August Newsletter 2015

As we enter late summer, field season among ASCF recipient groups is well underway. In fact, some of the 2015 projects have been completed, with several having provided some excellent interim project reports. All in all, 2015 appears headed for great conservation gains.

Typically, in August and September staff undertake site visits to our recipient groups. I like to think this is our most rewarding time of year. We get to meet the great people behind the projects and to actually see their outstanding work. These visits are not just rewarding. They are a necessary part of our due diligence in ensuring that recipient groups managing according to our funding agreement and that projects are unfolding as expected.

John LeBoutillier is our featured volunteer of the month. John has been a member of our Board of Directors since 2007 and has served since that time on our Investment Committee. He is Chairman of Industrial Alliance, based in Montreal, loves salmon fishing (especially in Gaspe rivers) and is active in tennis and downhill skiing. Our Foundation has benefited significantly from John’s sage advice on many fronts.

This month we are profiling the workof the Pictou County Rivers Association in their project “Salmon conservation and stewardship program for Pictou County”. The PCRA is carrying-out fish habitat restoration projects in the following streams: Six-Mile Brook (a tributary of the West River), West Branch River John, Upper Barneys River and Marshy Hope Brook (a tributary of the Barneys River).  These streams will have fish habitat enhanced over a length of 2.5 km through the construction of in-stream structures (digger logs and deflectors). We’re looking forward to great results!

Yours in conservation!

Stephen Chase