Our goal with community outreach is to foster a connection between people and their local eelgrass meadows. Through community engagement and education we hope to remove the barriers between people and their natural environment and get more engagement in the world of eelgrass.

2024

Eelgrass Education Day with HOWL at the Deanery Project
Date: February 20th, 2024

HOWL, an exploration based program designed to get youth involved with their communities and make an impact, took their participants to the Deanery Project for a day of eelgrass! After an educational talk participants took to the shore to gather washed up eelgrass for compost, learning about the significance of eelgrass in Mi’kma’ki. Learn more about HOWL and how you can get involved here.

Eelgrass Education with Kiwanis
Date: January 25th 2024

CERI is teaming up with the wonderful youth and leaders at Kiwanis, a local youth engagement and education initiative. We will hopefully participate in some eelgrass work with the youth in the summer. For now, we enjoyed a fun evening of games and information sharing!
Learn more about Kiwanis here.

CERI Presentation
Date: January 22nd, 2024

CERI travelled to Thorburn to chat with the grade 8 class about eelgrass! After a presentation on eelgrass meadows, we played some fun eelgrass lifecycle and predator/prey games. Thank you to Frank H Macdonald Academy for hosting us!

2023

Community Engagement Session
Date: December 6th, 2023

CERI was showcased in Glooscap First Nation during a Community engagement event by the CMM’s aquatic team. They’re visiting CMM’s eight member communities over the next few months to discuss aquatic projects and meet with Community Members to gain insight and work towards Communities’ initiatives.

Community Engagement Session
Date: November 22nd, 2023

CERI was showcased in Wasoqopa’q First Nation during a community engagement event by The CMM’s Aquatic Resources and Fisheries Management Department. With the goal to discuss aquatic projects and meet with community members to gain insight while working towards communities’ initiatives, the CMM is visiting their eight member communities over the next few months.

Pemsɨk Conservation Mosaic Sharing Session
Date: October 25th, 2023

Dr. Kristina Boerder (Lead Scientist) and Taylor Seed (Program Coordinator) attended the Pemsɨk Mawa’tasikl Anko’tmu’kl (Pemsik Conservation Mosaic), a Mi’kmaq led sharing session. We had an incredible day of networking and sharing the goals of our project and are looking forward to helping Pemsɨk achieve their goals. Click here for a video on Pemsɨk and it’s mission, or check them out on instagram.

Community Engagement Session
Date: October 18th, 2023

The CERI project was showcased in Bear River and Annapolis Valley First Nation this month during community engagement events by the Department of Aquatic Resources and Fisheries Management (DARFM) with the CMM. DARFM is visiting the eight communities that CMM supports programs and services for over the next few months to discuss aquatic projects and meet with community members to gain insight and work towards communities’ initiatives

Eelgrass Presentation with WILD Outside
Date: September 26th 2023

CERI met up with the Halifax WILD Outside Team at Saint Mary’s Boat Club and spoke on their current research and why eelgrass is so important to Nova Scotian ecosystems. We spoke about how to I.D it and where to look, and promoted the iNaturalist project. We tied it all together with a little eelgrass game!

Replanting with Pictou Landing First Nations
Date: September 7th 2023

Working alongside the Confederacy of Mainland Mi’kmaq, and community members from Pictou Landing First Nations, we organized an eelgrass replanting event out near Merigomish Harbour. Almost 1,000 shoots were harvested from a neighbouring bay and then replanted in an area where eelgrass was known to historically grow. Our event was successful with almost 1,000 shoots harvested and re-planted! Thank you to everyone who came out and lent us your energy, we look forward to more workshops like this one!

Sealight Starlight Event at the Deanery Project
Date: August 12th 2023

CERI set up an eelgrass information booth at the Deanery Project’s Sealight Starlight event. We had lots of engagement from festival goers who were interested in learning more about our project and our local eelgrass beds. We even had some kids participate in our eelgrass hide and seek game! Players got to learn about the species that inhabit eelgrass and the dangers of human influence and invasive species (green crabs).

Replanting with the Bedeque Bay Environmental Management Association
Date: August 10th 2023

The CERI team travelled to PEI to conduct a workshop with the Bedeque Bay Environmental Management Association. We trained 35 community members on how to harvest and replant eelgrass, as well as how to take sediment core samples for Blue carbon testing! Thank you for having us, we took full advantage of the red beaches and island hospitality.