 |
Canadian Environment Awards
The Community Awards 2008
Conservation
• Appalachian Corridor Appalachien
• Jon Lien
• Ocean Net
APPALACHIAN CORRIDOR APPALACHIEN
Transborder conservation initiative
 |
|
| PHOTO: APPALACHIAN CORRIDOR APPALACHIEN |
| |
| |
The Canadian portion of the Appalachian Region is a vast tract
of breathtaking ecological diversity. Straddling the Quebec-Vermont
border at the northern extension of the Green Mountains and stretching
all the way to rivière Saint-François in the Eastern
Townships, the 290,000-hectare wilderness contains verdant massifs,
hills, wetlands, marshes, streams, flood plains and nearly 30 exceptional
forest ecosystems — premium habitat for plants and wildlife,
including 90 species at risk. The survival of these natural communities
depends on the preservation of large portions of the territory against
threats from residential development, high-impact tourism and forestry.
Seven years ago, three women — Francine Hone, Terri Monahan
and Louise Gratton — banded together to protect the Quebec
portion of the ecosystem and prove that economic growth, sustainable
forestry and biodiversity are compatible. “We had grand ideas
about what we wanted to accomplish,” says biologist Hone.
The meeting of the minds gave birth to Appalachian Corridor Appalachien
(ACA) and its unique role as a conservation catalyst that brings
together activists, land trusts, local and provincial governments,
private landowners and the public. “We are a tool box for
local environmental groups,” says Mélanie Lelièvre,
ACA’s executive director. “We facilitate their work
by providing them with a solid framework.”
ACA mapped the region, identifying core areas in need of immediate
protection and surrounding them with buffer zones, all connected
by wild-land corridors. Then ACA moved to the front lines to recruit
community support by meeting and negotiating with hundreds of private
landowners to pave the way so that established agencies, such as
the Nature Conservancy of Canada, could put protections in place. “Large
parts of this area are privately owned,” says Lelièvre.
“We had to demystify what conservation means in order to
help individuals understand that protecting fragile areas offers
long-term benefits for all stakeholders involved.” The personalized
grassroots approach has paid off. To date, ACA has inspired the
protection of 7,500 hectares of wilderness. It is the largest privately
protected landscape east of Saskatchewan, encompassing monts Sutton,
mont Orford, lac Memphrémagog, Alderbrooke Marsh and the
lac Brome wetlands. “We’re just an hour away from Montréal,” says
Hone. “People from surrounding areas will be able to enjoy
nature-based activities in our wilderness for many generations to
come.”
TOP
JON LIEN
Founder, Whale Research Group of Memorial University
 |
|
| PHOTO: WHALE RESEARCH GROUP |
| |
In Newfoundland and Labrador fishing villages, Jon Lien is known
affectionately as “the Whale Man.” It’s an apt
moniker for the Memorial University professor who has rescued more
than 1,000 whales from fishing nets over the past 30 years — primarily
vulnerable humpbacks.
An animal behaviourist, Lien used the Atlantic coast as an outdoor
classroom for students to observe Newfoundland’s warm-blooded
marine giants. The whale sightings, however, coincided with a surge
in the province’s inshore cod fishery and a growing number
of whales becoming trapped in expensive fishing gear — a disaster
for both the animals and Newfoundland’s already marginalized
fishermen.
In 1978, one desperate fisherman called the university for help,
resulting in Lien’s first impromptu release. When the marine
scientist subsequently learned that no official whale-release protocols
existed, he launched the Whale Research Group (WRG) and an educational
and conservation campaign.
“My goal was always to satisfy the fishermen and the whales,” says
Lien, who is renowned as a bridgebuilder. “Persuading the
fishermen to accept our help as environmentalists took a great deal
of time. I talked to them a lot about whales and gave them books.
When they quoted passages back to me, it was obvious they were interested.”
Case by case, Lien and his crew developed the art of whale rescue,
deftly paddling a Zodiac alongside the giant mammal, calming it,
then gradually releasing its head and fins and pushing it free of
the net — saving fishermen millions of dollars over the years.
As news of WRG’s success spread and as the educational campaigning
took hold, Lien and his team were greeted as colleagues. “It
was very rare that we had to cut the fishing gear, and if we did,
we’d help repair it,” says Lien. “The fishermen
really came to trust us and took ownership of protecting the whales.” With
the early-1990s collapse of the cod fishery, WRG’s rescue
efforts refocused offshore.
Now retired, Lien is a local hero whose model has been exported
around the world. True to his down-to-earth reputation, the Whale
Man’s greatest achievement has been to instill a homegrown
stewardship ethic. “It was clear to me from the start that
if I didn’t get fishermen involved, there would be problems,” says
Lien. “I wanted to get both of them out of the situation so
it was win-win.”
TOP
OCEAN NET
Shoreline cleanup program
 |
|
| PHOTO: OCEAN NET
|
| |
 |
In June 1997, avid sailor and proud Newfoundlander Robert O’Brien
celebrated the 500th anniversary of John Cabot’s arrival in
North America — in style. With the Newfoundland Flotilla ’97,
he sailed from Toronto to Bonavista Harbour, stopping at more than
20 ports along the way. En route, however, shorelines strewn with
garbage and surface-water oil slicks forced O’Brien to think
hard about the conditions of Canada’s beaches.
The state of Newfoundland’s coast — a historical source
of pride for all islanders — was even more troubling for the
self-made businessman. A believer in the “power of one,” O’Brien
was determined to reverse the decline, but he knew realistically
that it would take the help of thousands to bring back the degraded
shorelines. To instill an ocean-conservation ethic among all of
Newfoundland and Labrador’s marine communities, O’Brien
founded Ocean Net.
At Ocean Net’s first shoreline cleanup in the fall of 1997,
schoolchildren, teachers, divers, rock climbers, fishermen and firefighters
volunteered their support. “Our strength is our people,” says
Mary Coxworthy, Ocean Net’s executive director. “People
here have pride in their local beaches, and all we have to do is
steer them in the right direction. We’re making everyone a
steward for the shorelines of Newfoundland and Labrador.”
The idea caught on almost immediately, says Coxworthy, and local
organizers emerged in far-flung communities to deliver the group’s
message and extend its reach. By 2008, more than 30,000 volunteers
had tackled some 1,500 beaches, shorelines and underwater sites
across the province and removed almost 500,000 kilograms of garbage.
With the development of stewardship, community environmental agendas
started to organically grow. “We had a successful cleanup
at Port Saunders that launched a campaign to build a boardwalk around
the waterfront,” says Coxworthy, “and one school in
Bay Roberts now mentors other schools.”
To support its action-oriented mandate, Ocean Net also hosts a
variety of educational outreach and incentive programs — school
presentations, information pamphlets and DVDs, summer camps and
two annual conferences — that have introduced local supporters
to broader issues such as climate change and seabird conservation. “People
want to know why there aren’t solutions to problems, so we
give them the tools, and things just take off,” says Coxworthy. “We’ve
always believed that if we cleaned up the beaches and coastlines,
the wildlife and the rest of the environment would benefit.”
TOP
|
|
