The HIST 2301 Introduction to Environmental History class of fall 2023 worked together in groups to research and write a book that was self-published with editorial guidance from Dr. Inkpen and publishing assistance from Keagan Hawthorne (Gaspereau Press). Dedicated to Nature: Celebrating 50 years of the Chignecto Naturalists’ Club is a history of a club of significant regional influence to the Tantramar and Chignecto regions.
The book details, among other things, how the Chignecto Naturalists’ Club was a leading faction in the formation of Sackville’s Waterfowl Park in the 1980s, how its members were instrumental in the formation of mass, citizen science bird counts, and the unlikely story of a flamingo (named Chignecto Rose) who unexpectedly showed up in a Dorchester marsh one day.
Student research was based on archival materials held in the Mount Allison University Archives and oral history interviews with founding members of the club.