Coast to coast

Smile for the camera

Watch this video to learn tips on how to take better shots for iNaturalist and contribute to citizen science. (page 4)

Nature’s Engineer

Find out how the conservation of a natural area in New Brunswick is helping secure the drinking water for an entire town in this Nature Talks podcast episode.

Show notes:

• Meet Mayor Jim Campbell, who launched a community campaign to save his village’s drinking water reservoir;
• Learn how protecting a forest can help clean and protect water;
• Hear about New York City’s efforts to protect its drinking water by conserving land around the city;
• Discover an old-growth Acadian forest with NCC staffer Denise Roy;
• Hear from local writer Deborah Carr why this place is important to her and to her Acadian ancestors.

Nature Talks: The Nature Conservancy of Canada Podcast offers you fascinating stories about nature, why we need it in our lives, and the passionate Canadians helping to protect it. In this seven-part series, we’ll take listeners to some of Canada’s important natural areas, from the Bay of Fundy to Victoria. We talk to Canadians helping care for these places, from scientists to hometown heroes. Connect to Canada’s nature. Learn about the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s conservation work. And be inspired to find out how you can help support this work.

APPEARANCE
Atlantic salmon typically have olive- to bronze-coloured backs, a white belly and silvery sides with red and black spots. When they are ready to reproduce, the fish take on a greenish or reddish hue with a few large spots. They typically weigh less than 4.5 kilograms and reach lengths of up to 70 centimetres.

RANGE
Atlantic salmon originally occurred in every country whose rivers flow into the North Atlantic Ocean and Baltic Sea. In North America, their range extends from Maine, in the northeastern U.S., to Ungava Bay, in northern Quebec. They are also commonly found in rivers throughout Newfoundland and southern Labrador.

HABITAT
Atlantic salmon are generally an anadromous species; they can live in both fresh and salt water. A few Atlantic salmon populations are landlocked in freshwater lakes.

Born in clear, cold rivers and streams, Atlantic salmon migrate to the ocean to feed and mature. They return to fresh water to spawn or reproduce.

THREATS
This species faces threats from climate change, dams and over-fishing, among others. Some Atlantic salmon populations in Canada are healthy, but many have been declining. Populations in the Bay of Fundy, Anticosti Island, Cape Breton and southern Nova Scotia have been assessed as endangered in Canada.