CONSERVATION CORPS OF NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR GREEN TEAMS Hydro is dedicated to the promotion of environmental awareness and preservation of Newfoundland & Labrador’s unique environment. Over the past few years Hydro has been supporting the Conservation Corps of Newfoundland and Labrador’s Green Teams. The Green Team initiative is focused on the environment, conservation, education and community, making it an ideal environmental community investment partnership for Hydro. The Hydro sponsored Happy Valley-Goose Bay Green Team studied local herptiles such as frogs, toads and salamanders, spotting the rarer blue-spotted and two-lined salamander species. The team held six Environmental Awareness Days which offered the general public educational sessions on climate change and water conservation. The Labrador Green Team’s wetland and wilderness data was included in a habitat management plan. This plan, specific to the Happy Valley–Goose Bay area, will be used to help maintain the fragile wilderness and wetland systems of the province. The Whitbourne Green Team, which was stationed at the Sir Robert Bond Park, cleaned up the park area as well as constructed and set-up nesting sites for local birds and ducks. The main goal of their summer project was to make the park habitable for the rare local lichen Degalia plumbea that thrives in only a few locations worldwide. In addition, they hosted Environmental Awareness Days, spreading the word on how others can help by learning about Newfoundland and Labrador’s environment. The Whitbourne Green Team was directly involved with the protection and continued preservation of the rare lichen, Degalia plumbea. To emphasize the rarity, one tree in the Sir Robert Bond Park has three times the colonies of this lichen than the entire province of New Brunswick. NATURE CONSERVANCY OF CANADA In 2007, Hydro continued to support the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC), a conservation land trust organization which protects the country’s most ecologically significant land. Since the early 1990s, NCC has protected 22 properties encompassing 2,549 acres of Newfoundland’s natural habitat, such as Sandy Point and Lloyd’s River Escarpment. Hydro’s support over the last four years has helped NCC acquire 145 acres of land in the internationally recognized Grand Codroy Estuary Ramsar site. GLENBURNIE-BIRCHY HEAD-SHOAL BROOK Hydro partnered with the community of Glenburnie-Birchy Head-Shoal Brook (GBS) to deliver a new safety and energy efficiency initiative to its residents. In July 2007, GBS became the first community in Canada to take on the David Suzuki Nature Challenge as an entire community. David Suzuki's Nature Challenge identifies the most effective ways to conserve nature. Energy conservation is one of the four ways identified to achieve this goal. Components of the challenge were incorporated into the town’s implementation strategy, including one which focused on reducing home energy use. Through HYDROWISE, Hydro worked with the Fire Chief and Assistant Fire Chiefs to deliver a home energy efficiency workshop to 25 Bonne Bay South Fire Brigade volunteers to prepare them for their fire safety and energy conservation walkthroughs of the 200 homes in their community. Through a partnership with the neighboring Woody Point fire brigade, the initiative has expanded to reach an additional 200 homes. The workshop provided the information and resources necessary to identify the major energy uses in the home and provide homeowners with suggestions for increased energy efficiency. HYDROWISE is providing each home with a CFL, water conservation kit and HYDROWISE energy efficiency information kit. The total annual potential savings from this distribution is: 138,800 kWh per year 220 barrels of oil from the Holyrood Generating Station 110 tonnes of GHG emissions. Copyright © 2008 NL Hydro, All rights reserved.