Bringing people together to celebrate Nature
A conversation with the St. Francis Valley Naturalists’ Club
The St. Francis Valley Naturalists’ Club (SFVNC) has long been a vibrant part of Eastern Townships community life. In 2005 it published a book, Fifty Years, detailing the club’s history. The use of old photos, graphs showing individual bird populations, and reproductions of wildlife announcements illustrates the rich legacy of the club. “Since 1955,” the book tells us, “members of the St. Francis Valley Naturalists’ Club have done more than just watch birds. They identified the Johnsville Bog and the Katevale Marsh (L’île du Marais) as special ecosystems and were influential in having them proclaimed conservation areas. They have worked to educate children and the general public to love and respect nature.” I asked members to tell me more about the club’s activities.
The SFVNC says that the club’s aim is to “educate citizens…as to the ecological importance of protecting wildlife.” What specifically do you do to achieve that aim?
We have monthly meetings every year from September through April featuring a variety of speakers on a wide range of subjects, including the importance of protecting wildlife – animals and plants – and habitats, and methods of doing so. All these meetings are open to the public.
Our media presence includes our Facebook page, which provides a variety of information, a monthly interview on CJMQ, occasional articles in The Record, and interviews on the CBC.
An educational program in a dozen elementary schools encourages students to be more aware of their natural environment and to take an active role in protecting it. The evolution of this program over 30 years has led to the Living School Program, which incorporates Nature in the curriculum of all subjects.
Members of the club participate in a number of organized bird counts, such as the Audubon Christmas bird count, marsh surveys and local spring walks, with results reported to ebird, a worldwide crowdsourced database. Beginner birders are always welcomed, and we lead a special walk for the Scouts.
Some members help with local organizations to maintain wetlands such as the Katevale Marsh and Blue Massawippi by surveying the areas for birds.
The SFVNC hosts a table at Friendship Day with information and people ready to answer questions about the club and the natural environment.
What can the club do to foster a passion for Nature in young people?
Since the late 1980s the SFVNC has sponsored a naturalist to visit the elementary schools of the ETSB. These popular presentations have introduced children to the many ways we as humans interact with the natural world and the roles we can play to improve it. The recent outbreak of COVID-19 has had a negative effect on these visits and we are now involved with the schools by promoting the concept of Living Schools and Sustainable Happiness and encouraging Naturebased teaching and the associated benefits to education of wildlife and its habitat, through our school system. This initiative has put our club at the top of non-profit environmental organizations in Québec.
This fall, in partnership with Chris Adam of the Earthvalues Institute and Dawson College, we are to conduct a Living Schools Symposium with Townships schools at Cookshire Elementary, with financial assistance from Québec Masonic Lodges.
Can you give readers an insight into the annual activities of the St. Francis Valley Naturalists’ Club? What are your most popular outdoor outings? Are members both Frenchand English-speaking?
The SFVNC is an English-speaking club that welcomes all visitors and participants. Our most popular outings are our monthly spring walks in a number of natural locations in the area and sometimes beyond. I would say that the most popular activity is our annual Audubon Christmas bird count and potluck supper, which is held the week before Christmas and is conducted in collaboration with the Sherbrooke ornithological society (SLOE).
Many of the club’s members are keen bird watchers. Do you believe that our area’s bird populations are staying constant? If not, what are your primary concerns?
Statistically, it seems that most of our species are in decline. In particular, numbers of aerial feeders such as nighthawks, swallows and chimney swifts are definitely dwindling. It is now rare to see a common nighthawk, and barn swallows have disappeared from many of the areas where they were once seen in profusion.
Southern Québec has been
documented as seeing increasing biodiversity crises due to human intervention. What do you think can be done to turn this around?
One thing that can be done and that the club has emphasized is the continued focus on educating children and adults on the crucial importance of understanding and protecting the environment and recognising the harm that we are doing.
Although the club is a nonprofit organization, has the rapidly deteriorating ecological crisis made it reconsider its objectives and become more political?
This may be something the club thinks more about in the future. We have generally stayed out of the political area, as we consider our main purpose to be educational. We have sometimes written letters of support for a variety of issues and initiatives – Save Mont Orford comes to mind – but the political aspect has not been a focus of the club.
Climate change is now viewed by many scientists as an existential threat to Nature. What changes has the SFVNC seen over the years that would or would not have members concur with that statement?
Although we cannot speak for all members of the SFVNC, it can be assumed that the overwhelming majority would concur that climate change caused by human activities is
a serious threat to Nature. Winters are noticeably shorter now, and there is less snow cover than in previous decades. Spring-like weather arrives sooner, and this has resulted in the earlier arrival of several species of bird such as some warblers, swifts and flycatchers, while other birds do not seem to be as much affected. Some birds that were not seen 30 or so years ago are now regulars in the area. Species such as tufted titmice, Carolina wrens, cardinals and great egrets can now be considered regulars in the Townships, while others have endured serious declines. Birds such as meadowlarks, swallows and swifts sometimes can be quite a challenge to find these days.
Not all of this is because of climate change. A lot of the decline could be attributed to habitat destruction, urban development, changing agricultural patterns and forest fragmentation.
Milder winters and less snow cover are allowing deer and wild turkeys to proliferate in the area. Ticks are being reported more and more as well. Native flowering species are blooming earlier, and several non-native species, such as buckthorn, are moving northward.
How can people contact and join the SFVNC to participate in its activities?
Our mailing address is P.O. Box 222, STN. Lennoxville, Sherbrooke, QC. J1M 1Z4
Facebook: STFRANCISVALLEYNC/ Email: Sfvnc@hotmail.com