Todds Point nature park receives $1M

ST. STEPHEN, New Brunswick – The Ganong Nature and Marine Park may be in a foreign country, but it has economic ramifications for neighboring Calais as planners look to the north and south to make the park a reality.

The park last week moved a step closer to reality with a guarantee of more than $1 million in funding from a Canadian federal agency.

The park, which is at Todds Point, separates the St. Croix River estuary from Oak Bay, New Brunswick, and is five miles downriver from Calais and St. Stephen. It is one of about 20 significant estuaries in the Gulf of Maine. When planners first announced in 2001 that they wanted to turn the land into a park, they met with officials from Calais to talk about the positive aspects of the park as a tourist attraction.

The land was acquired five years ago from the estate of R. Whidden Ganong.

Ganong, who died the year before, had agreed to sell the 330-acre Todds Point parcel for a fraction of its value if it would be used as a nature park.

On Thursday, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency announced the more than $1 million gift to the St. Croix Estuary Project, which has oversight of the park. On hand was the Honorable Greg Thompson, minister of veterans affairs. “The 350-acre park will be a living example of ecological restoration and sustainable land use,” Thompson said in a prepared release.

The project will include restoration of the Ganong cottage and gardens and construction of a visitor center, trails, and informative interpretive nodes throughout the grounds and a parking area. ACOA provided $1,288,205 in funding through its Innovative Communities Fund, while SCEP is investing $840,623, the press release said.

“The government of Canada is proud to support this tourism infrastructure initiative, which will help maximize economic benefits to the community,” Thompson added.

Accepting on behalf of SCEP was its executive director Art MacKay. “The Ganong Nature and Marine Park will be a forward-thinking center,” MacKay said. “We are pleased to receive this investment from ACOA to help us make this project a reality.”

ACOA’s Innovative Communities Fund focuses on investments that lead to long-term employment and economic capacity building in rural communities. Working in partnership with Atlantic communities and stakeholders, ICF builds on the strengths of communities and provides the tools needed to identify opportunities available for their sustainable economic growth.

The St. Croix Estuary Project, founded in 1992, is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to the management of the St. Croix estuary and its resources. SCEP fosters a community-based response to primarily local environmental challenges. It has a 12-member board of directors.

Although Todds Point is on the New Brunswick side of the St. Croix River, its preservation has become a priority for some Americans across the border because it is in the heart of the St. Croix estuary.

William F. Todd bought the parcel in 1891. The businessman, who earned his fortune in Canada through lumbering, shipping and shipbuilding, loved horses and used the land to house and train his racehorses.

Ganong, a member of the well-known candy-making family, acquired the property in 1951. Ganong candy still is made on Candy Lane in nearby St. Stephen. He had a small summer cottage at Todds Point, as well as some other buildings that over the years have supported gardening and farming.

In 1996, he entered into discussions with the St. Croix Estuary Project about how the property could be preserved. The parcel has 180 acres of intertidal land with pebble beaches, rockweed-covered boulders and rocky tidal pools, 40 acres of field and several miles of river shoreline. The rest of the land is wooded.