#30yearsACAP Memories - Jean MacDonald
Jean MacDonald has been involved with ACAP Saint John’s board of directors from the very beginning.
Jean (far right) in 2011 when the Environmental Minister visited the ACAP office.
She served as a teacher representative, and on several of the executive positions. She has seen and been a part of many of our projects over the years including Harbour Cleanup, the Paint Swap and many beach sweeps.
Example of erosion issues in Red Head.
A memory that stood out for Jean is the erosion issues at Red Head Beach and the efforts put into place to help slow down erosion in the neighbourhood. Due to the damaging slides, homes in the area were at risk of falling directly into the Bay of Fundy.
Comic, Times Globe (2000)
In 1998, the Red Head Shore Restoration Committee was formed, and through funding from the provincial government and the Regional Development Corporation 4,000 tires were placed at the base of the slope and anchored into the sand using 3/8” rebar. The structure was designed to act as a breakwater to protect the clay slope from further erosion. It was intended that the waves would essentially help the structure by washing sand and silt into the voids between the tires and rocks.
By 1999, various winter storms had weakened the structure considerably, rebar had loosened, and some tires had floated free from their anchors - the structure was a complete failure. Not only did this result in scattering tires over a large portion of the beach, but it also created a human health and safety risk associated with hundreds of pieces of rebar and steel-reinforced tire remnant jutting from the sand and water.
Tire removal at Red Head beach (2000)
Subsequent cleanup efforts by ACAP Saint John and various partners removed over half the tires and over ten tonnes of steel (tire rims and rebar) between 2000 and 2001. It was actually Jean’s Environmental Science class from the Woodlawn Learning Centre that came out and were was able see environmental problems first hand in their community. Jean’s students were eager to aid in the cleanup and met Tim Vickers at the beach and went to work. The class got to work immediately digging tires and rebar out of the sand. They were successful retrieving a great amount of tires and were eager to keep going!
Newspaper article (2000)
Thanks to the hard work of Jean’s class and community volunteers many tires have been removed from the beach, however erosion challenges are still prevalent in the Red Head community. In 2021 ACAP visited the area to assess the condition of the shoreline as part of a larger project that looked at 10 coastal areas in Saint John. During the assessment many tires and rebar were observed along the beach demonstrating the long-term impacts that can be associated with protective installations. While there is no single solution for erosion, education is critical for building awareness whether it is through reading our Living Coastal report or through beach cleanups where volunteers physically observe the impacts of erosion. The work that Jean and her students completed during the Red Head tire removal project not only resulted in an improvement in the environmental conditions on the beach, but also provided valuable information about future cleanup initiatives.
