| Photo: 2019 Festival of Nature, Dani Landry

May 14, 2021 — Last year, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, we had to make the difficult decision to cancel our annual Festival of Nature. This year, though we still can’t all gather in one place to celebrate New Brunswick’s incredible natural beauty, we can still celebrate it together but apart. That is why we were so excited to announce that our Festival of Nature would go ahead this year as a decentralized event!

Instead of hosting a multitude of events in one location, we reached out to our Nature Clubs and partner organizations to host events within their zone across the province so everyone can participate. Here’s what you can expect!

| Photo: 2016 Festival of Nature, Brian Stone

Virtual events for all to “attend”

To connect nature lovers from around NB with one another, we will be holding virtual events that anyone and everyone can join!

Are you a photographer – professional or amateur – or just have lots of photos of nature from all of your excursions? You can submit photos to our social media photo contest. All weekend, from June 4th through June 6th, we will be taking submissions for our photo contest. The following week there will be a voting period where everyone can vote for their favourite photo after which we will announce the winner.

We will also be running a province-wide BioBlitz on iNaturalist! All weekend, while you’re out enjoying nature, make observations of all of the nature you see. This is a great opportunity to try the free citizen science app if you haven’t already, and learn more about the nature that can be found in your own backyard. We’re curious to see which zone can make the most observations!

Our friends at the Fundy Biosphere will also be running a virtual event: a photo scavenger hunt! This event aims to get people out and actively searching for waypoints on one or more trails. Your goal as a participant is to find points of interest and, using a hashtag (TBA), you can submit your photos to show off what you have found!

| Photo: 2017 Festival of Nature

In person events

| Photo: Nature Trust of New Brunswick

All weekend long, the Nature Trust of New Brunswick will have self-guided tours for ten of their nature preserves. Each self-guided tour will include information on the history of the nature preserve, a map of the hiking trails, rare and interesting species and landmarks, and more! Stay tuned to find out which nature preserves will be included so you can learn more about a nature preserve in your community!

We also have a number of in-person guided events held in different zones around NB. Thanks to our Nature Clubs and partner organizations, volunteers are leading events in their own communities to help you celebrate nature. There are five events in northern New Brunswick, two in the Miramichi region, three in the Moncton and Shediac region, three in Fredericton, and four in the Saint John region. For those of you in these regions, you can register for events in your zone here. We are strongly encouraging Festival of Nature Participants to register for events within their provincial health zone for your health and safety, and for that of others.

We are aware that these events do not cover the whole province, so if you or someone you know would be interested in leading a nature excursion or workshop, we would love to hear from you — it’s not too late to add an event!

— See you at the Festival, nature lovers!

Thank you to our partner organizations and Nature Clubs that are helping us with the 2021 Festival of Nature:

ACAP Saint John, Fundy Biosphere Reserve, Second Nature Outdoors Inc., Nature Trust of New Brunswick
Les Ami.e.s de la nature du sud-est du N.-B., Saint John Naturalists Club, Restigouche Naturalists Club, Jacquet River Nature Group, Chignecto Naturalist Club, Fredericton Nature Club, Nature Miramichi, Nature Moncton