island are now host to dozens of nest boxes. Common eiders nest on the ground under low, shrubby trees called tuckamore or in thick grass near the shore. Constructed shelters protect nesting eiders from predation when this natural shelter is not available. 

Eider shelters old and new, South Penguin Island

In addition to installing new shelters, old shelters were checked for signs of use by nesting eiders and other seabirds. Eiders line their nests with a distinctive soft grey down that is one of the most effective natural insulators in the world. 

A peek inside an old eider shelter reveals eider egg shell fragments. 

Organizations like Ducks Unlimited Canada and the Sea Duck Joint Venture support research programs to study these birds, but there is still a lot to learn about their migration routes, characteristics of the best breeding spots and how population trends are changing over time.

Volunteers carry eider nest shelters on South Penguin Island

Links

Sea Duck Joint Venture
Ducks Unlimited Canada
Carmanville Wetlands Nature Trail

Upcoming Nest Box Build Event in St. John's

Our partners over at Ducks Unlimited Canada are hosting a Build Your Own Duck Nest Box event in Pippy Park, St. John's on October 3rd. There is plenty of space still available, and a free lunch is provided. Email Danielle to reserve your spot: du_newfoundland@ducks.ca.

Attendees will have the option of signing up to become a nest box steward. Stewards commit to installing a nest box in suitable habitat for nesting ducks, maintaining the box and reporting any bird activity for a five year period. 

High quality nesting sites are important for maintaining waterfowl populations, and nest boxes can create artificial nesting habitat for several species of birds. The data that nest box stewards collect provides valuable insight into breeding bird populations across the province. 

Check out the flyer below for all of the event details.