Once plentiful, it now only grows in about one percent of its original range in New Brunswick.

Conservationists are working together to save one of the last old growth tree species on New Brunswick’s floodplain.

Bur oak is ecologically and culturally important in the province. Historically, it grows along the floodplain of the St. John River and its tributaries. Once plentiful, it now only grows in about one per cent of its original range in the province.

It was harvested to make oak barrels in the 18th and 19th centuries and has fallen victim to deforestation and agricultural development, according to Jesse Saindon. 

Saindon is the owner and grower at Liberty Tree Nursery in Beaver Dam, outside of Fredericton and part of a group of conservationists working to recover the bur oak population.  

“It provides habitat, food for wildlife as well as carbon sequestration and reduces the risk of erosion and flooding,” said Saindon. 

For his part, Saindon has grown at least 2,000 bur oak seedlings at his nursery over the past three years. He gathers acorns in areas where bur oaks are doing well. 

“There are some trees that I know of that I’ll go with a ladder and collect them early before the blue jays and squirrels and stuff get them…. If you time it well you can be there on the particular windy day or in the three days where they really start falling off the tree and you’re essentially just picking them off the ground everywhere you go.”

The Nashwaak Watershed Association buys many of the seedlings Saindon grows and has been busy planting them along the floodplain of the Nashwaak River.

Executive director Marieka Chaplin said, with the help of volunteers, the group has planted about 1,000 a year since 2016. 

“That’s where we excel because we like to bring community members on board so that they also see the value of on-the-ground restoration. And they can see, you know, planting a tree, as we all know, has so many benefits.”

“And if you add on the fact that you are preventing extirpation of a significant tree, then it just makes that experience so much richer.”

Chaplin said the number of bur oak left in the province could fit within five square kilometres. 

“Having bur oaks in the floodplain improves biological diversity and creates habitat for many other species… Currently the numbers are so low that the species actually faces extirpation from New Brunswick,” said Chaplin.  

The plan for restoration is still being worked out with partners, such as Global Conservation Solutions, a consultancy that helps groups with conservation plans, said Chaplin. 

“We’ve got a long way to go. And we do know that survivorship for this particular tree is low…. So I don’t think we can plant enough at this point in time. And so we’ll just keep on going.”

Check out the article from CBC News here: Conservationists work to save dwindling population of bur oak trees

In New Brunswick’s first-of-its-kind conservation easement, a deal struck to reforest Marysville Flats

Hadeel Ibrahim, CBC News

Before settlement, a swath of floodplain forest on Fredericton’s north side was ideal habitat for species now sparse or endangered – tall and reaching bur oaks and silver maple, soaring bald eagles and bank swallows.

Over the course of history, the area was clear cut for farming, destroying the wetland forest along the Nashwaak River. With no root systems to hold the soil together, flooding started washing it into the river.

The Nashwaak Watershed Association has been trying for 10 years to reverse this destruction, planting thousands of trees and hoping for the return of the eagles and wood turtles.

This year, the association was able to get a permanent protection for the land from the City of Fredericton, the first conservation easement granted by a municipality in the province, according to the group’s Marieka Chaplin.

• Young and old gather in Marysville to help the Nashwaak River
• Tree planting can reduce flood risk, say wildlife and watershed groups

The 23 acres (about nine hectares) of wetlands called Marysville Flats is not a hotbed for development, said Chaplin, the executive director of the Nashwaak Watershed Association, but the easement means peace of mind for conservationists.

“What this conservation means is it protects it in perpetuity,” she told Information Morning Fredericton.

“It’s also part of a larger view towards how we can steward land, and how we can better look after it and restore it.”

Chaplin said this particular area, near the former cotton mill on McGloin Street and adjacent to the Marysville Heritage Centre, is ecologically significant.

“There are many rare species that call it its home,” she said.

This includes bald eagles, bank swallows, which love the riverbanks on the Nashwaak, as well as the wood turtle.

Those animals love to coexist with particular types of trees, ones the association has been replanting in the area. They include silver maple trees, butternut, ash an native red-tipped willows. Those trees also prevent erosion and retain moisture.

“We’re also really keen to be planting bur oak, which is a species of special concern here in our province,” she said. “It’s one of those rare species that would have been much more part of the floodplain tree canopy before it was cleared.”

She said the trees planted with the help of volunteers have been thriving.

Property remains with the city

The property still belongs to the city. According to a report submitted to council, the city bought the land in 2009 because of its possible recreational value.

The easement, a fairly new concept made possible by New Brunswick legislation passed in 2011, “is a legal agreement that allows landowners to protect and preserve property through an agreement with a third-party agency while also maintaining ownership of the property,” the city report said.

“These rights run with the land in perpetuity unless certain conditions are not met (e.g. the third-party agency ceases to exist).”

Chaplin said volunteers and conservationists planted 14,000 trees this year and plan to plant more next year.

She said the association has its eyes on similar properties that could be protected using this new method: Neill’s Flats off Gibson Street.

“We’re also hoping to work with the city to eventually establish a conservation easement there, acknowledging…it is quite a bit of work on the part of the city to get that legal mechanism in place,” Chaplin said. “[We’re] very committed to restoring and re-wilding important parts of the watershed.”

Check out the story from CBC News here: Large swath of wetland on Fredericton’s north side is now permanently protected.

Nashwaak Watershed Association – The Nashwaak Watershed Association Inc. has protected a property in Marysville, New Brunswick named the Maysville Flats. The Association, in partnership with the City of Fredericton, has been working since 2011 on the restoration and preservation of a beautiful and valuable landscape known as the silver maple wetland forest.  

The Marysville Flats Conservation Easement is the first conservation easement in New Brunswick held by a municipality, and it is the second in the maritime provinces. The only other conservation easement signed by a municipality is in Wolfville, Nova Scotia.

The Marysville Flats Conservation easement consists of 23 acres of important floodplain habitat that includes provincially significant wetlands.  The conservation easement was created by the landowners, the City of Fredericton, to be held by the Nashwaak Watershed Association Inc. in perpetuity to ensure the protection of the property’s conservation values. This ecologically significant area provides habitat to species at risk such as bald eagle, bank swallow and butternut. It also mitigates the negative impacts of climate change by preventing flooding and buffering the effects of drought.

“I’m proud to be a leader in the long-term protection of this property. It is a great opportunity to celebrate the first municipal property designated as a conservation easement in New Brunswick, located in the Nashwaak Watershed.” said Marieka Chaplin, NWAI Executive Director. The Nashwaak Watershed Association was established in 1995 as a not-for-profit organization. The organization restores land that can protect river water quality and engages people on the use of its importance. Since 2015 the Association has worked to establish a conservation easement at Marysville Flats. Establishing the conservation easement has been possible thanks to the financial support of WWF-Canada, NB Environmental Trust Fund, Lush Cosmetics, NB Wildlife Trust Fund, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Atlantic Salmon Conservation Foundation, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Tree Canada, Wildlife Habitat Canada. Thanks to all community volunteers who have volunteered to plant trees over the last 10 years.

For more information, be sure to check out this article from CBC: Large swath of wetland on Fredericton’s north side is now permanently protected