Natural Resources Education Centre
12014 Hwy 224 B0N 1X0 Middle Musquodoboit, NS, Canada

Congratulations to Debi Miller who found the Hummingbird rock on our trails yesterday! She has won a free night camping at one of our Provincial Parks, a Wildlife of NS book, wildlife track card among a few other things. Dont forget you can still post pictures of the rock to be entered into the final draw later on this year!

Its almost here! Next week is National Forest Week (Sept. 20 to 26). We look forward to sharing information on the forests of Nova Scotia and some fun resources. #NationalForestWeek #NationalForestWeekNS

TREASURE TRAIL Our first hidden treasure features the humming bird! An impressive creature getting ready to make its long migration (Florida, Louisiana and South to Panama) and also the symbol of our amazing community. When your finished visiting our trails dont forget to swing by the Cornerstone Park to visit North Americas largest humming bird statute (a lot easier to find).

Happy Friday! It was a busy but great week. So wonderful to see students in the halls again! If your looking to relax this weekend and unwind dont forget the Nature Learning and Playspace and the trails of the McCurdy woodlot are there for you to explore.... Enjoy your weekend!

Hike NS Fall Guided Hike Series 2020 Hike Nova Scotia and 17 host organizations offer the 2020 Fall Guided Hike Series from September to November across NS. There are over 30 hikes led by local folks and participants qualify to win trail prizes. These free hikes require pre-registration and will follow public health protocols, including social distancing. ... Hike NS thanks its partners for organizing the hikes on the ground as well as MEC, Goose Lane Editions and the NS Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage for their support. Check out the detailed schedule at www.hikenovascotia.ca.

Habitat Suitability Index Assessments (HSIs) A Habitat Suitability Index (HIS) Assessment is used to identify and assess elements of a stream and its habitat... to understand the various factors that are influencing its health. Using the Nova Scotia Salmon Association (NSSA) Adopt-A-Streams Nova Scotia Fish Habitat Suitability manual, MCG employees were trained to conduct HSI surveys throughout the Stewiacke Watershed. A habitat assessment consists of multiple steps, including collecting water quality data, taking measurements of stream widths and water depths, determining substrate types, riparian areas, and identifying benthic macroinvertebrates. This information helps to identify areas of suitable and non-suitable habitat for fish species such as Atlantic salmon and Brook trout, which hold cultural and historical significance to the Mikmaw people. The MCG can use this data to assist our communities in prioritizing which areas of the watershed will require future remediation work, which will help to improve the overall quality of habitat for aquatic species for generations to come. Featured in the pictures above are summer students from MCGs Culverts Project completing HSI assessments to determine the amount of suitable habitat upstream of migration barriers in the Stewiacke watershed. Thank you to Fisheries and Oceans Canada and NSSAs Adopt-A-Stream program for the continued support in funding this project. If you are interested in the work being conducted by the culverts project in the Stewiacke watershed, please contact [email protected] to learn how to get involved.

FYI! Please be advised that the Wildlife Resources System and Hunter Education System services will be unavailable between September 9-14, 2020. You will not be able to access the Wildlife Resources System, the Hunter Education System or Customer Support during this time. We will be transitioning to the new WRS and Hunter Education systems on September 14,2020. ... After September 14, 2020, the following services will be restored: The online application for the Wildlife Resources Card will be restored!! Clients will be able to apply for their WRC online and update their client profile, including PIN reset Clients will be able to phone in (using a toll free number from a landline or cell phone) or mail Wildlife Resource Card applications to the Business Registration Unit, Service NS Internal Services after September 14. All cheques and money orders are to be made out to the Minister of Finance. The New Wildlife Resources Card Application printable pdf form will be available on our website for clients to print after September 14, 2020. Deer Draw online application will be restored for next season Printing of WRC will resume Clients will be able to register and pay for Hunter Education courses Course dates and locations will be provided and clients will be able to see how many seats remain in the courses Contact information for Hunter Education course providers (Safety Services, Huntercourse.com, BANS, TANS, NS Guides) Links to online services by our service providers Entering of Hunter Education test marks and printing course completion certificates Urgent client inquiries can be sent to the WRS and Hunter Education coordinators email or by phone during this time. WRS Coordinator [email protected](1-902-679-4366) Hunter Education Coordinator [email protected](1-866-639-3949)

We love getting questions about mining, minerals and geology! We were asked about Nova Scotias version of the San Andreas Fault - the Cobequid-Chedabucto Fault... System! Nova Scotia has two halves geologically: The northern half came from Europe and the southern half from Africa. The Cobequid-Chedabucto Fault System is where they collided 400 million years ago. This caused earthquakes, melted rocks and concentration of minerals like gold and zinc. People sometimes think of it as a single fault that cuts the province in half. In fact, its a fault zone or system, not a single fault. There are several large parallel, or nearly parallel, faults that collectively make up the system. The faults usually consist of what we call fault gouges - crushed and ground-up rock, sometimes a couple hundred metres thick, produced by friction between the two sides when a fault moves. Regional-scale faults like this are large and complex. They are not thin, straight lines that mark where the faults are. An example of a fault gouge is in the picture below which shows the Cobequid Pass toll highway near the overpass for the Londonderry to Lornevale "Baseline Road. The rock on the left is part of a fault gouge that looks like gravel but is actually solid bedrock because the tectonic plates movement ground up the rock but it later solidified again. It extends for about 400 metres along the highway. The faults weather more easily than solid rock because they have been fractured and weakened by pressure and movement. (While weathering and erosion are similar processes, they are not the same thing. Weathering degrades a rock without changing its location. Erosion, on the other hand, causes rocks, or particles of rock, to be carried away from their original locations and deposited elsewhere. For example, water getting into a rock and splitting it when it freezes is weathering because the rock stays in place. Water carrying pebbles and sand down a river is erosion because the location of the pebbles and sand changes.) Unlike Californias San Andreas Fault, which is very active because the North American and Pacific tectonic plates rub against each other as the North American plate moves westward several centimetres per year, the Cobequid-Chedabucto Fault System is mostly stable. Movement at faults is caused by stresses in the earths crust, i.e. the North American and Pacific tectonic plates rubbing against each other generates tremendous pressure, causing earthquakes at the San Andreas Fault to relieve the stress. The Cobequid-Chedabucto Fault System does not have those sorts of stresses so the system is stable. Fortunately for us, Nova Scotias geology is much calmer now than it was 400 million years ago!

Welcome Back Teachers and Students! We know that teachers and staff have been working extra hard to prepare for a safe and enjoyable return to school. Thank you for all that you do. I know you have missed your students as much as we have. Have an amazing first day back to you all. We wish you a safe and enjoyable 2020-21 school year. Dont forget to get outside and explore nature!

We are pleased to announce that the NREC working with the Halifax Public Libraries - Musquodoboit Valley Community has a new Storybook Walk for you to enjoy! What Matters by Alison Hughes explores our connection to nature and shows how even one small good deed can have huge impacts on the world around us. The walk begins on the Titus Smith Trail (across from the Nature Learning and Play Space) and finishes at the end of the Reader Trail.

Its time! The Nature Learning and Play Space and the trails of the McCurdy woodland are ready for visitors! We are so excited for you to come out and enjoy some nature play. Amelia and I thank you for your patience these last few months. ... Have a wonderful day, Sara and Amelia

Guess what? We have something new for you to enjoy in the Nature Learning and Playspace! We have a new musical area for you to enjoy. Only problem is we dont have a name yet. Do you have an idea for a great name for this space? Please share your ideas below!... I took a moment today to try out my musical skills....dont think Ill quit my day job

What wildlife have you found while visiting any of the Nova Scotia Provincial Parks? Comment below or post using the hashtag #exploreNSparks to be entered to win this weeks draw! Use this track card from the Nova Scotia Museum and Museum of Natural History to follow signs of wildlife! Stay tuned each week to enter to win!

Share with us what you look for when you spend time outside

That sound is so satisfying... but not as much as the feeling of finally getting the trails cleaned up! Hang in folks we are getting there and really appreciate your patience

For #Pollinatorweek we have been working on our new Pollinator Gardens. We now have one here at the NREC and one of our Nova Scotia Provincial Parks, Dollar Lake Provincial Park. Our gardens are composed of all native plant species from Harriet Irving Botanical Gardens who also helped us pick plants that will attract a wide range of pollinators including butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds! They include native swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata), the host plant for the at risk monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus). Please visit the garden (located by the beach) if you are visiting Dollar Lake this summer! We are looking forward to seeing the gardens grow, and which pollinators we see

Just a reminder that the McCurdy Woodlot Trails and the Nature Learning and Play Space are still closed for maintenance. Work is progressing and we cant wait to welcome people back to the space. Please stay tuned for more updates and hope to see you all up there soon!

Amelia and I have the privilege of helping each year with the Tree for Boston. It is such an amazing event! Do you have the next Tree for Boston? If you have or... know of a white or red spruce or balsam fir with the following characteristics we want to hear from you. 12 to 15 metres (40-50 feet) tall Healthy with good colour Medium to heavy density Uniform and symmetrical Easy to access If you think you have the tree we are looking for please send a photo and details to [email protected]

Went for a walk the other day to clear my head and enjoy the sun with my children. We were very excited to spy an eagle and its nest in a nearby field! Look closely and you can see his nest in the large tree as it sits nearby on the tree to the left. Looking forward to watching its adventures this summer. Have you noticed any new wildlife on your adventures?

Todays Spotlight Species is the White-Tailed Deer! Although their coats dont look in great shape in these pictures they are actually well designed to act as a floatation device to help them swim. A behavioural adaptation of these deer is that the doe will leave her fawn for a good part of the day returning to feed every few hours. The fawn are born with little scent and their spots act as camouflage, if their mother isnt around there is less chance of predation. It is i...mportant to understand wildlife behaviours before interfering with nature, if you see a fawn you think may be orphaned this time of year please watch for a few hours and then call your local Lands and Forestry Office to speak with a Wildlife Techician! Hope everyone has a chance to enjoy nature this weekend and experience a cool wildlife sighting!

Wild strawberries! My youngest son loves to pick the tiny berries from these plants. He often races the birds to harvest them! A definite sign summer is just around the corner. Have a lovey weekend

Do you have a special place you like to visit? Maybe in the woods, near a stream or even your backyard? The river is where I like to go to relax and unwind. Nature has an amazing way of helping us when life gets big and we need to reflect and re-centre. Where is your special place?

While spending time at the river this week an important insect and food source for fish landed on one of our MCG team members! Can you guess the name of this in...sect? A little hint: it is atoqwasu (trouts) favourite food in adult form! This insect lives both in the water when its a baby or a nymph and on land when it is an adult. Has one ever landed on you before? Comment below with your guesses and experiences. We will reveal the answer tomorrow! #river #fishfood #insect #AttheriverwithMCG See more

Good morning I spotted this little fellow on my walk today. It was so busy it didnt even notice me watching!

My coworker and I hit the woods to put out another trail cam for the spotlight species. Dolly dog must be good luck or else it was the sunshine that had all of our reptile friends making a special appearance today! On our woodlot walk we found a snapping turtle, garter snake, and were lucky enough to find our first green snake! Its amazing all of the things nature reveals and gives to us when we take the time to get out and enjoy it! Have a great weekend everyone and be like the reptiles and enjoy the PS because we also love amphibians especially toads we included a video of some trilling at the end of our hike. Stay tuned for more wetland fun next week

British Soldier lichen!

I wonder who lives here? Sure leaves a mess after a meal

Signature Saturday! Any guesses on who left this animal signature?

Signature Saturday! Any guesses on this scat? Hint: This is one type of wildlife you definitely would not like to hug!

Check out the YouTube link of our Fish Friends release yesterday https://youtu.be/FQcGE7KKNss We were so lucky to have our local Young Naturalist Club leader Anne video this process. We really missed our Grade One and Two friends from down the hall at the Musquodoboit Valley Education Centre, yesterday wasnt the same without you but it sure was great to have your Teacher Mrs. Higgins with us!... Thank you to the Frasers Mills Fish Hatchery and the Department of Inland Fisheries as well as the Cobequid Salmon Association. We hope you all have a great long weekend and to see you out on the water!

Yesterday was a big day for our fish and Fish Friends! Check out some pictures from their adventure below and good luck to the trout!

Are you out exploring today? Use this to help identify any tracks you see!