Adapted from the article in Island Naturalist #248

Nature PEI provides awareness and education about PEI’s species at risk of extinction. The idea to create a small exhibit on Species at Risk (SAR) to take on the road to various public locations has been an objective of the Nature PEI Board for some time. Earlier in 2023, Nature PEI was awarded a grant from the PEI Wildlife Conservation Fund, and also received some assistance from the Forested Landscape Priority Place (FLPP) via Environment and Climate Change Canada, for this project.

Once funding was secured, actual designing of the museum was done by Rosemary Curley, past-president of Nature PEI, and SAR coordinator Chris Ortenburger.  They endeavoured to figure out how to make something to engage all ages visually, and how to connect with many kinds of museum visitors and all types of learners. And the exhibit had to be portable for one or two people and one or two passenger vehicles, and be accommodated in a wide variety of locations.

Invaluable assistance on technical matters was given by Johanne Vigneault and Greg Gallant of the Community Museum Association of PEI, and on displays from Samantha Kelly at the PEI Museum and Heritage Foundation and others. Johanne surveyed Island museums to gauge their interest and set calendar options, and has been coordinating with the primary curators, and Samantha also assisted in obtaining translation of some materials into French.

With the objectives of an engaging but transportable exhibit in mind,  two main display components, and extra visual elements, were designed. There are two display cases, each set on a portable table. One is a wooden cabinet contains two rotating columns. Each column has three stacked cubes – like giant shish kabobs — which are turned by hand so a total of 24 of PEI species-at-risk are highlighted. Photos representing each species were picked from an extensive collection by Island photographers and labelled with the species’ name in English, French and Mi’kmaq (if known), and the conservation status of the species. The photos are printed on corrugated plastic to make them durable but also economical to replace. The case was custom-built by Greg Gallant based on an idea from a nature museum.

The other table has a gently used metal display unit which holds and is surrounded by gorgeous sculptures of several other species at risk, including some of the ocean marine mammals, which were carved by noted photographer and amateur carver Donna Martin. These include a life-size Monarch butterfly and Canadian warbler, the Little Brown Myosis (bat), and three whale species. A Black Bear jaw has recently been added to the Exhibit. Greg Gallant fashioned acrylic cases for displaying and transporting the carvings. Many people helped assemble the displays before our first booking, with Nature PEI president Gerard MacDougall using an angle grinder to shorten the table legs to make one display set more accessible.

Welcoming you to the exhibit is a beautiful 6 ft retractable banner, with a splendid photo of a Monarch by Green Thumb Photography, and showing Island forest cover pre-settlement and at its lowest. It also allows us to acknowledge the supporters of museum by “exhibiting” their logos.

Another component is a real mounted River Otter, a 4 year old male that was caught in a legal beaver trap. In an otherwise disconcerting display of endangered and threatened species, the River Otter represents a positive story, as some have returned to several Prince Edward Island rivers. The mounted jaunty upright otter is quite eye-catching and its silky fur is a bit too tempting despite the “Please do not touch” signs, often perched on a site’s Welcome desk to remind people to visit the Exhibit and keep him safe from patting hands.

The banner, otter, carvings and photographs are visually stunning, and are augmented by interpretive panels of carefully written information: definitions, threats to species, and particular descriptions. There’s a fine balance providing interpretive information for all kinds of exhibit goers – the streakers that race through, dabblers that pick and choose, and the slow, more intense examiners. The hope is there’s enough for everyone.

The Nature PEI Species-at-Risk Travelling Museum started its 2023 tour at the Tryon Museum, in the middle of Jack and Arlene Sorensen’s cozy museum room in their brightly lit garage. The display was in the centre of the room and you could walk all around it. After three weeks, we set it up at the Basin Head Fisheries east of Souris, where it had more of an L-shaped display space, and at the Bedeque and Area Historical Museum, it was split between two sides of the staircase on the second floor, with the otter and banner at the front door to encourage people to come find it. It’s visiting Carr’s Wild Life Centre in Stanley Bridge, the Acadian Museum in Miscouche, the Charlottetown Library and Learning Centre, Holland College Library, the Canadian Centre for Climate Change and Adaptation, Orwell Corner Historic Museum, Cape Bear Historic Lighthouse, Sir Andrew Macphail Homestead and Macphail Woods Ecological Centre.  It is currently back at Orwell Corner!  It’s challenging and fun to make the display fit the space that the museums have offered.

Moving the exhibit is a little bit of an effort, though most of the things were designed to be lightweight and moved by one person. The cube display case is the heaviest, but has two sturdy handles and is fairly easily moved with a small dolly. The interpretive panels were designed by us and printed at Ellen’s Creek Gallery and Framing, on a matte finish, 8 1/2 by 11 inch framing. They adhere with Velcro to the fabric of the display cases. The exhibit also features literature racks for visitors to take the various printed material – “Species-at-Risk on Prince Edward Island: a Pocket Guide”, Monarch and Bumblebee rack cards, and the new bookmarks featuring bats, bumblebees, and the transverse lady beetle. We also have a box for comments and for people’s pledges on what they can do to help vulnerable species on PEI. We’ll be adding a mat with certain animal tracks so you can “Walk Like a Bear or Plover”.

The exhibit is touring on a two-year calendar schedule with some spots still available. 

This project could not have happened without support from the PEI Wildlife Conservation Fund, the FLPP, the Community Museums Association of Prince Edward Island, the PEI Museums and Heritage Foundation, the Province of Prince Edward Island Forest, Fish and Wildlife Division, and of course, hard work from the Board and others at Nature PEI.

So come by and see, but don’t pet, the otter; you can twirl the cubes to unveil the astounding photos, marvel at the intricate carvings, soak in the information in the interpretive panels, and smile or shed a tear at the featured species’ stories, and see how we can improve conditions for these vulnerable plants and animals on the Island.