New map will help fish and other wildlife

A new map will help nature lovers identify key conservation areas in Eastern Canada.

The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) has completed a first for the region: a research and mapping project of all the rivers and streams in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, P.E.I., eastern Quebec as well as the northeastern U.S. rivers and streams that feed into Canada.

The Freshwater Conservation Blueprint provides assessments of the health of rivers and streams, with the goal of improved conservation throughout the region and across borders.

NCC has made the Freshwater Conservation Blueprint available online, free of charge at 2c1forest.databasin.org/galleries. The NCC led the three-year project with input and support from more than 80 organizations, including Environment and Climate Change Canada.

“The Freshwater Conservation Blueprint can assist municipal and provincial planners, watershed organizations, and anyone else working to protect habitat for fish and other aquatic wildlife,” said Josh Noseworthy, Atlantic director of science for the NCC.

“We feel this information is valuable and hope it will be widely used as we consider how climate change and other threats might impact our streams and rivers in the future.”

The project shows a classification of different streams and rivers in New Brunswick, P.E.I., Nova Scotia, southern Quebec and parts of the northeastern U.S.; a connectivity tool that helps prioritize blocked culverts and obsolete dams that can be removed or restored and a watershed health assessment map.

The blueprint will enable better planning and conservation across watersheds and even borders using data from watersheds in northern Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York.

Environment and Climate Change Canada, North Atlantic Landscape Conservation Cooperative, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Trottier Family Foundation and The Salamander Foundation all contributed funding to the project.