© Conservation Council of New Brunswick 2024
In this edition of EcoNews, we ask for your help in securing stronger laws and enforcement to protect wetlands by signing on to our letter to the provincial government; we bring you the latest on our work to protect endangered species in New Brunswick as we pressure the province to fulfill its duties under the Species At Risk Act; we update you on the Standing Committee meetings next month to examine glyphosate spraying in New Brunswick’s woods; and, we share some resources to help you prepare for the hot, dry days of summer in New Brunswick’s changing climate.
Amplify our call for new laws and regulations to better protect wetlands
This week, in the wake of the draining of the Ferris Street and Forest Wetland Nature Preserve in Fredericton, the Conservation Council joined with other leading environmental groups to call on the provincial government to step up on wetland protections. For too long in our province, wetland regulations have acted as a drain-it-and-pave-it permitting system, not a set of rules to preserve and protect these important natural spaces. You can help by adding your name to our letter calling for new laws and regulations to give wetlands the protections they deserve.
Environmental groups ready to take government to court over failure to protect species at risk
The Conservation Council and allied Indigenous and environmental organizations have given the Department of Natural Resources and Energy Development notice that we’re prepared to go to court if the government continues to neglect its legal duty to protect endangered species in New Brunswick. In a letter sent last week, our groups called on Minister Mike Holland to show meaningful progress on his duties under the Species At Risk Act, which requires the identification, assessment, and potential for habitat recovery of endangered and threatened species such as the Canada lynx, bank swallow, piping plover, Atlantic salmon and more.
Glyphosate update: Lois Corbett presenting on spraying and outdated forestry practices at Standing Committee
Our Executive Director Lois Corbett has been invited speak at the Standing Committee on Climate Change and Environmental Stewardship’s June meetings to examine herbicide use in our woods. Corbett will present on glyphosate spraying as a symptom of the failing, old-fashioned approach to forest management in New Brunswick, and call on government to pursue a modern approach that isn’t built around large-scale clearcuts, softwood plantations, and glyphosate spraying on Crown land.
Climate change and the summer: resources to help you prepare and stay safe
This week marked the first 30+ degree day of 2021—with St. Stephen registering the hottest temperature in Canada on May 26. See the links below for resources to help you prepare for some of the effects of hotter, drier summers in New Brunswick’s changing climate.
- Check out our 2019 report, Healthy Climate, Healthy New Brunswickers, which analyzed the projected effects of climate change in N.B. between 2020-2050 and made recommendations to government on how to best protect New Brunswickers’ physical and mental health from the challenges we’re seeing and will see into the future;
- Check out our page, How and Why Climate Change is Affecting N.B. for a straight-forward breakdown of climate impacts in N.B. and tips on how to protect yourself from things like heat waves and tick bites;
- Watch our For The Love of New Brunswick video series about how climate change is affecting the things we love doing across all four seasons in New Brunswick, and ideas on how you can be part of the solution;
- Check out this great series of flooding webinars by our friends at the Nashwaak Watershed Association; and,
- In case you missed it, take a look at the online gallery for our inspiring community art project, From Harm to Harmony, where New Brunswickers worked with a professional artist facilitator to express their concerns about climate change and their hopes for action to build a more sustainable province.
We work hard to make sure a strong environmental voice is heard in the New Brunswick print, radio and television media. Here are the latest stories Conservation Council staff have been called upon for expertise, analysis and commentary:
May 25, 2021 — Lois Corbett speaks to Vanessa Vander Valk of CBC’s SHIFT NB about the government’s failure to comply with the Species At Risk Act.