Love nature? Help Island Nature Trust patrol its protected acres
Success seen with species at risk including bobolinks, piping plovers, bank swallows
As Island Nature Trust marks its 45th anniversary with 23 more natural areas protected across Prince Edward Island, it's looking for a few good people to act as conservation guardians.
The guardians help monitor what's going on with all of the land under the non-profit's protection, both forested and along the coastline, specifically looking for signs that people have been altering the landscape.
"Our natural areas all have biological inventories that are conducted when we acquire the land, and then we try to access each of our 111 natural areas every year," said Melissa Cameron, executive director of Island Nature Trust.
"That's a lot of work, and we rely a lot on volunteers to help us monitor for human disturbance in our natural areas."
In 2023, Island Nature Trust celebrated a milestone, with the amount of Prince Edward Island land under its protection surpassing 10,000 acres.
This year, the group added an additional 1,405 acres to its network of natural areas, including a donation of 47 hectares on Crown Point in Alexandra.
Guardians given training, supplies
Currently, Cameron said about half of the 111 natural areas have conservation guardians. That's a total of 87 volunteers, because several areas have more than one guardian assigned.
She said they recruited seven new guardians in 2024, which is the average from year to year.
"If anyone is interested, there are no special skills needed," Cameron said. "If you love being out in the woods and have great powers of observation, we provide training as well as a field kit with some notebooks, safety equipment and lots of staff support."
Cameron said they have strong coverage in natural areas within an hour of Charlottetown, but are now focusing recruitment efforts on reaching other parts of the Island.
"We would love to see people of all ages participate. You really only have to visit your natural area once a year at a minimum, so it isn't a massive time commitment," she said. "We'd love to spread the word and get more volunteers."
Strong bird numbers
Cameron said staff and volunteers monitored 58 Island beaches for piping plovers and their nests, and surveyed 526 kilometres of coastal habitat for bank swallow colonies.
They did have strong numbers for fledgling birds this year, with a high point being 337 bobolink chicks produced after the implementation of a delayed hay harvest program. The songbirds nest on the ground in May and June, so mowing grassland before bobolink chicks have learned to fly can take a toll.
Melanie McCarthy has been a conservation guardian with the Island Nature Trust since 2019, starting in the Crown Point area, close to where she lives.
"I became interested in it from somebody who recommended to me that I would have the opportunity to explore land that needed to have some extra ears and eyes, and I just like being outdoors," McCarthy said.
"As a volunteer, they only require that you visit the property once a year. But I do try to visit at least at least twice a year, and this property I usually would visit more often because it is closer to my home."
I recommend it all the time to people, especially if anybody doesn't have their own land, and would like to feel like they have their own land.— Melanie McCarthy, conservation guardian with Island Nature Trust
McCarthy said she walks and observes, and tracks any changes in the natural area.
"You don't need to have any special training to do this either. It's just, do you like being outside and walk," she said.
"I recommend it all the time to people, especially if anybody doesn't have their own land, and would like to feel like they have their own land.
"Volunteering with the Island Nature Trust as a conservation guardian is kind of a cool way to do that."
This fall, Island Nature Trust is also hosting a series of land conservation town halls.
"We're hosting those to talk about the work we do, share successes, and [talk] how people can help," said Simon Andrea, the land acquisition manager at Island Nature Trust.
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