May Newsletter 2017

Finally, May is here and there is lots of water in the rivers (too much in many places)! We are working full tilt to conclude conservation project agreements with our 72 recipients, to help them be able to launch their projects at the earliest date. Darla and Krystal are busy in the midst of finalizing the project budgets, performance measures and reporting dates with each recipient. Once an agreement is concluded we provide 50% of funding up-front to help get the project off the ground. As the project progresses we provide the balance at the agreed upon points.

The 2017 round of project grants brings the ASCF overall contribution to wild Atlantic salmon conservation to $5.8 million. That’s a huge contribution that has leveraged over $30 million and resulted in major habitat improvements, better salmon access to habitat, and lots of people involved in conservation efforts. This is good stuff, but in our experience, we are meeting approximately 50 percent of good demand for quality conservation projects. In other words, we regret having to turn down a lot of good projects. Fortunately, the conservation community is well aware of this dilemma and planning a strategy to address it, hopefully for 2018, the International Year of the Salmon. We will keep you posted.

This month’s volunteer of the month is Ronald Cormier, a strong salmon conservationist who also has served as the Executive Director of the Bonaventure Sport Fishers Association since 1994. Ronald is a strong supporter of the ASCF and the help we have provided to conservation organizations in Quebec and Atlantic Canada. We are indebted for his advice and his commitment to saving and strengthening the wild Atlantic salmon resource.

Our featured project for May is that of the Cheticamp River Salmon Association which is the stewardship group overseeing the conservation of wild Atlantic salmon in the Cheticamp River on Cape Breton Island. We are proud to have helped this outstanding group several times as they pursued exceptional partnerships with Parks Canada, First Nations and others in restoring salmon access and improving stream flows in the Cheticamp River watershed. Guided by René Aucoin, the CRSA is an outstanding example community action that the ASCF is proud to support.

Yours in conservation,

Stephen Chase