April Newsletter 2017

It’s April and we are really happy that our 10^th Anniversary year is unfolding so well. Staff at the ASCF are working at full tilt to create and share draft funding agreements with each of our 72 recipient groups. Yes, 72 projects in 2017, a new record! All together, the cash and in-kind value of the 2017 projects is $8,000,000, another new record

Our goal, as in our practice, is to put project funding into the hands of recipients as quickly as possible so they can start their field season on time. Darla and Krystal work very hard to draft individual funding agreements based on the grant proposal, then share it with the recipient for confirmation. It’s a shared exercise that, once completed and signed, enables us to send the first installment of 50 percent in grant funding. We aim to conclude this stage by early May.

Because 2017 is a major milestone in our history, earlier this month I met with various salmon conservation groups to outline our progress as a support organization. We have a very supportive group of followers across the five provinces. They are happy with the ASCF’s progress, and they are fully aware of the challenges we face in helping them address the major salmon conservation issues facing wild Atlantic salmon. I am very confident many of these organizations will be calling on their Members of Parliament to help put the ASCF in a stronger position to help community groups, First Nations and others better meet the salmon’s conservation challenges.

The featured conservationist of the month for April is Rosemarie Gagnon-Poiré, a graduate of l’Université Laval, Quebec. Rosemarie is currently doing her masters at l’Institut national de la recherche scientifique, Centre Eau Terre Environnement under the supervision of Professor Normand Bergeron. She recently completed an internship with ASCF in Fredericton, and we look forward to her future contributions to salmon conservation.

This month we recognize the important conservation efforts underway in PEI via the Bedeque Bay Watershed Management Association (BBEMA). The Foundation has helped the BBEMA to fund their habitat conservation project in the Bedeque Bay watershed (Dunk and Wilmot Rivers) aimed at improving fish and fish habitat conditions through a combination of fish habitat improvement and riparian zone restoration efforts. The kind of exemplary work we like to help!

Yours in conservation,

Stephen Chase