Special Places: Eco-lessons from the National Parks in Atlantic Canada

Student Information Sheet: Fundy National Park of Canada

Giant tides, low mountains and deep river valleys

What’s in the park?

This area is known for the Bay of Fundy and its miles of red mud called “mud flats.” The Bay of Fundy has the highest tides in the world. Tides are the daily rise and fall of the sea caused by the pull of the moon and sun on the Earth’s oceans.

© Parks Canada / Don Pentz

In the Bay of Fundy, the distance from low tide to high tide is as high as a four-storey building! At low tide, when the ocean water drains away leaving huge mud flats, you can walk out onto the bottom of the bay! But you cannot stay long; high tide is six hours later and the ocean floor is once again flooded with ocean water.

The giant tides of the Bay of Fundy create many habitats (homes) for plants and animals such as seaweed, clams, sea worms, mud shrimps, crabs, mussels, barnacles, sea slugs and star fish. The habitats between the high and low tide are part of the intertidal zone (the area of shoreline between the limits of high and low tide).

It is hard to live in the intertidal zone. At high tide, plants and animals are covered with cold saltwater; at low tide, they get dried out. In summer, they bake in the hot sun; in winter they freeze. Waves crash on them and winter ice-cakes crush them. Plants and animals living here must have special ways to survive. Some stick to the rocks and others live buried in the mud. Some have hard shells and others are covered with protective slime.

Although most visitors come to see the giant tides and the amazing things that live in the intertidal zone, the park offers much more than the coastline. In fact, although the Bay of Fundy is at the edge of the park, it is not actually part of the park. However, the Bay of Fundy affects everything in the park because it makes the climate (weather conditions) more foggy, rainy and cool.

Most of the park is made up of low, rounded mountains with deep river valleys and ocean cliffs. The forest is a mixture of hardwood trees and evergreens. Hardwoods are trees with leaves, like maple, beech and birch. Evergreens are trees with cones and needles, such as red spruce and balsam fir. This mixed forest is part of what is known as the Acadian forest of the Maritime Provinces.

The forests are habitats for mammals such as moose, deer, beaver, racoon, black bear, coyote, snowshoe hare, bats, red squirrel and flying squirrel.

Each year, over 250,000 visitors come to Fundy National Park to camp, hike, watch birds and see the Bay of Fundy with its giant tides.

In 1948 Fundy National Park was created to protect the shores, hills and forests of the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick. It protects a special part of Canada for our future.

Why is this park special?

The park is special because it protects the hills, forests and shores of the Fundy coast. It protects part of the Acadian forest of the Maritime Provinces and all of its rivers, rocks, soil, plants and animals. It protects both common and rare things.

Fundy National Park is famous for the giant tides of the Bay of Fundy. It is special because you can see a huge variety of intertidal life and go on a guided walk on the bottom of the Bay of Fundy. The mud flats are important feeding areas for migrating shorebirds heading south in late summer and a great place for bird watching.

Peregrine Falcon © Parks Canada / Don Pentz

Fundy National Park is also important because it provides habitat for the peregrine falcon and American marten. Both are endangered species in New Brunswick.

What is the park concerned about?

The purpose of national parks is to protect Canadian landscapes and habitats for our future. The problem is that national parks are too small to protect these habitats on their own. Some areas outside the parks must also remain wild and natural.

One of the main concerns at Fundy National Park is loss of habitat for plants and animals. Natural mixed forest cannot grow inside the park where there are campgrounds, a golf course, picnic areas and roads, so no new things will be built.

The biggest loss of habitat is happening every day outside the park because of forestry, farming and roads. Forest and swamp habitat is being destroyed. Animals and plants cannot move from place to place because there are highways, farm fields and towns in the way. The park is working with people outside the park to protect enough forest for wild plants and animals to survive.

There are also concerns about small populations of peregrine falcon, lynx, marten, salmon and several species of salamanders such as dusky salamander, four-toed salamander and blue spotted salamander. Some animals are already extinct here such as woodland caribou, wolf and leopard frog. In the 1980s the peregrine falcon and marten were both extinct and were successfully re-introduced (brought in).

References

Parks Canada Web site: www.parkscanada.gc.ca