Just in time for the New Brunswick day long weekend I am sharing some of my personal visits to New Brunswick's well known and less well known waterways. Before I started working for ACAP this summer, my main environmental interests have always been in pollution control, endangered species, as well as anything and everything related to climate change that I could get my hands on. Though my passion for the environment has been intrinsically imbedded in my mind since an early age, I never really began to think about one of the main things that constantly surrounded me... water.

Since working for ACAP I have discovered a deep interest in aquatic ecosystems in every which way whether it was for their ecological productivity value, the species that inhabit the water, their health, and their aesthetic value towards a broader community. Now more than ever with my own form of transportation, I can explore and delve in my personal scientific interests from a angle that I have always been aching to fulfill. However, I must note that you do not need a motorized vehicle or anything similar in order to go searching for aquatic ecosystems as they might just be found in your backyard!

My entire life I have lived just a few mere kilometers away from the Nerepis river, which connects to the larger Saint John River that helps to feed the Bay of Fundy. I have always heard stories about a fishing hole that was located where I live that people have been going to for the last 40 years, but I never took the time to explore it myself. More recently, I was informed that Ducks Unlimited was involved in a project down the road from my house after questioning my immediate family of all the dump trucks travelling up and down my road. I live on a more often than not deserted road that no body really bothers to travel down. However, I soon learnt that a dyke was being built through 300 truckloads of infilled gravel, clay, and sand mixture to prevent the small neighborhood located near me from flooding. Being the interested intrinsically motivated scientist that I am, I had to find out more.

Travelling to the end of my road and hiking through the wood and along the Nerepis River I discovered the progress of the dyke being built. Though my initial interest was to come find out more about the dyke, I was presently surprised by what else I found. It was the marsh that I found that instead sparked my interest. In the marsh where a multitude of birds singing their songs, frogs jumping and swimming throughout the vast expanse of lily pads and reeds, and a the biggest beaver dam/hut I have ever seen! I would have never guessed that something so beautiful was so close to my house. Evidently, the fishing hole behind my house that everyone always told me about, was actually connected to this marsh after investigating from a birds eye view of google maps.

So far, this has been my favourite body of water that I have found this summer. However, I have been going on excursions since late May and ACAP has only helped to fuel my love for the environment in regards to the preservation of all water bodies. Mostly, I just travel around my house with a radius of a few kilometers and end up pleasantly surprised in what I happen to find. I highly recommend everyone to take time to explore their local lands, and if that does not appeal to you, maybe a larger more coastal area will spark your interest like Saint Andrews or Fundy National Park!

Images from Beginning Until End of Post

• Image 1: Marsh that connects to the Nerepis River that extents back towards Keatings Corner, NB and travels south towards Woodsman's Point, NB
• Image 2: At the top of Laverty Falls in Fundy National Park, Alma, NB
• Image 3: Mud Lake in Welsford, NB that feeds Welsford Falls that then later connects to the Nerepis River
• Image 4: Saint's Rest Beach at low tide that is located in Saint John (West), NB
• Image 5: Sand Brook Falls in Wirral, NB
• Image 6: Top of Welsford Falls in Welsford, NB