Newsletter 11

The Souris & Area Branch of the PEI Wildlife Federation elected a new executive at its annual meeting on March 12, 2008.

Steve Cheverie from Souris West, a retired building construction owner, will serve as our new president. Steve has a wealth of wildlife experience. He served as president of the Souris Branch and acted as Provincial president in the 1990's.
Delbert Francis from Fortune is a retired business administration instructor with Holland College. He is presently acting manager of Vernon D'eon Lobster Plugs Ltd.(Souris Branch). Delbert is an avid fly fisherman and wildlife photographer and will be a valued addition to our executive.
Paul Alyre Gallant will act as our recording secretary. Paul lives in Souris West and is employed with Dept. Of Fisheries and Oceans as a fisheries officer in the Souris Area. Paul was also a former Souris Branch and provincial president.
Justin McKinnon from MacKinnon's Point will be our treasurer. Justin is a commercial fisherman who fishes from the port of Naufrage. Justin is a long time member and has previously served as treasurer of the Souris Branch.

L-R - Delbert Francis, Justin McKinnon and Steve Cheverie

Paul Campbell our former president from Bear River will serve as our Past President. Paul's recent experience will be helpful to the executive.

Our directors include: Fred Ward (St. Catherines), Louie Carter (Souris), Allen McCormack (Souris Line Road), Joe MacDonald (East Point) and Jeffrey Mac Neil (Red Point).

L-R - Sharon McIntosh, Louie Carter, Rita Carter, and Fred Ward

Souris & Area Wildlife Branch recently made a donation to Souris Consolidated School. This donation will assist long time volunteers, Rita and Louie Carter, to prepare healthy snacks for students during their morning break.
Principal Sharon McIntosh indicated that this donation and these nutritional snacks are very much appreciated by the students and staff.
Director Fred Ward said, "The Souris Branch was very happy to be able to assist the kids in developing healthy eating habits".

The Souris & Area Branch is very pleased to host its second annual digital photo contest. They are delighted that to have already received approximately 150 entries of high quality photos in all four categories.
MacPhee's Home Hardware Building Center has once again agreed to be the main sponsor. They have donated a digital camera as the grand prize. This camera is Fijifilm FinePix A800 with 8.3 megapixels and a 20.7x total zoom. This camera also features a 2.5 inch TFT LCD monitor.
Ducks Unlimited Canada and Souris & Area Branch have also agreed to act as sponsors of the top three prizes in each category.
For full contest rules and contest details visit our website our website: contest rules & regulations.
Due to recent technical circumstances, contest participants are advised to click on the email link on the photo contest web page. This will allow you to submit entries over the next month as we go through a transition stage.

Walter Mallard's Environmental Efforts

Walter Mallard is a part-time beef producer, and is located in Souris River. Walter is very conscious of the fact that farming in close proximity to a watercourse must be associated with environmental considerations.
Much of Walter's agricultural land is high-sloped, and he has adjusted his farming practices accordingly. This land is either left in pasture, or an adequate buffer is left if the field is in crop production. Not farming sensitive high-sloped land can reduce soil, pesticide, and nutrient runoff as well as maintain water and scenic quality. The quality of fish and wildlife habitat should also be maintained. To comply with legislation, Walter has fenced his cattle from all watercourses on his property. In addition to this, Walter has purchased an approved fuel tank within a cement enclosure to decrease environmental risk.
Hedgerows surround almost all of Walter's agricultural land. Hedgerows consist of a mixture of native trees planted between fields that improve wildlife habitat, reduce wind erosion, affect scenic quality, and provide shade to cattle. This past fall and winter, Walter completed 1.7 miles of fencing in preparation for new trees that will be planted in the spring by the Department of Forestry. A mixture of native trees and shrubs will be planted to increase biodiversity.

With the current state of agriculture, especially the beef industry, every cost must be closely monitored. The Ecological Goods & Services program and the Green Cover program both provide some assistance for environmental practices, but the rest of the costs lie with the farmer. In Walter's case, and in many others in the area, environmental consideration has become a major part of agricultural production.

On March 5th and 6th, 2008 Fred Cheverie and I had the opportunity to participate in a workshop in Moncton entitled "Agricultural Riparian Health and Management Strategy for Atlantic Canada". The Eastern Canada Soil and Water Conservation Centre played a major role in organizing this event, with funding from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's Greencover Program. Of the 100+ people that attended the conference approximately 25 were producers, at least 9 of which represented PEI. Colin MacAulay, Peter Townshend, and Boyd Rose represented Eastern Kings. There were a number of different speakers throughout the conference discussing topics such as what a riparian area is, economic values placed on riparian areas, riparian health assessment, etc.
Peter Townshend gave a very insightful presentation from a producer's perspective and because of our location, gave conference participants a refresher course on their French skills!!! Fred and I were honored to give a presentation on the Ecological Goods & Services Pilot Project that is currently taking place in the Souris and Founds River Watersheds.
In a nutshell, a riparian area is the land adjacent to streams, rivers, lakes, ponds, and wetlands. This area has no set boundaries, but is frequently flooded. Our overall message was that riparian areas need help from the agricultural industry, and we must start thinking about our riparian areas while making decisions about field activities. Structures such as terraces, grasses waterways and practices such as planting a cover crop, etc. can all help to filter impurities such as fertilizers, pesticides before they reach a riparian area. A healthy riparian area should also act as a filter to remove impurities, but the more that has already been removed the better. A riparian zone can only do so much on its own. Overall, the conference was quite informative and beneficial. Aside from producer representation, there were also members from PEI Federation of Agriculture, PEI Department of Agriculture, Ducks Unlimited, etc. The key message that arose from the conference was that we need to start working together as an industry to improve riparian health. It was great to see a number of different representatives from PEI who showed genuine concern for our riparian areas. Eric MacIsaac

Due to time constraints this issue of our newsletter is missing reports from the president of the Souris Branch and chairperson of the Souris Management Committee. We will have reports from both in our next newsletter.

We plan to do a great deal of brushmatting in the Souris River area this spring for enhancement purposes. If anyone has areas of softwood trees 4-15 ft. in height and would like them thinned or clear cut our crews would be happy to cut these areas for you. Contact me at 687-3436 or at Fred Cheverie.

All pictures appearing on this site or its associated flickr account are the property of the photographers and the Souris & Area Branch of the P.E.I. Wildlife Federation.
They may not be copied without permission of the photographer and the Souris & Area Branch of the P.E.I. Wildlife Federation.