Help support the Sackville Rivers Association - Nova Scotia

Based in Middle Sackville, Nova Scotia, the Sackville Rivers Association (SRA), founded in 1988 as a non-profit organization, is dedicated to preserving, restoring, and protecting the environmental health of the Sackville River watershed for current and future generations. We serve the various communities within the Sackville River watershed, including Lower/Middle/Upper Sackville, Beaver Bank, Hammonds Plains, Lucasville, Mount Uniacke, and Bedford. Through river restoration, recreational/trail promotion, educational programs, and community stewardship, we work to maintain the vitality of this watershed.

You may know SRA through the work we do in the Sackville and Little Sackville Rivers flowing through Lower Sackville and Bedford, through our educational programs Fish Friends and River Rangers, through our two trails the Sackville Greenway and the Bedford-Sackville Connector Greenway in the communities of Lower Sackville and Bedford, or through our community engagement throughout the watershed. If you appreciate our efforts to serve these communities, and/or wish us to continue our work in the future, please let us know through your support of our programs.

Each spring, we hire students to help improve Atlantic salmon habitat by clearing debris, restoring fish habitat/creating new habitats, collecting water quality data , and monitoring fish populations. For 2025 we will be continuing our work on Drain Lake Brook in Indigo Shores through a future park in that community.

These efforts are funded through grants, which are crucial to sustaining our projects. Unfortunately, the recent economic climate has been challenging, resulting in a reduction in revenues, grants, and donations. This loss has impacted our ability to continue essential initiatives, including river restoration, education, and outreach.

Potential donors to SRA have a few options when it comes to how your donation can support our activities, depending on what your interest is. Here are the activity streams that could use support from the community:

• River restoration – each year for the past three and half decades, we have taken on a wild Atlantic salmon habitat restoration project (which also benefits the other 12 species of fish in the watershed, including Brook trout, American eel, and gaspereau) in a feeder brook to the main Sackville River, involving the hand-installation of habitat restoration structures by local students hired for the summer. In 2025, we will be continuing habitat restoration on Drain Lake Brook from Drain Lake to McCabe Lake in Indigo Shores, Middle Sackville. Donations go towards the hiring of the summer students (university/college students, including co-op students in the sciences meeting their work term program requirements) as well as the purchase of project equipment such as chest waders and hand tools

• Trails – SRA designed and built the Bedford-Sackville Connector Greenway trail (from Fish Hatchery Park in Bedford along the main Sackville River to Lynn Court in Lower Sackville) and the Sackville Greenway Trail (in Lower Sackville, currently from the Walter N. Regan park at Downsview Mall, along the Little Sackville River to Glendale Avenue) in conjunction with HRM to bring people to the rivers in their communities, and to provide both active transportation as well recreation for local residents to move through their community and into others. Donations go towards maintenance of the trails, as well as our work in partnership with HRM to plan, and eventually build, the extensions of these trails (and connections with other trails).

• Education and outreach – our two programs, Fish Friends and River Rangers, provide science curriculum to elementary schools through the exploration of the life cycle of the wild Atlantic salmon and other species in the watershed, while our general public outreach activities bring local environmental issues to communities in the watershed. Donations go towards a redesign of these programs to fit to a post-COVID situation in schools, and to fund our interactions with the public (e.g. presentations at area libraries and community centers).

• General – it is possible for SRA to maintain its public image and serve the various communities of the Sackville River watershed (Lower/Middle/Upper Sackville, Beaver Bank, Lucasville, Hammonds Plains, Bedford, etc. - to name a few) due to our permanent staff and our office in the Sackville Heights Community Center (SHCC) in Middle Sackville, without which we could not do what we do. We need staff to run our projects, to operate our fish counting facility at the Sackville River fishway, to work with HRM and the Province on various endeavors (seeking protections for the river, increasing public access to our waterways, establishing parks and wilderness areas like Sandy Lake Park across the watershed, etc.) and to manage our network of volunteers - as well as a variety of other activities related to the running a small not-for-profit/charitable organization. Donations go towards staffing costs and rent at the SHCC.

Just let us know what you would like to fund, by either stating your desire with your donation, or by sending us an email after your donation.

Your financial support this year would make a significant difference in helping us continue our mission. Thank you for considering this opportunity to contribute to the health of the Sackville River watershed.