On Thursday afternoon, a group of Sackville conservationists and guests gathered in the Tantramar Wetland Centre to celebrate World Wetlands Day, by exchanging notes on how each aims to document, learn about, and protect wetlands in the region.

Representatives from Birds Canada, the New Brunswick Invasive Species Council, Ducks Unlimited and the Canadian Wildlife Service, as well as staff and volunteers from the Tantramar Wetland Centre, were on hand to talk about some of their projects. And local politicians including mayor Andrew Black, and Councillors Debbie Wiggins Colwell, Bruce Phinney, and Michael Tower were there to listen. The whole thing was organized by Tantramar climate change coordinator Brittany Cormier and manager of tourism and business development Ron Kelly Spurles.

World Wetland Day is special for the Tantramar area this year, because of the town of Sackville’s recent designation as a Wetland City by the international Ramsar convention on wetlands. Sackville is now one of only 43 on the list of cities recognized for “exceptional efforts to safeguard urban wetlands for people and nature,” by the Ramsar convention, and the first Ramsar city in North America.

The walls of the Tantramar Wetland Centre are stacked with racks of hip-waders and snowshoes, and the room is filled with science stations, student art work, and a display featuring an actual wooden aboiteau. Coordinator Lena Gallant started out as a high school student volunteer at the centre, and now runs programs throughout the week for school groups and others from around New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. It’s fairly convenient for a Tantramar High student to volunteer at the centre, seeing as it’s located right in the high school, with its own entrance around the back of the building. Gallant says the centre tries to teach through hands on learning, having students out in the field collecting critters, even drilling through ice in the winter to see what’s living underneath.

“It’s that model of conservation through education,” Gallant tells the group. “If we can kind of get that emotional connection to it, have people really be hands on, they'll develop that connection. They'll care about wetlands, and then they'll want to go on to conserve them and teach others about them.”

The group of high school students helping out at the centre are lovingly called ‘wet heads’, and sometimes their work can really pay off. Nic McLellan, a research biologist with Ducks Unlimited says he started off as a ‘wet head’, and was even on hand to help with the restoration flooding outside the centre.

“That kind of steered my career path,” says McLellan, who now oversees science in the Atlantic region for Ducks Unlimited.

McLellan’s colleague Adam Campbell is another Sackville native who grew up with an appreciation for wetlands. Campbell’s first summer job was as an interpretive guide on the waterfowl park, which eventually led to other jobs in conservation.

“There's no question that influenced my passion for wetlands today,” says Campbell, who is Ducks Unlimited’s manager of provincial operations for Atlantic Canada.

Brittany Cormier is impressed with the variety and amount of expertise in the room on Thursday, and in the region in general.
Having started in her position with Sackville (now Tantramar) in October, she says she’s still getting familiar with, “all of the incredible work that's being done here on wetland conservation, biodiversity, wetland restoration.”

“I am just so blown away with everything that I'm trying to soak in here, and all the history and all the incredible projects and all the incredible people,” Cormier said to the crowd gathered Thursday. “It's inspiring.”

The town of Sackville will also be hosting an open, family-friendly event to celebrate World Wetlands Day this Saturday at the Visitor Information Centre. The event will include cake, hot chocolate and cider, scavenger hunts, a tour of the waterfowl park, and a video detailing how marshlands work and how dikes are created.

“It's really informal,” says Ron Kelly Spurles, and people are encouraged to bring their own mug if they can.

Listen to the CHMA story below: