Living on the Land
Work, Wildlife and Conservation on the Chignecto Isthmus
The Chignecto Isthmus
Resting between the Bay of Fundy and the Northumberland Strait, the Chignecto Isthmus is the land that bridges the provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The wildlife of the Acadian Forest and the seeds, plant matter and pollen they inadvertently carry, seasonally cross this narrow passageway in search of food, shelter, and new mates. A high level of ‘ecosystem connectivity’ (the degree to which one regional ecosystem is connected to adjacent ecosystems) is required on the Isthmus in order to maintain the beneficial ecological functions of migration.
The Acadian Forest
As a temperate forest that is a blend of the Boreal Forest to the north and the hardwood forest to the south, the Acadian Forest is home to a unique mix of plants and animals. Trees found in the Acadian Forest include a range of conifers such as Red Spruce, Eastern Cedar, Eastern Hemlock, Eastern Larch, White Pine, Black Spruce, Red Pine, and White Spruce as well as deciduous hardwoods including Red Oak, Sugar Maple, Yellow Birch, White Birch, Poplar, and Beech. Ranked as the most diverse temperate forest in the world, the richness of the Acadian Forest has enabled it to adapt particularly well to climate and environmental change.
Despite its adaptability, the Acadian Forest has been severely altered by human use. Intense logging, residential development, industrial expansion and sprawling agriculture have fragmented and simplified the landscape. In contrast to these developments, ecological forestry, the process of managing the forest in a restorative and sustainable way, has proved an invaluable strategy for woodlot owners interested in maintaining their forest’s natural biodiversity.
But What is Biodiversity?
Biological diversity (or biodiversity) is the natural variation of ecosystems, plants, and animals within a landscape. The biodiversity of a landscape includes the various ecosystems that exist and overlap, the range of plants and animals that inhabit those ecosystems, and the genetic variation within a single species of plant or animal. In other words, biodiversity represents not only the quantity of ecosystems and the different types of plants and animals within those ecosystems, but also the quality of differences, or genetic diversity, within the same species of plant or animal. Planting locally sourced native seeds can increase the strength of local ecosystems by maintaining genetic diversity.
Plants and animals within ecosystems form mutually beneficial relationships with one another that help them resist and adapt to natural change. This adaptability is severely compromised when biodiversity is reduced, causing ecosystems to become vulnerable to diseases, pests, and species extinction.
Why Should I Care About Biodiversity?
The preservation of local plants and animals impacts our gardens, farms, woodlots, and the longevity of our natural resources. If left intact, nature provides such important services as pollination, soil fertility and a stable climate. A naturally diverse forest can resist disease and control pests by sustaining natural predators. If we lose nature’s ability to adapt to environmental challenges, humans will absorb the cost of maintaining the natural ecosystem services that our livelihoods and economy depend on.
Wildlife Habitat and Loss of Biodiversity of the Chignecto Isthmus
The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) has highlighted ecosystem connectivity as critical to maintaining biodiversity across the Chignecto Isthmus. In search of food and new mates, countless animals cross this narrow stretch of land annually, inadvertently carrying seeds and plant matter with them. This historical pattern of movement and reproduction is critical to maintaining the biological diversity of the local Acadian Forest’s flora (plants) and fauna (animals).
In recent times, roads, train tracks, and fenced fields have divided the natural landscape of the Chignecto Isthmus, restricting the free movement of wildlife. No longer able to move between ecosystems, isolated wildlife populations are forced to forgo the important benefits provided by migratory breeding and can become increasingly vulnerable to disease. Having a large gene pool (or a large number of individuals that can breed and reproduce in a region) plays an important role in the ability of plants and animals to resist environmental changes and disease. The inability to move to other ecosystems causes inbreeding in small groups of wildlife, which weakens the gene pool to the extent that wildlife species may face extirpation (local extinction).
Conservation and Sustainable Management
Faced with this dilemma, concerned parties have traditionally opted to preserve land by creating conservation areas and wildlife reserves. Though crucial to conservation, these areas can become islands of intact habitat disconnected from the larger ecosystem. This highlights the need for good environmental conservation across the region as a whole; in order to maintain a connected ecological community and the plants and animals that comprise it.
What You Can Do
To aid in these conservation efforts, property owners on the Chignecto Isthmus and throughout the Acadian Forest region can take steps to promote habitat for wild plants and animals on private land, including working land. By practicing ecologically-based forestry for example, natural processes necessary for resilient or self-sustaining ecosystems can be restored and pre served.
Communities working to conserve and sustainably manage natural landscapes can ensure that forests remain intact. The benefits of intact and healthy forests include abundant wildlife, a stable supply of clean water, and self-perpetuating natural resources for future generations.
Wildlife of Concern on the Chignecto Isthmus
Barred Owl
Photo Credit: CPAWS New Brunswick
Cavity-bearing trees and proximate but different landscapes are essential elements of the Barred Owl’s habitat. They require both undisturbed forests for breeding and nesting, such as interior forest stands of Oak, as well as alder swamps and meadows for food. Roads, residential and industrial developments, and intensive forestry operations have so fractured the landscape of the Chignecto Isthmus that Barred
Owls now experience difficulty meeting their habitat needs. Faced with this challenge, Barred Owl populations have witnessed a decline throughout the Acadian Forest region.
Northern Flying Squirrel
Northern Flying Squirrels fare best in mature mixed conifer-hardwood forests. Hollow trees, snags, and plants at various stages of growth provide both nesting sites and food sources. Subsisting on a diet of truffles, lichens, berries, birch seeds, beech nuts, and spruce cones, the Northern Flying Squirrel has come to depend upon the mixed bounty of old-growth Acadian Forest. Equally, the Acadian Forest relies on these squirrels to spread beneficial fungi that support soil fertility and tree growth. As the Northern Flying Squirrel is not able to travel across tree-cover gaps greater than 20m, it is particularly vulnerable to forest fragmentation and the recent landscape changes on Chignecto Isthmus.
Moose
Moose populations are relatively healthy on the New Brunswick side of the Chignecto Isthmus. In Nova Scotia however, populations have dwindled to dangerously low levels. Historically, the Moose of the Chignecto Isthmus have migrated across great distances, traveling from upland areas in the winter to lowland marshes and conifer stands in the spring and summer months. In recent times, clear-cuts, roads, and sprawling farmland have discouraged Moose from journeying across the Isthmus, thereby reducing the richness of the local gene pool and possibly contributing to lower moose populations in Nova Scotia.
Red-Spotted Newt
The Red-Spotted Newt, a type of salamander, advances through three distinct stages of life: aquatic larvae, terrestrial eft, and aquatic adult. At each stage of its life, the newt resides in a different habitat, ranging from wetlands and marshes to shady forested areas. As the Red-Spotted Newt travels slowly, habitat proximity and an intact landscape are essential for successful migration between life stages. Water pollution, silt from road wash-outs, and the lack of woody-debris in clear-cut forests are just a few of the human impacts that prevent Red-Spotted Newts from reaching their reproductive phase on the Chignecto Isthmus.
Chimney Swift
The Chimney Swift is a migratory bird that breeds in Eastern Canada and migrates to South America during the winter. Due to the loss of suitable nesting sites, which include mature cavity-bearing trees as well as traditional chimneys, it is under threat of extinction. In the absence of suitable nesting sites throughout the Chignecto Isthmus, the Chimney Swift will soon be extirpated (locally extinct) from the region.
American Marten
The American Marten lives deep in the interior forest and requires logs, snags, different levels of vegetation, and tree-cover to hunt and move effectively. The mature Acadian Forest, so hospitable to the Marten, has been largely disrupted by urban growth, open landscapes, and the replacement of healthy forests with single tree-type plantations. Authorities in Nova Scotia have taken note of the Marten’s dwindling population-counts and have listed the species as at risk of extirpation since 2003. Action to stave off the current trend of forest fragmentation and degradation on the Chignecto Isthmus is crucial to restoring suitable habitat for the American Marten and so many other interior-forest species.
What you can do to help!
Planting a range of locally-sourced Acadian Forest shrubs and trees on your property, both pioneer (early succession) and mature / climax (late succession) species, is one way to help restore biodiversity. Pioneer species are fast-growing and short-lived shrubs and trees that provide deadwood for insects and insectivores, short-term cavity nest sites, and a canopy cover / nurse crop for shade tolerant plants. Mature / climax species are trees that act as masts for perching birds, future cavity nesting sites, long-term canopy cover, and a seed source for the now weakened mature forest gene pool.
Landscape diversity is also important for your property as different plants and animals require different habitats. For this reason, it is important for property owners to conserve wetlands, swamps, and meadows as well as forest canopy cover to maintain biodiversity.
To improve biodiversity on your property, conserve, plant or build…
- Tree cavities / nest boxes for cavity nesting animals
- Open areas / meadows for prey birds, rodents, and amphibians
- Shrubs for browse, nesting, and seed dispersal
- Conifer trees for sheltered (dray) nest sites
- Both pioneer and mature forest shrubs and trees
- Woody debris for ground nest sites and cover
- Thicket forming shrubs that provide protection from predators
- Small, isolated, seasonal ponds that protect frogs and salamanders against predatory fish
- Nut producing native species for squirrels and rodents – most notably Oaks
- Rock piles for snakes
- Dead standing trees for woodpeckers and insects – natural pest predators!
- Forest floor deadwood for salamanders and newts
- Hollow logs throughout the forest and near waterways for nesting and protection
- Disturbance free zones with tree cavities or nest boxes for hawks and owls for nesting
- Tree and shrubs on your property
Trees for Wildlife:
- Trembling Aspen (Populus tremuloides)
- Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum)
- Red Oak (Quercus rubra)
- Yellow Birch (Betula alleghaniensis)
- Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis)
- White Pine (Pinus strobus)
- Red Spruce (Picea rubens)
- Black Ash along streams (Fraxinus nigra)
- White and Gray Birch (Betula spp.)
- Eastern Larch (Larix laricina)
This project received financial support from:
EcoAction Community Funding Program
Your Environmental Trust Fund at Work
This project is also supported by:
