Summer has finally arrived…I know, I have already donated a liter or two of O positive blood to Atlantic Canada’s biting insects blood bank. A few bites are a small price to pay while interacting and contemplating with Mother Nature. I love and understand New Brunswick’s ecological time-bomb--The Acadian Peninsula. This coastal paradise stretches from Neguac to Grande Anse along highway 11 on the road to Bathurst. The Acadian Peninsula is a collection of islands, fishing villages, sparse farmland, logged-out old growth forests and working peat bogs. French Acadians, Micmac Indians and a remnant of British Loyalists, call this rugged country home. Canada’s heartiest population shares this ecologically sensitive and critical area with 32 species of migrating shorebirds (13 in significant decline and three species-at-risk), a thriving Osprey population, a rejuvenated Bald Eagle population, migratory seas ducks and thousands of feeding Gannets. Scenic and wildlife beauty aside, the Acadian Peninsula is a paradise…and possibly North America’s final destination for ecological virtue. Each morning, before the sun breaks the horizon, I meander along a beach, back road or marsh in search of a photo-opt. Each morning Mother Nature provides a new and unique image for me to capture. The juvenile Sanderling and newly hatched Piping Plover chick are examples of the opportunities awaiting me there. (Rob: Insert a picture of the single chick on the sand---John has it) Meandering allows me to contemplate, ponder and pray, “Dear God, why have we denied your environment three times?” Piping Plovers, a species-at-risk, will determine their future this month. Some chicks will hatch, others have been predated and others will succumb to human, animal or bureaucratic predation. Canada’s political decision makers have erected bureaucratic labyrinths, disguised as environment and wildlife protection agencies to impede the survival of these endangered species. These under-funded monuments to illogical thinking resemble poorly designed reality games. Just once before I pass-on I’d like to see government establish a simple and effective office void of intellectual in-fighting, back-scratching pandering, and ineffective operational procedures. Justifying the validity, efficacy and economic forthrightness of environment and wildlife service programs today at any level is futile. Maybe our judicial system and especially, Judge Gomery, should investigate this scandalous and nefarious affair next? Concerned naturalists and conservationists must initiate a comprehensive strategic plan in the Acadian Peninsula to protect our feathered friends before it’s too late. Let me share a few opinions:

1. Contact your local Environment Canada enforcement or Species-at-Risk office and request a copy of their regulations.
2. Understand how you can assist the enforcement office and Species-at-Risk staff in identifying birds, habitats in peril and violators.
3. Select an educational training date and register for a course as a volunteer or support person.
4. Request an application for volunteer service (e.g.: Piping Plover Guardians Program, et al).
5. Write your MP’s and MLA’s with the following questions:
   1. Why is Environment Canada’s Species-at-Risk program under-funded?
   2. Why has funding to significant environmental education and protection programs not being increased?
   3. If they are unwilling to fund programs; then why not drop them?
   4. Why have these under-funded programs become a façade?
   5. Why don’t you STOP using vital preservation programs as window dressing?
   6. Why have they allowed these under-funded programs to become havens for ineffective amateur managers endangering these fragile species at risk even more?
   7. Why aren’t educational and awareness materials available at all sites?
   8. Why hasn’t adequate funding, for back-up enforcement and support personnel been made available to insure staff and volunteer security?
   9. Why hasn’t funding been made available for an aggressive volunteer recruitment program to secure sensitive areas?
   10. Why have enthusiastic volunteers been denied training and inclusion on a citizen’s protection task force?
   11. Why are professional bureaucrats, researchers, scientists, enforcement personnel and knowledgeable volunteers unable to carry out their respective roles because of the lack of adequate funding?

Next, head for the trails, beaches and marshes. Be ever vigilant, make copious notes. Use a camera, note pad, tape recorder or camera. Report violators, destruction to the environment, abuse of wildlife or habitat to the local RCMP, Conservation and Protection or Environment Canada Enforcement Department. DO NOT CONFRONT THE VIOLATOR UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE! 7. Obtain educational materials from headquarters, and be willing to hand it out, set up symbolic fencing and stand guard at critical sites. 8. Stock stores, service stations restaurants with educational materials. Share your materials with friends, beach buddies, bikers, hikers and ATV users as you encounter them on the beaches, marshes and woods. 9. Get involved with your local naturalist, bird watching or environmental club, and become pro-active! 10. Use the libraries at Environment Canada Wildlife Services offices to obtain information. CWS biologists, scientists and librarians are available to answer questions and offer direction. 11. Get into the field and learn for yourself. Be curious, be informed and make a difference! Don’t wait for government to take the lead. We must break trail for the desk bound bureaucrats. Government inertia is not a disease you want to catch. 12. Knowledge is power. First-hand knowledge of our environments allows us to hold decision-makers accountable. 13. Organize your naturalists, walking, photo and other outdoor club. Monitor the environment. Report your observations and hold authorities accountable. 14. One person can make a difference. Government will listen when we talk at the ballot box! “Bad things cannot happen when good people act appropriately.” 15. Are you committed enough to become a member of my 90-9 TEAM? You commit one day a summer for nine hours a day, during the nesting and fledging season. You become a sentinel, guarding, educating and running interference for the little creatures while giving them a real chance at survival. During the past two years, I’ve had the opportunity of supporting the Environment Canada Species-at-Risk department in Sackville. I investigated the stimulating beaches of Pointe Sapin, Escuminac, Le Goulet, Ste. Marie, St. Raphael, Miscou Island and Baie de Petit Pokemouche. I searched, photographed and reported nesting Piping Plovers, law breakers and habitat problems. However, I was repeatedly warned of the human dangers lurking there. “Those people are bad and are capable of hurting you if you interfere with their ATV/VTT activities in those habitats. They’ll even destroy the nests,” I was told. Four years later I should feel lucky to be alive. Ignorance is bliss! Government that is! Man is not to be feared. He is to be reasoned with! Common sense in these environments works best. These “outer-banks” people have been free to do whatever they please, for years. Many of our laws are not applied here. Lack of enforcement funding and personnel have allowed these free spirits to run wild, out of control and ignorant of what surrounds them. The American president, Franklin Roosevelt, once said, “I have nothing to fear but fear itself.” Fear, in these situations, is not an option, it’s an opportunity. Unfortunately under-funded programs don’t seek out the brave hearts of the environmental protection movement. When my free-spirited friends challenged my perceived authority, my perceived authority turned the page in my book of common sense and applied a simple human relations principle…. “Communicate effectively and they will respond favorably!” My approach has worked. However, my repeated attempt to develop an educational program for these areas has fallen on deaf ears. Are the desk-bound bureaucrats at Environment Canada’s headquarters threatened by a pragmatic, common sense approach? When Species-at-Risk staff or ineffective part-time government workers are afraid to respond to a call for help to preserve the creatures they are paid to protect it’s time to reassess the entire program and the persons responsible for its successful implementation. My tax dollars can be better spent! I will not negotiate or be held hostage by militant or bureaucratic terrorists. This is when the deep tread meets the sandy beach…..Either fund the initiative and provide a comprehensive, educational, environmental protection program and staff it with people of character, or shut-it-down! The tragic irony, if not nefarious irresponsibility, of illogical politicians is their continued passing of laws that cannot be enforced because of the lack of funding. It’s time for people with a little common sense to act! A little education goes a long way. Recently, I was warned NOT to get involved! The veil of criminal prosecution was waived in my face. Here is my answer. Do you stand by and let another nest get violated, watch helpless chicks get run over by another ATV illegally racing along the beach, or a family’s pet dog gobble up four eggs as the family stands by futilely calling Rover back from his early dinner? I don’t think so! I was walking the beach a few weeks ago with a renowned environmental artist. A lone ATV rider appeared on the horizon. I hailed him. We discussed the fate of the Piping Plovers around us and cordially parted company. A few nights later I encountered another ATV rider and his friend. I began my standard dissertation on the presence of Piping Plovers etc. He stopped me in mid-sentence and told me I must be the same guy that talked to another member of the ATV club a day or two earlier. Apparently, my previous effort had worked. OK, I didn’t keep them off the beach, but they got the message about the birds,; they were aware of the nests and their locations and they knew when the eggs would hatch and chicks would be feeding on the beach and in the dunes and agreed to remain clear during the hatching and growth period. It’s a start. It is better than the first call for help I made to headquarters in late May. No one came. Headquarters knew. The cavalry will be there soon I was assured. It’s now mid-June and no one has appeared on the scene…to-date! Four eggs were destroyed, as I watched and waited for the government to respond. If you join the 90-9 TEAM this won’t happen again! No bureaucratic red tape. No lack of appropriate funding. No lack of resources. No loss of eggs, chicks or nesting habitat. Either we are in this thing together or we need to terminate the Piping Plover Project and the Species-at-Risk departments across Atlantic Canada. We could apply the money to other worthwhile programs that do respond to the call. I invite you to join me in paradise, the Acadian Peninsula…..I’d like to recruit you for my 90-9 Team. Become a sentinel for one of the 90 days during the breeding, nesting and fledging season and commit nine hours of your time. Once you taste the satisfaction you get from becoming a grandparent to a member of a Species-at-Risk you’ll be moved to sign up for another year, a committed citizen volunteer protecting the birds, educating the public, saving money and a Species-at-Risk. A novel idea! Paradise awaits us. Come contemplate with me and let’s see if we can develop a better environmental protection mouse trap. Obviously, Ottawa, Fredericton and Sackville haven’t. I’m here and the call is toll-free: 888-345-2211 Bob Belliveau-Ferrin Lemieux © 2004