Island. The Canadian Nature Federation considered the conference an excellent 
     
     one. - 
     
    

    
     In celebration of our 20th anniversary the Canadian Nature Federation 
     
     again visited the Island for its annual conference in June of 1989. This time 
     
     it was co-hosted by the Society and the Island Nature Trust. Piping Plovers, 
     
     cormorants, Scenic Heritage Roads, seals, and wildflower tours were on the 
     
     venue. Of course, there was another lobster feast! 
     
    
   
   
    
     AFFILIATIONS 
     
    
   
   
    
     It may surprise some of our members when they read that our Society 
     
     affiliated with the Canadian Audubon Society which, shortly thereafter, changed 
     
     its name to the Canadian Nature Federation. 
     
    

    
     A close association exists between our Society and the Island Nature 
     
     Trust. A fairly large number of people are members of both groups and some of 
     
     the Natural History Society members were active in helping the Island Nature 
     
     Trust get organized in 1979. Using profits generated at the CNF conference, the 
     
     Society made the first large donation received by the Trust for its inaugural 
     
     property purchase, the Beauregarde Property located in Blooming Point on 
     
     Deroche Pond. The two groups have been mutually defensive against 
     
     over-development in natural areas and protective when protection was needed. 
     
     The Society has the pleasure of appointing one member to the General Council of 
     
     the Trust. 
     
    

    
     In 1981, the Society affiliated with the Canadian Coalition on Acid Rain. 
     
    
   
   
    
     PIPING PLOVER 
     
    
   
   
    
     A fine example of affiliations in action is the plight of the endangered 
     
     Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus) which would have been even more precarious 
     
     had NHS fellow member Winifred Cairns not chosen the Piping Plover for research 
     
     and made it the subject of her thesis for her master's degree. Subsequent 
     
     extended observations on our Island beaches provided her with more photographs 
     
     and data to begin to get the message out that a little shore bird in Atlantic 
     
     Canada was barely holding its own against all manner of beach users in addition 
     
     to destruction of nests by storms, predators, and even vehicles. 
     
    

    
     The logical place to seek cooperation was our National Park which has the 
     
     Island's largest Piping Plover population and by and far the largest 
     
     congregation of human beings on Island beaches. But plovers and people do not 
     
     mix well. A fence to close off a sandspit in the nesting season met with strong 
     
     disapproval from tourist operators. Intervention by the Society and its 
     
     affiliate, the CNF, led to a national news story highlighting the issue. The 
     
     Piping Plover story was told from coast to coast by television and people were 
     
     interested. 
     
    

    
     Winifred, backed by by Rosemary Curley and others, used the publicity as 
     
     leverage to persuade objectors that it would be to their advantage to have the 
     
     plovers protected from intrusion in the nesting season except for walks guided 
     
     by Park's personnel. When Winifred left the province, her work was continued by 
     
     student survey crews supervised by Joyce MacLeod, Rosemary Curley, and Dan 
     
     McAskill. In 1987 the Natural History Society assisted in planning and hosting 
     
     the Tourism and Nature workshop which emphasized the value of wildlife, 
     
     particularly birding, to tourism. In 1988 the Society used funds from the 
     
     Island Conservation Assistance Program to join with the Atlantic Center for the 
     
     Environment to co-produce a poster on the Piping Plover. Also in 1988, Winifred 
     
    
   
   
    
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