Plans for the Central Prince Section (Travellers Rest to Northam) of the 
     
     Confederation Trail were revealed at a public meeting on July 6 in 
     
     Summerside. This development is being spurred on by the Summerside 
     
     Development Corporation and they hope to have the trail open in September of 
     
     this year. Discussions revealed that: a Coastal Lighthouse Trail would be 
     
     developed along the waterfront; there would be an attempt to create a Trail 
     
     Technology Interpretive Centre; and an equestrian trail and horse tie-up area 
     
     would be created near the terminus on the old line in Summerside. 
     
    

    
     Forty-five female Maritime Ringlets (Coenonympha nepisiquit) with eggs 
     
     captured near Bathurst were release in similar habitat near Bas-Caraquet. 
     
     This rare butterfly is known to occur at only three locations in New 
     
     Brunswick. The operation was carried out by Reg Webster an entomologist. 
     
     (adapted from Saint John Naturalists' Club Bulletin May-June 1995.) 
     
    

    
     Congratulations are extended to the Minister of Natural Resources and 
     
     Energy for the designation of five new ecological areas in New Brunswick. 
     
     The five areas have a combined area of 612 hectares (1512 acres). The new 
     
     reserves represent old growth balsam fir, black spruce forest, black 
     
     spruce/jack pine, rare Arctic plants and bat caves, and eastern hemlock, 
     
     grassland, and freshwater marshes. This brings the New Brunswick total to 13 
     
     reserves designated. 
     
    

    
     The Canadian Nature Federation published a special issue on Nature 
     
     Canada (Spring 1995) focusing on backyard wildlife enhancement. Their lady 
     
     beetle survey is off to a flying start with many reports submitted to date. 
     
    

    
     On June 9, 1995, the Nova Scotia government announced a provincial 
     
     policy for Rails to Trails. This policy should lead to community 
     
     partnerships and trails development. (adapted from Rails to Trails in Nova 
     
     Scotia by Dale Smith and Ted Scrutton, Conservation 19:2, 1995) . . 
     
    

    
     The Canadian equivalent to an endangered species list, the Committee on 
     
     the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada list, grew by 8 species in 1995. 
     
     Three flowering plants (white wood aster (ON, PQ), golden paintbrush (BC), 
     
     and yellow montane violet (BC) were listed as threatened while Ord’s kangaroo 
     
     rat (AB, SK) ,Queen Charlotte goshawk (BC), harefooted locoweed (AB), 
     
     Bolander's quillwort (AB), and the first lichen, the cryptic paw lichen (BC). 
     
     The Burrowing Owl’s status has elevated to endangered. Only one species, the 
     
     Ferruginous Hawk, improved moving from threatened to vulnerable. (adapted 
     
     from CNF’s Nature Alert 5:3, p.2) 
     
    

    
     A former contributor to the Island Naturalist has taken on a new venture 
     
     with the creation of the Grand Hanan Bird Observatory on Kent Island. 
     
     Congratulations and best wishes go to Brian Dalzell on this effort for the 
     
     birds. (adapted from Razorbill 4) 
     
    

    
     Project FeederWatch 1995-96 is gearing up so those feeder watchers who 
     
     would like to participate in the feeder monitoring programs please contact 
     
     Long Point Bird Observatory, P.O. Box 160, Port Rowan, Ontario NOE 1M0. This 
     
     year's fee is $20. 
     
    
   
   
    
     FIRST AUTUMN BIRDING CLASSIC: by Dan McAskill 
     
    
   
   
    
     Conserving natural areas through either purchase, deed covenants, or 
     
     other means is expensive business. The Island Nature Trust, with the 
     
     generous assistance of its members, supporters, corporate donors and 
     
     government, has risen to that challenge. Since its inception in 1979 and its . 
     
    
   
   
    
     -3-