Steven Estey - Saint Mary's University

Feature Article
22 MAROON & WHITE I SAINT MARY’S UNIVERSITY
Professor Tony Bowron, president
of CB Wetlands & Environmental
Specialists Inc., in his other office.
Spotlight: Green Entrepreneurs
Professor works to restore lost salt marshes.
By Richard Woodbury
Tony Bowron witnesses some of the most beautiful
scenery when he’s at work. Some mornings, it’s a heavy
mist covering the wetland where he’s working, which is
soon replaced by a sunrise. Other days, he sees thunder
clouds form in the distance and hears the lightning crash,
although they never quite seem to reach him. And not a
day goes by where a Great Blue Heron or an eagle doesn’t
fly by. “You sort of step back and go, ‘This is our office,’”
says Bowron, marvelling in the sights he takes in every day.
Bowron is a part-time environmental studies professor at Saint
Mary’s and the president of CB Wetlands & Environmental
Specialists Inc. His company rebuilds and restores wetlands.
Wetlands are a prominent feature of Nova Scotia’s landscape.
And as the province is almost entirely surrounded by the
ocean, salt marshes abound.
Wetlands have important social, ecological and economic
functions. They provide habitat for plants, fish and other
animals, and also help protect ecosystems by removing
organic waste and bacteria. They filter excess nutrients and
contaminants, which contributes to human health.
However, salt marshes in particular are in danger. Over
the last 400 years, 80 per cent of the ones along the Bay
of Fundy (and 65 per cent provincewide) have been lost
due to human activity.
“That’s a lot of ecological, social and economic loss that has
occurred,” says Bowron.
MAROON & WHITE I SAINT MARY’S UNIVERSITY 23