The
club supports and participates in a number of special projects
Monitoring Western Grebe nesting in
Salmon Arm Bay
For
more than 20 years club members have monitored and
recorded nesting data from several places in the
bay. The recording of events and grebe populations
continues from April to August with counts conducted every second week
from mid-May to mid-July when the nesting results are observed
and tallied as well.There
are now usually fewer than 100 pairs nesting in BC, most of which nest
in the bay. The
shrinkage of wetlands throughout the province demands that the club
remains very vigilant in protecting this habitat. More information
on the Western Grebe.
SABNES and SNC Wildlife Brochure
The
Salmon Arm Bay Nature Enhancement Society and The Shuswap Naturalist
Club have created a brochure promoting appreciation and protection
of wildlife in Salmon Arm Bay.
Academic
award
In
2006 the club established a financial award for a university student
studying in
the area of environmental sciences and planning to pursue a career in
environmental conservation and protection. The Shuswap
Naturalist
Club Award is now available to students at Thompson Rivers
University entering the third year of the Bachelor of Natural
Resource Science program. Priority is given to
students from the Shuswap area. See information on the latest award
recipient.
Woody Nightshade Eradication
The
club, in cooperation with CSISS, organizes an annual weed pull along the foreshore trail to help contain,
and hopefully eradicate, this vine which does serious damage to the
marsh vegetation.
Photos from a recent weed pull
Mara Meadows
Ecological Reserve
This closed reserve
was established in 1972 to protect unique calcareous fens. Calcareous fens are rare and distinctive wetlands characterized
by a substrate of non-acidic peat and dependent on a constant supply of cold,
oxygen-poor groundwater, rich in calcium and magnesium bicarbonates.
This fen was set aside as a closed ecological
reserve because of the
rare Liparis loeselii, or Yellow, wide-lipped orchid,
which is found here. A reserve may be closed to the public if it is preserving a
unique, rare or outstanding botanical, zoological or geological feature that could
be damaged and destroyed by casual use.
Jeremy Ayotte, the Reserve Warden at Mara
Meadows, monitors water depth and
quality and takes
inventory of the plant species, with special attention directed at the
orchids. He also records nesting bird species, beaver
activity and amphibian and reptile populations.
Here
is a list of birds which club member Geoff Styles has identified at
Mara Meadows in recent years.
 Nest boxes on the foreshore
Over 100 nest boxes have been mounted on posts at the Nature Reserve
and Peter Jannink Park. They are monitored and maintained by club
members.
The Great Canadian Birdathon is the oldest
sponsored bird count in North America, raising money for bird research and
conservation both across Canada and here in Salmon Arm. Club members join the 7,000
people from across the country to participate in this one-day birdathon i
every year in May. Part of the money donated goes towards the Shuswap Naturalist Club’s
projects such as our Young Naturalist Program, our nest boxes program and
Jannink Nature Park.
Our team is called The Twits. Covering a 10 km radius
around Salmon Arm, the individual groups within the team will count from 50 to
100 bird species. The Twits’ total species count record for any one year is130, achieved in 2014.
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