The Tantramar Wetlands Centre (TWC) helped Ducks Unlimited Canada celebrate an impressive milestone this spring! In May 2014, we hosted the 100,000th New Brunswick student to participate in Project Webfoot since the program began in 1996.

The TWC is one of several partners that delivers the Project Webfoot program, a co-curricular program developed to compliment New Brunswick’s Grade 4 curriculum on habitat. The TWC on its own has delivered wetland education programs to just under 60,000 visitors since opening our doors in 1998 from our location in Sackville, NB.

The Wetlands Centre’s critter dipping dock and our own Max Farella were on Global News (click here to watch the video).  Max and Sarah Stewart have been representing the TWC for this project Webfoot program since they participated when in grade 4 and are now deliver the program as high school students.  Check out the pictures below to see the celebration and Project Webfoot in action!

Our dedicated helpers, Mark and Ryan, made the front page of the Sackville Tribune Post!

Complimentary cake to celebrate 100,000 NB students… and counting!

Ducks Unlimited Canada (temporary) tattoos were sported by many during the celebration!

Beginner Birder: many students have the opportunity to use binoculars for the first time!

Wetland Benefits: a fun relay race that teaches students about what makes wetlands so valuable!

Critter Dipping: searching for aquatic macroinvertebrates (aka insects in the water) with a net and bucket.

Migration Headache: an exciting game in which students can be active while learning about duck migration and habitat.

  You can view more pictures in our Photo Gallery or on Flickr.

Every year, the Tantramar Wetlands Centre facilitates teacher workshops to train B. Ed students and educators on environmental and wetland education. During the 2013-2014 academic year, we facilitated two of these workshops. We hosted students from Crandall University in November 2013 and travelled to Fredericton to do a workshop with St. Thomas University students in January 2014.

Facilitators introduced participants to the Project WET curriculum, which focuses on water, and shared resources, such as Resources for Rethinking. Workshops activities included H2O Olympic competition,  examining macroinvertebrates and learning about river ecosystems. Take a look at the photos below to see some educators having fun while learning.

Participants are introduced to the Project WET curriculum and to the wonders of water, with hands-on activities they can do with their classes.

Students compete in the H2O Olympic “boat races” to learn about surface tension and water pollution.

Students learn about surface tension while competing in “pole vaulting”.

Participants each develop a riverfront property and learn how they impact others downstream through pollution.

Discovering macroinvertebrates (a.k.a. “critters”) while searching through vegetation samples from the Tantramar Wetlands Centre marsh.

The workshops always end with an H2O Olympics medal ceremony to honour the competitors.

The 2013 Annual Gulf of Maine Institute (GOMI) Summer Conference took place this past summer in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. Youth and leaders from all around the Gulf of Maine congregated at Acadia University for a week of learning, inspiration and environmental stewardship.

The students participated in various fun team-building activities.

GOMI participants celebrated Canada Day at the Grand Pré UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The youth from different communities worked together on six different “theme teams” to learn about a specific topic and prepare a presentation to share their knowledge with the rest of the group. The 2013 theme teams were: Community Gardens, Sharing Your Story (through Photography), Climate Change, Salt Marsh Ecosystems, GOMI Ocean Drifters and Tidal Energy.

Learning about sea level rise while standing on the dykes in Wolfville.

Throughout the week, the youth were asked to practice their public speaking by making short presentations about various topics related to community organizing and the environment.

Salt Marsh Salad

The students also had the chance to share their talents in the Annual Talent Show. There were singers, dancers, storytellers, bubble makers, stand up comedy and more.

Learning new dance moves.

Washing off the youth that went mud sliding.

After the final presentations were made by the theme teams, each regional team was asked to come up with a set of goals to work on for the coming year. One of the goals chosen by the Tantramar Team was to start a compost program at Tantramar Regional High School. The students will launch the program on December 9, 2013.

The Tantramar GOMI Team is currently raising funds to attend the 2014 GOMI Summer Conference in Massachusetts.