RECENT PROJECTS
2018-2019:
Enhancement of an Urban Wetland, Lundrigan’s Marsh, St. John’s, NL
Lundrigan’s Marsh in St. John’s is a 32 hectare cattail marsh, of which approximately 23 hectares is a management area under a Habitat Stewardship Agreement signed between the City of St. John’s and the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in 2004. Lundrigan’s Marsh is a component of the Virginia River system, and is very much an urban wetland, being completely surrounded by commercial and industrial land uses. NAACAP has received funding for a project focusing on this marsh from Environment and Climate Change Canada’s National Wetland Conservation Fund. There has not been much formal scientific information collected from the marsh recently; this project will collect data that will help to assess the condition of the marsh and determine future conservation efforts needed. Also, planting of native vegetation will “soften the edges” between the marsh habitat and the surrounding land uses.
NAACAP is very excited to have many engaged partners for this project, including those who were involved in conservation efforts that led to the signing of the Habitat Stewardship Agreement in 2004. Project partners include: Ducks Unlimited Canada, Stewardship Association of Municipalities (SAM), Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC), the provincial Wildlife Division, the City of St. John’s, the MUN Botanical Garden, the departments of Geography and Chemistry at Memorial University, Conservation Corps NL, and Fishing for Success.
This project will take place over 2 years. Our year 1 (2017-2018) activities included:
- Engaging neighbouring land and business owners through our Friends of the Marsh initiative
- Collecting water quality data from several points throughout the marsh
- Undertaking bird surveys with the help of local birder volunteers to collect bird data. Collected data was uploaded to eBird.ca
- Collecting soil quality data
- Undertaking plant surveys to collect data on what plants are found in the marsh
- Assessing wetland function using the Wetland Ecosystem Services Protocol for Atlantic Canada (WESP-AC), a tool developed in New Brunswick but adapted for use in Newfoundland
- Conducting a land use analysis of the area surrounding the marsh
- Planning for Year 2 planting. This included selecting planting sites and receiving permission from land owners
During Year 2 (2018-2019), the collection and analysis of water quality samples has continued, and a report will be produced from this data outlining future conservation needs. We have also increased public wetland education through our WWF Go Wild sponsored Lundrigan’s Marsh Clean-up and our Meet the Marsh event. Finally, we managed to squeeze in some work to break up and bury a large concrete slab from waste concrete that had been dumped into the marsh (below left) and planted hundreds of trees at points around the perimeter of the marsh in order to soften the edges between industry and wetland (below right).
Links of interest with information on Lundrigan’s Marsh:
Stewardship Association of Municipalities
eBird – Listings for Lundrigan’s Marsh
2016-2018:
Neighborhood Streams
The Neighborhood Streams Project (June 2016 to May 2018) improved water quality in local rivers by reducing non-point source pollution in two St. John’s urban neighborhoods – Southlands (2016) and Kenmount Terrace (2017). We planted over 2,000 plants with 90% survival after the first winter, removed 2,171 kg of garbage, painted yellow fish on >100 storm drains, distributed 300 brochures and held a social media campaign with over 4,000 impressions. Our work was covered by CBC, Trout Unlimited, Conservation Corps NL, Kicker, and Guide to the Good.
2016-2017:
Topsail River entering Topsail Bight
Water Quality Monitoring of Regional Rivers
In collaboration with community partners, NAACAP collected baseline data on 77 sample sites in 43 of 79 watersheds on the Northeast Avalon Peninsula. For each of the sites, a standardized Water Quality Index was calculated based on the information collected. To see the results of your local river, check out our final report.
The final report for this project, summarizing three years of collected data, is available here.
2015-2016:
Rennie’s River Riparian Remediation
This project focused on remediation of the riparian zone along Rennie’s River. Past surveying of the riparian zone has identified areas with invasive plant species, needing soil stabilization, and with quantities of garbage. Targeting these areas, this project enhanced the riparian zone by removing invasive plant species, planting indigenous trees and shrubs, and removing garbage. Access the Riparian Assessment report here.
A summary of the final results of this project can be found here.
Water Quality Monitoring of Regional Rivers
In 2014, NAACAP conducted a project to implement water quality monitoring programs on rivers throughout the Northeast Avalon Region. This work was under the Saint Mary’s University CURA H2O Project. Locally, we worked with community partners including Kelligrews Ecological Enhancement Program (KEEP) and the Fluvarium. NAACAP regularly collected standardized water quality data at 61 sites throughout the Northeast Avalon. Learn more about Year One of the project, including preliminary results, here.
