Nature Moncton Nature News: Jan 22 2023

NATURE MONCTON NATURE NEWS

Jan 22, 2023

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Edited by Nelson Poirier nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

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**Susan Atkinson shares some very interesting information she came across regarding a major achievement for the Town of Sackville. This may not open completely but the special news is there.

Sackville, N.B., scores prestigious UN wetland accreditation in a Canadian first

This will be the first town in North America to be accredited as a United Nations Ramsar City Wetland Site

By Sophie Price

The 55-acre Sackville Waterfowl Park was the main inspiration for the Sackville accreditation. (Photo: Sackville Tourism)

Come on over, the water’s fine! At least it is in Sackville, N.B., which recently received international recognition for its efforts to protect and restore wetlands.

The town is the first in North America to be accredited as a United Nations Ramsar City Wetland Site, an honour Ron Kelly Spurles, manager of tourism and business development in Sackville, describes as the “Academy Awards for Wetlands.” Wetland City Accreditations are given every three years under the UN convention that recognizes the conservation of wetlands of national and international significance.

The scheme “encourages cities to highlight and strengthen their positive relationship with wetlands as valuable ecosystems that provide multiple benefits to its citizens,” said Jay Aldous, Deputy Secretary-General of the Convention on Wetlands. It also gives cities international recognition and publicity — and possibly a boost in tourism — for protecting their wetlands.

Keep reading

**On Saturday afternoon Brian Stone visited Irishtown Nature Park for a short walk in the new, fresh snow. The scenery was excellent with snow covered trees and trails. Alongside the trails snowballs pushed over by the plows rolled down the banks making dotted trails. Wildlife was scarce though and all that managed to get photographed were Red-breasted Nuthatches and Black-capped Chickadees. Some interesting tree fungus was coating an old trunk to a large extent.

**Early on Sunday morning ... at 1:30 am ... Brian Stone drove out to a dark area on the Indian Mountain Rd. to view the new Comet ZTF (C/2022 E3). In the balmy -11 deg. temperature and with unusually clear skies (considering the recent weather) Brian managed to locate the comet in his binoculars and then attempt to get a photograph. He struggled with frozen fingers to set up the camera and get it pointed at the right spot in the sky but had difficulty getting a sharp focus as it had to be done manually and the cold just made everything too hard to get right. After 45 minutes of fiddling about Brian decided to be satisfied with what he had and pack it in. It was worth all the suffering though as after the comet passes out of visibility in a few weeks it will not be seen again in quite a long time, if it ever does come back. Brian will try for better images whenever the sky clears again if it ever does before the comet leaves our neighborhood. Seeing a celestial visitor that will be seen by people only once, and so briefly, is a joy and a privilege even if it means risking frostbite and losing a bit of sleep. Learn all about this comet (dirty snowball!) at the link below:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/2022_E3_(ZTF)

Nelsonpoirier435@gmail.com

Nelson Poirier

Nature Moncton