The New Brunswick Museum is leading the 12th annual BiotaNB field project this summer, and the first of two years planned for documenting the biodiversity of the 22,000-hectare Loch Alva Natural Protected Area, near Saint John. 

“This project will take place from June 28 – July 11, and will see more than 50 experts, volunteers, and students from across Canada and the US come together to document biological diversity in New Brunswick’s protected coastal forest and wetland habitat,” says Dr. Donald McAlpine, Head of the New Brunswick Museum Department of Natural History. The project’s field lab will be in Musquash, where most participants will be tenting for the 14-day field component of the project. “Months, sometimes even years of lab work in the NBM and other institutions worldwide can flow from the relatively short period BiotaNB experts spend in the field” McAlpine notes. 

In addition to biodiversity experts, several Artists-in-Residence will be participating, including Aleta Karstad, an experienced scientific illustrator and natural history artist, and 2018 recipient of the Canadian Wildlife Federation Robert Bateman Award; Mathieu Léger, a multidisciplinary contemporary artist based in Moncton; Michael McEwing, an artist and art educator from Carleton County, who creates in a variety of media, including oil and acrylic painting, printmaking and mixed media; and Stephanie Kincade, a visual and textile artist and Saint John-native whose current work explores abstracts inspired by microorganisms and other elements of the tiny and microscopic worlds underfoot and under water.  

On Saturday, July 8th from 12:30-5:30pm, a public open house will be held in the BiotaNB Field Lab, located at the Musquash Volunteer Fire-Rescue Hall: 35 Malcolm Meehan Road, Musquash, NB. This will be the first open house since 2019 (pre-pandemic) and will provide a chance to meet the experts, artists, and students participating in this two-week project and learn about their discoveries. 

The NBM wishes to acknowledge and thank the supporters who have made the 2023 BiotaNB possible through their contributions, including the New Brunswick Department of Tourism, Heritage and Culture, New Brunswick Department of Energy and Resource Development, New Brunswick Wildlife Trust Fund, McCain Foundation and JD Irving Limited. 

For more information:

Vanessa Burley
Duke Creative Collective
506-635-3853
vanessa@thisisduke.com