The River View, Volume One, Issue Three

OUR

Seventy years of service

06

A corridor of essential migratory bird habitats

Protecting migratory birds, including shorebirds, in Canada dates back to the early twentieth century when Canada and the United States began to work together on conservation following the extinction of the passenger pigeon.

The core legislation in Canada today is the Canada Wildlife Act of 1973, which allows for the protection of wildlife and wild habitats. Shepody Bay National Wildlife Area, located just south of Riverside-Albert, falls under the aegis of the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS), a branch of Environment and Climate Change Canada.

Says Garry Donaldson, Manager of Protected Areas and Stewardship for the CWS in Atlantic Canada, “we look throughout our regions to see, ‘where are those really special places for birds that need to be protected to ensure their survival?’ Mary’s Point

was always really high on our list … especially in mid-to-late summer for migrating shorebirds.”

The most famous, although by no means the only, of the inner bay’s seasonal migrants are semipalmated sandpipers. Along with other shorebirds, says Donaldson, they carry out an extraordinary, long-distance migration.

“You get hundreds of thousands of shorebirds that are breeding across the arctic and they funnel down the eastern seaboard of North America. Many of them come to the inner Bay of Fundy, and a lot of them end up at Mary’s Point to feed.

“They have expended all their fuel, their fat reserves, so they spend three weeks fattening up, doubling their weight, and then they fly from the Bay of Fundy directly to northern South America, across the ocean.”

Other shorebirds use the marshes of the inner Bay of Fundy and its rivers

Definitely a business for girls

10

Native plants and pollinator gardens

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as well. Says Donaldson, “that speaks to the importance of both salt marshes and mud flats in the inner Bay of Fundy.”

Mary’s Point has been recognized by three international organizations dedicated to shorebird habitat – the Ramsar Convention, named after the city in Iran in which it was signed and also known as The Convention on Wetlands; the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN), where it is designated

as a Site of Hemispheric Importance; and BirdLife International, where it is designated as an Important Bird Area.

The sandpipers feed on what are known as mud shrimp, a tiny crustacean that burrows into mud flats. They can occur in concentrations of up to 60,000 per square metre and provide an essential food source to migrating shorebirds.

Donaldson notes,

Continued on page 3

The Semipalmated Plover is one of the migratory shorebird species that relies on a corridor of habitats from the Arctic to the southern tip of South America, including Mary’s Point in the Shepody National Wildlife Area. (Photo courtesy of Garry Donaldson, Canadian Wildlife Service).

Shepody National Wildlife Area. (Photos courtesy of Garry Donaldson, Canadian Wildlife Service).

PUBLISHER: Eric Lawson

DESIGNER: Rachel Sheldrake

Published the first Thursday of every second month by A View of the Tides Communications

Distributed free in public buildings, retirement residences, convenience stores, and retail and service waiting rooms from Alma to Salisbury.

For advertising information, please contact Eric Lawson at 506 863 7324 or via viewofthetides@gmail.com

OUR PEOPLE OUR STORIES

Welcome

Spring … is not quite here, let’s not kid ourselves.

Still, hope springs eternal, and the nice weather is on its way.

While we are waiting, in this issue of The River View we speak to Connie Colpitts, who operated Little River Ranch in Colpitts Settlement with her cousin Pearl, and to Elly Gallant and Pauline Bissett who teamed up to produce The Riverview Recorder.

On the cover is a story about the Shepody National Wildlife Area and Mary’s Point, an essential stopover for migratory shorebirds on their long journey from the Arctic to South America.

We also get insight into women increasingly taking up the trades from plumber Melissa Irving-Budd, talk to the Salisbury Lions Club on its seventieth anniversary of serving the community, and chat with Alicia Clarkson, Pamela O’Brien, and Karen Rogers about native plants and pollinator gardens – part of our look-ahead to spring. Evelyn’s Kitchen introduces a recipe for spring, too – a maple pecan breakfast wreath.

A PDF version of the magazine can be found online at Issuu – just search for The River View.

Enjoy!

Thank

Continued from page 1

however, that shorebirds also feed on a biofilm of algae and bacteria that forms on the surface of the mud flats. This biofilm may once have provided most of the shorebirds’ nutrition as they stored food energy for their long migrations, as the mud shrimp may not be native.

According to Donaldson, who is based in Sackville, New Brunswick, research has linked the mud shrimp to the northeastern Atlantic; it may not have been found in the inner Bay of Fundy until the arrival of Europeans. The species which lives today in the inner Bay of Fundy “have been linked to the Bay of Biscay in France. That is where Samuel de Champlain left from, so the thinking is that they may have come across in Champlain’s ballast.”

Mary’s Point’s connection to the WHSRN dates back, says Donaldson, to research conducted by Canadian shorebird scientist Guy Morrison.

“Up until the mid-1980s, we had no idea where the

shorebirds went” after they left Canada. “So, Guy Morrison and another biologist, Ken Ross, started a project to fly the perimeter of South America to see if they could find out where they go. It took them three winters. They flew the entire coast of South America and noticed that there were real concentrations in certain areas in the winter.

“They thought it would be a shame if those areas were destroyed, so they put together a series of important habitats. They realized that shorebirds may need a chain of these habitats from the southern tip of South America all the way to the arctic.

“That is where the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network was born.

“The very first site was designated in Delaware Bay which is a real hotspot in the spring as all these shorebirds are moving north and then fanning out into the arctic. Then Mary’s Point was added, so we like to say that it was Mary’s Point that made WHSRN a real network.”

WHSRN remains community-based and focused on local stewardship of what is today a network of 120 sites in twenty countries. Donaldson notes that sandpipers have been tracked flying directly from Mary’s Point to a WHSRN site in Suriname, on the northeastern coast of South America.

Donaldson notes that the CWS walks a fine line between preserving the Shepody National Wildlife Area and making it accessible to visitors.

“The distinction between a national park and a national wildlife area … is that wildlife areas are created primarily to conserve habitat for wildlife. We do not encourage people to come; that is not to say that you cannot come, but we do not promote them that way.”

At the same time, the CWS has also created what it calls “Connecting Canadians to Nature” sites, of which Shepody is one. Donaldson acknowledges that that designation has allowed Shepody to upgrade its interpretive

Your Perfect Day Awaits

facilities, in turn attracting more visitors.

It is a high wire act between introducing Canadians to nature and preserving natural habitats. While visitors are welcome, says Donaldson, attracting them “is not our priority; habitat for wildlife is our priority.”

The area is open yearround, but the interpretive centre is open only during summer months.

Shepody National Wildlife Area. (Photos courtesy of Garry Donaldson, Canadian Wildlife Service).

MELISSA IRVING-BUDD

Melissa Irving-Budd is a plumber working from her home in the Salisbury area as the proprietor of Mel’s Plumbing and Handywoman Services.

The River View:

What drew you to the trades, and to your trade in particular?

MelissaIrving-Budd:

I was a stay-at-home mom and I had two toddlers. I wanted to get back into the work force. My brother is an electrician.

I thought I would like to go back to school and get a trade, because he was doing very well and enjoyed his job working in construction. I got into the New Brunswick Community College plumbing course the second year it was offered, and I was the first female ever to take the course. I had no clue that no other woman had taken the course, so on the first day everyone was going, “oh, what are you doing here?”

How long have you been in the trade now?

This is my fifteenth year.

What was your experience taking the course like?

Initially they tried to talk me out of taking the course. They persuaded me to switch to engineering because they weren’t sure I would be able to do the plumbing course. But I thought, “this isn’t for me,” and they allowed me to switch back to plumbing. It was a challenge be-

cause the people instructing me had never taught a woman before and they were not convinced I would stick with it. But I did quite well and I was able to find two employers who would take me on. With one of the employers, one of the owners was a woman, and I ended up going with them.

When did you branch out on your own?

Just this year.

How has that worked out?

Wonderful! I love it!

What do you enjoy about the work?

When I first started, I liked learning about a vast variety of plumbing issues. I had to touch everything. Just trying to resolve issue and diagnose problems. Every single call was different. That’s what made me want to stick with it. I was challenged every day.

Who are your customers today?

I am focused on residential service. I used to find that if someone would call in and ask for a plumber, and if the caller was a woman, they wouldn’t know who was coming to the home, so they would feel they had to make arrangements for

someone else to be at the home, so they wouldn’t feel uncomfortable having a man coming into the home. I’ve noticed that I’m getting more calls from female clients in particular because they feel more comfortable with me coming into the house. I’m doing service work in the Greater Moncton area, but I am also doing more work in rural areas. I prioritize the calls in the rural areas because I can get to them quickly. I even get calls from Cap Pele.

I notice on your sign that it says Plumbing and Handywoman Services. Do you supply other services than plumbing?

I would sometimes find that people would call me and say, “I want a sink installed” and I would go there, and they wouldn’t even have the countertop installed, or there would be no place for the sink. So, I can go in and help them with the process, I can go in and remove everything, put cabinets in, put countertops in, cut everything, put everything together for them. That’s the handywoman part of the service.

More women are entering the trades. What do you think is driving that?

A lot of women look to

re-enter the work force after having children. We are looking to be a little more financially independent, to provide a little more for our families. That was my goal, and I’m seeing that in the women I meet. Fifteen years ago, my employers felt they couldn’t put me on construction sites as the situation would not be comfortable for me. Now, it’s wonderful. My male coworkers, the men on the construction sites, are wonderful. On the home service side, over the past

five years I have noticed that some customers are even excited to see a woman , when in the past people would even yell at us that they wanted a man or close the door in my face. Things have been a lot better over the past few years.

Would you recommend to a young woman today to go into the trades?

Definitely. It is hard at first, you will have expenses up front, you have to commit, maybe

put in long hours, but if you look at the long run, think about the future, and see the end of the line, it is definitely worth it. I wouldn’t have chosen anything else. It is really rewarding. The more experience you have, the more choices you have. You can further educate yourself; you can get other licensing; it is something where you can grow. I see more women in the trades now than ever, where ten years ago I didn’t see any. Plus, you make good money!

“Is that a treat?”

EVELYN’S KITCHEN

This month’s recipe is for

Maple Pecan Breakfast Wreath

These buns are soft, fluffy and perfect for a Holiday Brunch.

Prep time: 35 minutes

Cook time: 25 minutes

Rising Time: 2 1/2 hours

Total time: 3 1/2 hours

Ingredients:

For the buns

• 1 cup warm water

• 1 cup milk

• 1/2 cup maple sugar (or brown sugar)

• 1/4 cup maple syrup

• 2 tsp quick rise yeast

• 5 1/2 cups flour

• 3 tsp cinnamon

• 1/2 tsp nutmeg

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 cup chopped pecans

For the glaze

• 3/4 cups maple syrup

Instructions:

Buns

Note: You can knead the dough by hand or use a stand mixer.

1. Combine the warm water, milk, sugar, maple syrup, and yeast in a large bowl.

2. Combine the dry ingredients in another bowl then add to the yeast mixture. Knead the dough for several minutes until a soft, slightly sticky dough forms. (If the dough is very sticky add a bit more flour.)

3. Knead in the chopped pecans.

4. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise for 2 hours.

5. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and cut the dough into 12 even pieces. Line a round 14 inch cake pan with parchment paper.

6. Form each piece of dough into a ball and place along the outer edge of the pan to form a circle.

7. Let rise for an additional 30 minutes while you preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C)

8. Place pan in the oven and bake for 20 – 25 minutes until the buns are golden brown.

Glaze

1. While the buns are baking make the glaze by simmering the maple syrup in a small saucepan for 10 minutes and set aside.

2. Brush the buns when they come out of the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing them from the pan. Place on a large plate.

3. Decorate with a ribbon and place chocolate candy or treats in the centre. Enjoy!

• 20% off all our pure maple syrup.

• FREE maple taffy on the snow samples from 11am until 3pm both days.

• Complimentary Java Moose Maple Coffee.

• First 50 customers on Saturday and first 50 customers on Sunday will receive a complimentary maple cupcake. Supplied by Wacky Wonderful Waffles.

• Also a large Maple Basket will be drawn from anyone making a purchase during the two-day event.

CELEBRATING SEVEN DECADES OF SERVICE

“Our main purpose is, ‘we serve.’ That’s why it is on the back of every Lions vest.”

With those words, Salisbury Lions Club president Darrel Coates describes what his organization is all about.

“That means we serve the community. We’re a community-based organization that volunteers, that gives of our time freely, through the year.”

The club’s activities are varied – hosting a monthly pancake breakfast, selling Christmas trees, managing the canteen at the Petty International Speedway in Petitcodiac, sponsoring dinners, reaching out to assist programs in local schools and supporting other organizations in their efforts, hosting a weekly bingo, and even hosting comedy nights - all to raise funds to support worthy causes in the community.

Bob Hopper, who has been a club member for

fifty-five years and is a recipient of the Lions highest recognition, the Melvin Jones award, recalls purchasing a van for disabled children decades ago and fundraisers like selling light bulbs door-to-door.

“Our main purpose is to serve the community. We are here if somebody needs a hand.”

ity is lengthy. A partial list includes the club’s main building and adjacent swimming pool on Peter Street. The building is an important community hub in its own right. It hosts many of the club’s fundraisers and, notes Coates, the pool (now run by the town) “has provided leadership skills and summer jobs to a num-

Seventy years from now, the club will be exactly what it needs to be. It will continue to serve the community in whatever capacity is needed. We will evolve to that capacity.

The Salisbury club received its charter on August 10th, 1953, and is celebrating seventy years of service.

When your organization stretches back that far, the list of services provided to the commun-

ber of students over the years, as well as recreational opportunities.”

The Lions Villa seniors complex operates as a separate organization, but the Lions club remains involved through a volunteer board com-

prising six Lions club members.

Coates seems particularly proud of the club’s comedy nights, held during the Hubcap Comedy Festival each year. A comedy night is an unusual fundraiser for a service club, but Coates believes the organization did the right thing by branching out and trying something new.

“We bring in four comedians who are nationally known for a fundraiser for the local community. That allows people to attend without having to travel to Moncton … the first year we sold out in a week … every comedian we have had here in the past five years has said how much they enjoyed the community, the feedback from the people.”

The Salisbury club partners with the Helping Hands food bank to give out food vouchers to families for Christmas dinner. “This past year we gave 100 vouchers to families that they could redeem at local stores.”

The Salisbury Lions Club original charter from 1953.

Salisbury Lions Club members Brodie Lewis, Bob Hopper (who has fifty-five years of service and is a recipient of the organization’s highest honour, the Melvin Jones Award), president Darrel Coates, and member and Salisbury mayor Robert Campbell.

Salisbury mayor Rob Campbell, himself a member of the club, points to community breakfasts as another point of pride.

“The Lions run a community breakfast every third Saturday of every month. From a community perspective, in a rural, small town, this is the gathering place for people in the community. People start arriving at 7 a.m. and this is where people in the community see each other.

“This is the ‘meeting and greeting’ place where people come together.

“And we work with the Cadets, for example, again to help build leadership skills with our young people. They will be here helping the Lions with those community breakfasts.”

The hall is central to the club’s identity and activities. It also contains a dance studio in the basement, hosts

other community groups like the Sparks, and even serves as a designated warming centre for the village. Says Coates, “in ice storms or natural disasters, this building gets turned over to Emergency Measures. We have a back-up generator. That is another significant role the hall plays in the community.”

Lions also volunteer in other organizations, like Rural Rides (started by a Lions member) and Helping Hands.

Coates acknowledges that attracting new, younger members is a challenge, as it is for service clubs worldwide. He says that at one point the club’s average age was “pushing seventy.”

Realtor Brodie Lewis is the newest and youngest member in Salisbury. Asked why he joined, Brodie says, “the Lions Club is an integral part of the community and an

integral part of maintaining that fellowship with your neighbour.

“People want things to go to close to home. The Lions club provides service and events here at home. To me, it’s fantastic.”

Family connections also matter; Lewis’s father is a long-serving Lion.

As for the future, Lewis believes that “seventy years from now, the club will be exactly what it needs to be. It will continue to serve the community in whatever capacity is needed. We will evolve to that capacity.”

Campbell believes that the club has been so important to Salisbury that it has contributed to the town’s growth. “The Lions tend to come forward when there is a need.”

Says Coates, “what makes the Lions Club? It is not this building, it is not the pool, it is the members.”

Just some of the community organizations supported by the Salisbury Lions Club over the years.

Before there was The River View, there was The Riverview Recorder

In the 1970s, Elly Gallant took a leap of faith. She left her job in advertising at the Moncton Transcript and bought a weekly newspaper, The Riverview Recorder, from Robert Murphy.

She sold advertising and brought in Pauline Bissett to write stories and design the paper.

It was a hit.

“There was nothing just for Riverview,” recalls Gallant. “The Transcript of course covered Riverview, but there wasn’t a paper just for the town. I liked doing it because it brought me into contact with everyone in the neighbourhood.

“And Pauline was a really good writer.”

Bissett studied public

relations, arts and journalism at King’s College and Dalhousie University in Halifax, and had written for the Halifax Herald, the Transcript and CBC, and had done magazine freelancing.

Recalls Bissett, “I got a call from Elly … she knew a bit about my background and asked me if I would consider being the editor. I started in 1977. We talked about our goals and what our mission was. We wanted very much to report on news in a way that had not been done.

“That is how we got started. We became very good friends.”

The Riverview Recorder published into the 1980s and represents an important aspect of Albert

County’s history.

Correspondents over the years included Joyce Hudson, who had founded Broadleaf Ranch with her husband, and other professionals in the community.

“Riverview was very small at that time. People enjoyed the connection, enjoyed hearing about

their neighbours. Everyone was eager to participate, so it was very much a community-based program, where the community became very involved in it.

“Elly was very well known in the area. We just found we had great cooperation from the community and people

were willing to share their stories.”

One of those stories was a three-part series on Connie and Pearl

Colpitts’ Little River fox ranch in Colpitts Settlement, which is also featured in this issue of The River View.

Elly Gallant, who purchased The Riverview Recorder in the 1970s.

Pauline Bissett, editor of The Riverview Recorder.

An issue of The Riverview Recorder from 1977, featuring Little River Ranch.

Housing needs changing in this ‘great place to grow’

By John Wishart

Riverview has long branded itself as ‘A Great Place to Grow’.

It’s an apt motto for a town that has seen steady, mostly single-family dwelling growth over the past 50 years. But rapid growth in the past five years brings a different context to Riverview’s brand.

Since 2018, more than 1,000 housing units –homes, townhouses, apartments – have received building permits in Riverview. Of those 1,000 units, 75 per cent were multi-residential

units, townhouses or rowhouses.

You can see evidence of that along Coverdale Road, in the many apartment buildings built or being constructed at the top of Gunningsville Boulevard, and other projects coming before town council for approval.

The most recent data published for 2023 by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) show Riverview now has a vacancy rate of only 0.7 per cent.

So why are more people choosing apartments in the town? I suspect it is because of the balance between the convenience of

apartment living but the small town feel that Riverview still exudes. The town recently completed both a Housing Needs Assessment and an Affordable Housing Strategy, which shows foresight by town council to plan for these evolving needs.

This also connects to the Commercial Market Threshold study recently completed by economist David Campbell. Riverview is home to more than 1,000 registered businesses – how many of you find that number surprising? – and the commercial market study shows opportunity for hundreds more.

This rapid growth and these recent studies point to the importance of the upcoming Municipal Plan Review which town council launched in February. The review committee has nine Riverview businesspeople and residents who will create a town development strategy for the next 10 years.

Don’t be surprised if the next municipal plan contains some familiar things which have always made Riverview attractive, but also new initiatives and ideas that will continue to make the town a “great place to grow”.

John Wishart is the recently retired CEO of the Greater Moncton Chamber of Commerce.

No business for girls, you say?

In the mid-1970s, cousins Connie and Pearl Colpitts were fascinated by the family business of fox ranching.

Connie’s and Pearl’s great-great uncle Fred Colpitts had been an early pioneer in New Brunswick’s fox farming industry. As youths, the cousins spent time at the family’s operation. Connie recalls that she and Pearl had decided “on a lark” to attend a sale in Montreal. Prices were on the rise and the sale “went better than anyone expected.

“We were excited, and we started looking to buy some foxes. The deal was that we would put them on the ranch, but we were discouraged from doing so.” They attempted to buy breeding foxes from Pearl’s uncle Leigh, who initially refused to sell to them.

He said, “‘listen girls, you don’t want to be in the fox business. This is no business for girls.’”

But Pearl, who passed away in 2022, and Connie, who now lives in Salisbury, were not easily deterred.

Leigh relented, selling the cousins female foxes termed in the business as “skips and losses.”

On the advice of Connie’s father, who believed the foxes would later breed successfully, the cousins went ahead and bought Leigh’s “skips and losses.”

“We ended up with twenty females. We went out on the ranch and picked out five males and worked like devils to get pens ready. And that’s how it started.”

At the time, Connie was a Respiratory Technologist (RT), and Pearl headed the blood laboratory, both at Moncton Hospital. Connie was one of the first RTs in Canada; Pearl established and served as the Head Technologist of the first blood bank at the hospital beginning in 1961. They continued in their medic-

We were excited, and we started looking to buy some foxes. The deal was that we would put them on the ranch, but we were discouraged from doing so.

al careers and launched Little River Ranch in Colpitts Settlement in 1976.

Connie recalls, “we were two very different personalities, but it clicked.”

She recalls being described, as part of a series on the cousins written by Pauline Bissett in the Riverview Recorder (a newspaper from that era) as the “dreamer” in the team; the “conceptualist,” the one “who implants the ideas, then watches them become reality through the efforts of her associate.” Pearl was described as “the quartermaster,” the one who “oversees all aspects of the routine including building expansion and the maintenance of ten tons of feed stuffs at all times.”

Connie encapsulates their teamwork perfectly: “without me, we would never have done it. Without Pearl, it never would have gotten done.”

With characteristic verve, the cousins jumped in with both feet and

never looked back. Over the next decade they built Little River Ranch into one of Canada’s finest, winning multiple awards and leading multiple sales. Both would go on to serve on the boards of industry associations and receive their industry’s highest honours, along with the respect of their fellow fox ranchers.

Hard work and a dedication to best practices, learned from family and long-time family employees, created a high average litter size of 5.75 in the first year. That gave the ranch 120 pups early in its history. “We were in business overnight.”

Pearl’s father Russell died early in what was then still a shared family enterprise. “We were doing it for them, really, to help them relive their past.

When Russell died, we went to the owner of the property and asked to buy it. We had to decide then if we were going to really get into the business in a

meaningful way.

“So, we bought the property and started expanding big time, borrowing money all the time, against the banker’s advice as interests rates went as high as 22%. We went from twenty foxes to, at the peak, around three hundred breeding females. I think the biggest year we had between 1,000 and 1,200 pups born.”

Pearl travelled to Denmark, Norway, and Finland, the first of two trips she would eventually make to Scandinavia to seek out best practices from the countries that had become world leaders, many of which the cousins adopted.

Connie smiles as she re-

members the growth of the ranch itself, addition by addition as the enterprise grew. “The ranch started out with a little building not much bigger than this (indicating the living room of her home), and then we added a lean-to that we put a cooler in … then we put another piece on and extended up to the second floor and built a tower.

“Then, we needed a freezer, so that was another $100,000-plus expense, and then we added a large pelting facility. We always called the ranch ‘The House That Jack Built,’” referring to the nursery rhyme about an ever-expanding household.

“It was just add on, add on, add on! We would say

to friends, “oh, come visit us as at the House That Jack Built.”

The business was built on a combination of family know-how (which the cousins continued to augment) and experienced employee know-how, an insistence on having exceptional facilities, attention to detail, attention to genetics and careful breeding, and a lot of very hard work. Connie recalls one expansion that required she and Pearl to cart wheelbarrows of cement for an entire day.

“That night, I could hardly feed myself I was so sore and hurting so bad!”

That insistence on doing work themselves, and doing it well, could make Connie and Pearl demand-

Connie Colpitts Pearl Colpitts

Connie carved the trophy for the Lloyd Lockerby Award, the fox industry’s highest honour, which she and Pearl both won.

ing taskmasters at times.

Younger family members were often put to work.

Connie remembers one incident involving Pearl, in her role as “the quartermaster,” giving precise instructions to “the boys,” (Pearl and Connie’s younger brothers / nephews), on how to cut expensive framing pieces for a shed that was under construction.

The boys cut some of the

timbers incorrectly. “We went to check on them and we could hear them discussing, in a state of terror, ‘who’s going to tell Aunt Pearl?’”

Connie credits Pearl’s experience running the blood lab, with its requirement for detailed and accurate record keeping, with helping Little River Ranch practice “the best record keeping in the in-

dustry.” Connie and Pearl applied the same exacting approach to breeding.

At one point the cousins committed to having the entire herd graded, a huge undertaking.

They prepared a history of each fox and the cousins engaged Cecil Johnson, at that time a leading grader of fur.

When the grading was finished and the results recorded, Connie says, “I thought to myself, ‘all I’ve got is four hundred pieces of paper, a bill for $3,000, and I paid staff for two days. What did I get out of that?”

It would prove to be a transformative moment for Little River Ranch. Three thousand dollars, the equivalent of fifteen thousand dollars today, was a huge investment for a small, still-young enterprise. It was important that it pay off.

Connie put her analytical skills to work. “I spent hours thinking about how to correlate that information. Were they from the same line, did they have the same sire? Nothing jumped out. So, I looked at the colour phase and size … that also didn’t seem to make sense, or only a little bit. So, I decided to look at clarity alone (clarity is a measure of colour quality). Bingo. Two foxes, two males, were responsible for the clearest furs in the ranch. I threw the papers in the air and yelled, ‘yes!’”

From that commitment to excellence, and to understanding their industry, the cousins continued to improve their breeding and quality fur

production.

Little River Ranch became known for quality and the cleanliness and professionalism of its operations, down to mowing the lawns, including between the cages. As Connie’s father remarked, “it looks like someone cares.”

Connie and Pearl operated on a personal motto: “we don’t want to lose money, but we don’t need to make a lot of money either. We want the best equipment and practices, and we want to treat our employees well.”

By the mid-1980s, the cousins decided the time had come to leave the industry after a decade of success. They were both still working full time at the hospital in Moncton, making for a heavy workload; social mores were changing as wearing fur became less common and the anti-fur movement gained steam.

Connie recalls discuss-

ing with Pearl that they had set out to prove that two women could run a first class ranch and had done so. “We’ve accomplished what we set out to accomplish, we’ve made a little bit of money, we can sell the ranch, prices are good, this is the time to get out. What do we have left to prove?”

Pearl was initially reluctant. She was an accomplished athlete, one of New Brunswick’s finest golfers (she represented the province twenty-seven times at the Canadian Ladies National Championships and was a thirteen-time club champion at the Moncton Golf and Country Club), a self-confessed workaholic, and highly competitive. Recalls Connie, “she said, ‘if you aren’t playing to win you aren’t playing at all!’ We were always in it to win.”

Hard as it was for Pearl to give up the competitive challenge of ranching, she

eventually agreed, and the ranch was sold.

Connie remembers fondly the time spent with Pearl, the experiences they had together, and the people they met. Connie was on the board, including a term as president, of the Canada Fox Breeders Association for many years; Pearl served as well on provincial and national boards; and both received the association’s highest honour, the Lloyd Lockerby award, presented to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the Canadian fur industry.

Thinking back on being told “that we shouldn’t do it, and that we couldn’t do it,” (which she says Pearl treated like “a red flag to a bull”), Connie takes pride in the success of Little River Ranch and in the friendships made over the years.

“We had many very good fox farmer friends and allies.”

Little River Ranch’s business card and logo

Pearl receiving the Lloyd Lockerby Award.

Hon. Bruce Fitch/L’hon. Bruce Fitch Minister of Health / Ministre de la Santé MLA - Riverview / Député - Riverview

567 chemin Coverdale Rd (18A) Riverview N.B./N.-B. E1B 3K7

Birches in April, near Salisbury. Photo courtesy of Linda G. Manship

Native plants and pollinator gardens go hand in hand

Alicia Clarkson, Community Engagement Worker for Sustainability with the town of Riverview, would like a word about pollinators and the native plants on which they thrive. Indeed, that conversation will represent many of her efforts in 2024.

“Native plants are our main focus this year in terms of our social media education, and our in-person education at events like Canada Day and block parties.

pollinator travel ways across North America.

“One of our projects this year will be saying to people, ‘if you are going to do any gardening or landscaping this year, think about the plants you could use that are native.

“Native plants require less water and less work and will grow better than non-native varieties,” says Clarkson.

She notes that, for example, some plants that are popular because of their autumn foliage

For the past couple of years, we have also been working with the local Butterflyway Rangers group, planting more pollinator gardens and helping them expand their big pollinator garden, just getting more native plants on the landscape.

“For the past couple of years, we have also been working with the local Butterfly Rangers group, planting more pollinator gardens and helping them expand their big pollinator garden, just getting more native plants on the landscape.”

The Butterfly Rangers is a project of the David Suzuki Foundation that helps community volunteers develop native pollinator gardens, with the goal of creating corridors of Butterflyways to create

are invasive but can be replaced with native plants that produce similar fall colours. “You may be able to get that same shape and effect by planting, for example, native high bush blueberries.

“They turn red in the fall, they make food, and they are a native species.”

For pollinators, Clarkson recommends “the milkweed, and the asters, and the coneflowers. They come back every year, the provide a lot of texture and colour in your garden,

and they require very little maintenance.”

The grounds of the Coverdale Community Centre on Runneymeade Road are home to three pollinator gardens – one near the playground area, one in the community garden, and one added last fall near the entrance. A fourth is planned for 2024.

Providing for pollinators like bees and butterflies, explains Clarkson, is not simply a matter of providing flowering plants. Native plants and feeding pollinators go hand in hand.

“For the native plants that grow in any given region, the pollinators that are also local to that area are adapted to those plants. For example, swamp milkweed here is one of the only things that Monarch butterflies will lay their eggs on. It is the only thing their caterpillars can eat. So, if there is no milkweed, there are no Monarch butterflies.

“That can disrupt an entire food chain, as there are certain things that depend on Monarchs for food, there are certain things that depend on Monarchs in order to be pollinated, so having plants that are supposed to be here also protects the wildlife that is supposed to be here.”

Clarkson adds, “native birds eat native insects.” Insects, including caterpillars, are an essential part of the diet for newborn chicks of most species of

native birds in spring.

“That is why we encourage leaving leaf litter rather than aggressive raking. “Under that leaf litter are insects that are important to native birds.”

Clarkson acknowledges that the traditional suburban lawn is trimmed and raked and says there are solutions that will allow homeowners to keep a tidy yard while also helping pollinators and other wildlife.

“If you wish to keep your front yard looking tidy, try just putting the leaves in

the back. You do not have to keep all of them – you can bag some and put some in a small pile behind a garden shed where they will not be seen. That pile of leaves will contribute to the habitat that, for example, will bring birds to suburban yards.

“I have yet to meet someone who does not like watching birds in their yard. If you want to have songbirds, you need to have the habitat and the food they need to survive.”

Pamela O’Brien and

Karen Rogers are Butterflyway Rangers in Riverview and founded the NB Butterflyway Facebook page. Both became involved out of a love of nature and gardening. They emphasize that a preference for native species and helping native pollinators can take place on small spaces in urban and suburban environments.

O’Brien gives as an example a natural meadow beside her home on GreenPark Drive.

“Some thought it was

Each year the community garden at Coverdale Community Garden collects a few Monarch butterfly eggs and rear them to the butterfly stage. Children at the centre daycare are invited to follow the eggs’ development from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly. The mature Monarchs are released into the centre’s pollinator garden in an event attended by children and parents, and open to everyone interested in pollinators.

quite unsightly. I thought it was beautiful. I thought, ‘we have to create something here,’ so we did. With the grant money (from the town of Riverview’s Sustainability Micro-Grants program) we created eight pollinator gardens. We are currently turning (the meadow) into an educational park.

“We have educational signs that we will install in the spring. We want to bring that awareness to the public. We would love to see the Boys and Girls Club, the Scouts, classes from the schools, to come to see it. Its beautiful and the neighbourhood loves it.”

Rogers notes as well the importance of pollinator flyways, or corridors, as many species of bees do not cover a lot of ground.

“They do not have a large area that they fly to. With bumblebees, sweat bees, carpenter bees, if you have a garden, that is their entire habitat. They do not go

more than a few hundred metres in either direction … if you have corridors rather than isolated gardens, that is more habitat that they can access.

Rogers cites municipalities that have adopted “boulevard gardens,” wherein homeowners plant native pollinator gardens next to the street at the front of their properties.

“That is the thinking behind having a series of gardens along a street – it extends that habitat.”

While Riverview does not have a boulevard gardens program to date, the town’s areas of sustainability focus does include initiatives like local food education campaigns, preservation of wild spaces, pollinator gardens, and composting.

If

Karen Rogers, left, and Pamela O’Brien are Butterflyway Rangers in Riverview. They have developed a series of pollinator gardens on GreenPark Drive and participate in events like this one to educate the public on the value of native plants and the

it seemed like we had a lot of snow, this may be the culprit. He is rumoured to have a secret weather machine and to enjoy conjuring up snowstorms.

GAMES