This past weekend, the Harrison Lewis Centre hosted Jamie Simpson’s Backyard Forestry workshop. We had a blast and beautiful weather! Our special guest Donna Crossland also stopped by to give a talk Saturday night. Thank you to all those who participated and joined us for the fantastic weekend.
Photo credits: Ben Sadeh
On Friday, we had a planning meeting for an Environment Canada survey that Abbie and I will be conducting on protected land near the centre. Our main goals are to identify the plant species on the land, as well as, dry and catalogue plant specimens. The survey will indicate habitat types and the diversity of species that may coexist in this environment. This is important for the protection of the Port Joli wilderness and the species that inhabit it.
Photo credits: Ben Sadeh
The group of us, including: Rob Cameron from Environment Canada, two students from Acadia, Sarah Adams and Adele Bunbury-Blanchette, Jamie Simpson, Dirk, Abbie and I took the coastal walk along the shore to the protected area. We learned a lot about the different plants inhabiting the area and even got to taste a few (Labrador tea for example)! We had a wonderful time and would like to sincerely thank everyone for taking the time to help us out with this project.
Photo credits: Ben Sadeh
We also will be starting jellyfish monitoring for Bethany Nordstrom, a master’s student at Dalhousie University. Bethany is monitoring the whereabouts of jellyfish in order to better understand the endangered leatherback turtle. In addition to us, Bethany has enlisted the help of citizen scientists across the province to monitor sections of the coast for jellyfish throughout the summer. In addition, she is asking anyone who spots a jellyfish in the province to email her and to include a photo or ID of the jellyfish and where it was found. So keep your eyes peeled for those Jellies! And Email jellyfishmonitoring@dal.ca if you see anything.
A lot of scientific work is brewing at the centre. To top it off, a banded male plover was spotted nearby the centre this week by students from Bird Studies Canada!
Hope everyone is having a great summer so far and taking advantage of the beautiful weather!
Until next time,
Best wishes,
Leah
