Helping Nature Heal Inc.

Ecological Restoration and Living Shorelines

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Community-based learning for long-term resilience.

Shore Up is Hands-On Learning

Shore Up is a hands-on community-based workshop that teaches how to use nature-based infrastructure to slow down shoreline erosion and create a healthy riparian zone. Learn the tried and tested techniques that Helping Nature Heal has been applying to the shorelines of the Atlantic region for 20 years.

This workshop is for municipalities, NGO organizations and other community groups who want to learn how to create a more resilient shoreline as our climate changes and sea levels rise. You learn tools and techniques that can be applied on any shoreline and skills and knowledge for participants to take away. Shore Up is applicable to coastal areas, as well as freshwater lakes and streams, and is fully customizable for any group.

Shore Up includes a comprehensive 80+ page report for your Shore Up project site. This includes background research about the geology, topography, ecology, weather, ocean dynamics, and more. This information is used to determine the best erosion mitigation methods to be completed at your Shore Up workshop. The site report is an educational tool to share with participants to learn about natural erosional processes, climate change, Living Shorelines, and species at risk for your region. The plant species to be used in Maritime Living Shoreline projects are listed with photos for identification.

 

 

 

Photo credit: Maddie Crowell

Our techniques include:

 

  • riparian zone revegetation
  • brush wall technique
  • chevron technique
  • terrace planting
  • rock wall vegetation
  • sod staking
  • wattle fencing and grass planting
  • berm building
  • strategic composting

Join our Shore Up Community

Our goal is to share skills and knowledge to help strengthen communities affected by erosion. We are proud to have worked with communities all over the Maritimes, and we would love to work with yours! Contact us to determine if your community site could be our next Shore Up event!

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Community Spotlight

The vision of the park was to draw the community in by providing access and pathways, to address storm water flow from the parking lot and vegetate the rock wall, to expand the pollinator meadow and provide habitat.

The project was a collaboration between Group de development durable du Pays de Cocagne, Shediac Watershed Association, CSR Peninsule acadienne, Vision H20 and Nature NB and funded by the New Brunswick Environmental Trust Fund. These groups are carrying out the ongoing care and maintenance of the park with the help of their volunteers who have diverse backgrounds in ecology, biology and gardening. 

This project was completed as a hands-on workshop where the public was invited to participate in the installation. Rosmarie and the team led an educational session at the beginning of the day to teach methods of nature-based shoreline erosion mitigation as well as the principles of ecological restoration such as soil-building and habitat creation. 

This community park was a recipient of the Greener Greenspace recognition award from the Society of Organic and Urban Landcare. Greener Greenspaces is a recognition program for sites from across Canada that exemplify greener greenspace stewardship. The aim of the program is to showcase examples of ecologically-focused land care as a means to inspire others and to further the movement across Canada.  

Read about the Cocagne Community Park project award here.

Thanks to Our Shore Up Partners