Carbonear maps off three new conservation zones

By Olivia Bradbury, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Town of Carbonear is the newest member of the Stewardship Association of Municipalities (SAM) and has established three new conservation areas.

SAM is a non-profit group created in the early nineties. Initially it focused on conserving wetlands and bird habitats. Since then, it has expanded its scope to include forests, salmon habitats, and the habitats of species at risk.

The group works directly with municipalities to establish conservation areas within their towns.

“Sometimes they’re well-known areas in the town,” said Karleena Squires, SAM’s outreach coordinator. “It might be a local walking trail, it might be a small pond or a watershed that’s within the area, and we approach them based on evidence of whether or not a lot of wildlife are using those areas, and then we map out and we designate those areas as conservation areas.”

After the area is designated, a municipal habitat conservation agreement is signed by the town and forwarded to the Department of Forestry, Agriculture and Lands. The department reviews the agreement, and if approved, it is signed by the minister.

Squires said a common misconception is that people are not allowed to do anything in conservation areas.

“You can still do everything that was legal to do there before,” she said. “You can go berry-picking, walking, birdwatching. ATV use, as long as it was legal there before, you can still do it there.”

Designating a conservation area is about protecting the location from development, said Squires. If someone wants to bulldoze a watershed to build housing in a conservation area, they must submit an application which goes through both the municipal and provincial governments. The Department of Forestry determines if it is safe to develop in the area, or if doing so would encroach on the habitat. The assessment is passed on to the municipality, which makes the final decision on whether to approve the application.

Some 53 municipalities are members of SAM. Carbonear contacted SAM after learning about its work in Bay Roberts and Harbour Grace.

Three conservation areas totalling some 2,200 acres were designated in Carbonear including the area around the town’s water supply, as well as Lond Pond, and Island Pond Brook. The Town has also designated a stewardship area, which differs from a standard conservation area in that prospective developers don’t have to go through the Province in order to get permission from the Town.

“The idea is that (the stewardship area) highlights the environmental value of the area to the community,” said Squires. “Carbonear has lots of wildlife populations. The area is known as The Ponds Stewardship Area, and it’s along Island Pond Brook which is where their main nature trail is located, and so they wanted to be able to highlight this area as an important wildlife area for the town, as well.”

Squires said becoming a member of SAM is not as much work as towns might expect. Some towns might already have most of the groundwork laid through their municipal plans. “It might just be a matter of creating the maps and doing the designation, and most of that work is done by us,” she said.

Membership in SAM has other benefits as well, said Squires, such as help with funding for environmental endeavours.

“We can assist with either the application itself or we can provide letters of support. Whatever the town needs for that is something we can assist with,” she said.

SAM can also help towns develop ecotourism plans, and assist with restoration and enhancement projects. The group also offers free educational programming, which can be availed of with or without a membership.

Over the past few years, SAM has been working with the Nature Conservancy of Canada on the Other Effective Conservation Measures (OECM) Project.

“The Canadian government is working to conserve 30 percent of lands by 2030, and they’re doing that by not only designating conservation areas themselves but also working with organizations like us and the Nature Conservancy of Canada where we already have designated conservation areas to have them recognized nationally,” explained Squires.