Media Release

For Immediate Release

December 21, 2009

Bay of Fundy Research Nets Prof International Award

Dr. Danika van Proosdij was recently presented a Visionary Award by the Gulf of Maine Council.

A Saint Mary’s geography professor who has spent the last dozen years helping governments and community groups understand the impact of climate change on the Bay of Fundy has been presented a prestigious international award.

Dr. Danika van Proosdij, a coastal geomorphologist with 17 years experience studying and conducting research in coastal environments across North America, received a Visionary Award from the Gulf of Maine Council during a gala celebration in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Each year the council presents awards for innovation, creativity, and commitment to individuals or companies involved with protecting the marine environment of the Gulf of Maine. The recipients work in scientific, educational, conservation or policy realms.

Dr. van Proosdij has been actively studying salt marsh ecosystems in the Bay of Fundy for the last 13 years and has played an active role in the restoration and monitoring of salt marshes since 2001.

 A hands-on field researcher, her work sometimes involves taking students knee deep into salt marshes and tidal rivers to collect important data.

Tony Bowron, President of CB Wetlands and Environmental Specialists, said he has worked with Dr. van Proosdij on a number of projects over the last 10 years and has always been impressed by her level of dedication to her research, her commitment to the people she works with and the students she teaches.  

“Her demonstrated commitment to research, her students and the boarder community prove her to be an excellent scientist, professor, and an all around good person to have on a salt marsh with you,” he said.

Dr. van Proosdij and her students have worked closely with CB Wetlands & Environmental Specialists to examine the vegetative, sedimentary, nekton and hydrologic conditions pre- and post-restoration at sites across the province both on the Fundy and Atlantic coasts. The most notable project, the Cheverie Creek Tidal River and Salt Marsh Restoration Project in Hants County, was the first intentional salt marsh restoration and monitoring project of its type in province.

Dr. van Proosdij also works closely with the provincial government, advocating the use of environmentally sustainable coastal engineering protection works to mitigate the effects of climate change, particularly sea level rise and the potential impacts and implications for the agricultural dykelands and coastal infrastructure in the Bay of Fundy.

She is an active member of the Bay of Fundy Ecosystem Partnership’s Salt Marsh and Restricted Tidal Systems Working Group and provides research expertise to various environmental non-governmental agencies interested in coastal ecology and restoration. Much of her work is funded primarily through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC). 

She is one of the lead researchers studying the impacts of the Avon River Causeway in Hants County, NS, and the development of the extensive mudflat and salt marsh system that has formed downstream of the tidal barrier.

In 2008 she was awarded a Canadian Foundation for Innovation grant to develop the Intertidal Coastal Sediment Transport Research Unit at Saint Mary’s. The $300,000 facility contains innovative, state of the art instrumentation to measure sedimentary processes and are used to study salt marsh sedimentary and hydrodynamic processes within natural and restored marshes within the region.

The Maritime Fishermen’s Union was also presented a Visionary Award during the ceremony for its Clean Oceans initiative, an awareness campaign help harvesters deal with trash issues and offer ways to help them reduce the environmental footprint of the industry.

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For More Information:

Steve Proctor
Public Affairs Officer
Saint Mary's University, Public Affairs
(902) 420.5514
E-mail: steve.proctor@smu.ca
www.smu.ca