Nature P.E.I. still hoping for natural history museum on 50th anniversary

It started with a casual comment during a visit to P.E.I. National Park, and 50 years later Nature P.E.I. is still working to tell the Island's natural history stories.

"It basically started on a hike," said Ian Scott, past president of the group.

Ruth Ross was out with her friends Marion and Verna Newson, Islanders visiting home from Vancouver.

"They were just watching birds and one of the gals from Vancouver turned to Ruth and said, 'Ruth, you should start a natural history society on the Island.' And that was enough," said Scott.

There had been natural history societies on the Island before, the earliest dating back to 1889, but there were none active in 1969. The one Ross and her friends founded is still going today, and still promoting the Island's natural history stories. You can see its work in the trails of Strathgartney and Bonshaw provincial parks.

'Astory that goes back 290 million years'

Scott said one the largest goals of the society is still unrealized, a natural history museum, a central location where these stories can be told.

"One of the examples is the dimetrodon tracks in the national park," he said.

"This is a story that goes back 290 million years. Just a totally different time. We were at the centre of Pangaea, the great continent. We tend to think of ourselves as an Island surrounded by water but we were at the centre of the world at one time and it was a tropical forest."

Another example is the skeleton of a blue whale that washed up on a P.E.I. beach in 1987. That skeleton was buried in place and then excavated in 2008 for display at the University of British Columbia.

"There's only 21 in the world that are on display. The blue whale is the biggest animal that has ever lived," said Scott.

"These are our stories, these are stories of our shore and of our land, and of 290 million years ago, and they're important stories and young people need to hear them."

The group is putting together a history book, an update on one that was published for the group's 20th anniversary, and it's planning a major event for the fall that will include colleagues from around the region.

It's also looking to promote its regular monthly meetings more. This coming Tuesday's meeting, at the Carriage House inBeaconsfieldat 7:30 p.m., will feature a talk on the birds of Hawaii.

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