Our bi-annual business meetings are opportunities for representatives from our member municipalities, invited guests and our partner organizations to share conservation and stewardship success stories and challenges. The meetings are also a chance to network and partner with other SAM communities on your next Stewardship project! Attendance is highly encouraged, and we offer a travel incentive to cover some of the associated costs.

In the Fall, SAM hosts Regional Meetings to encourage and stimulate conservation conversations in your region, and to support and facilitate networking amongst regional municipalities and community organizations. These meetings are an opportunity for your community to showcase its involvement and implementation of your habitat stewardship agreement in seeking to become a sustainable community. It is also a chance to become inspired by work being done in other municipalities and bring those ideas back to your community.

Registered participants will receive the Agenda and supporting materials via email prior to the Meeting.

Accommodations

As the regional meetings are only a half day event, accommodations are not pre-arranged. If any member requires accommodations, they are responsible to book their own accommodations and any related travel for this meeting.

Tentative SAM 2024 Fall Regional Meeting Itinerary:

9:30am - Doors Open/Registration, coffee and tea provided

10:00am - Welcome, Administration, Round Table Introductions, SAM Board of Director's Report

10:30am - Update on SAM Workplan

11:00am - Regional Topics of Discussion:

-Eastern: Natural Assets (especially wetlands) under development pressure.

-Central: Helping to conserve our special places through different legislative mechanisms.

-Western/Labrador: Helping to conserve our special places through different legislative mechanisms.

-Northern Peninsula: Highlighting our important Limestone Landscapes.

11:15am - SAM Member Reports (10 minutes per representative) on conservation and stewardship success stories and challenges within their municipality

12:00pm - EHJV Partner Updates

12:30pm - Adjournment

All invited guests are welcome to attend an optional lunch following the meeting.

SAM Meeting Background:

The Stewardship Association of Municipalities Inc (known affectionately as SAM) works with the Eastern Habitat Joint Venture (EHJV), whose mission is to conserve landscapes in Eastern Canada to sustain bird populations, while providing ecological, social and economic benefits to society, to secure, enhance, & restore important wildlife habitat (wetlands, uplands, coastal areas, & species at risk habitat) within municipal planning boundaries in NL. As a network of communities who practice environmental stewardship across NL, SAM is an incorporated non-profit organization (1994) comprised of municipalities in NL interested in wildlife habitat conservation contributing to maintaining & enhancing biodiversity in the province.

Your town became involved with SAM upon the signing of a Municipal Habitat Stewardship Agreement with the province. This agreement, as a tangible public step taken by your Town's council, serves to proactively conserve wildlife habitat found within your municipal planning boundaries. Since taking that initial step many towns have become involved in restoring and enhancing wildlife habitat while educating and engaging residents in sustainable land use actions. Since 1993, 49 municipalities in NL have signed such agreements and incorporated them into their municipal planning documents and development regulations.

What happens at the meetings?

Each Fall there are three Regional Meetings, one in each of these regions: Eastern, Central, Western/Labrador and Northern Peninsula, held outside of the larger urban municipalities. These meetings are an opportunity for communities to showcase their involvement and implementation of their habitat stewardship agreement and share their future hopes and dreams for conservation and stewardship in the area, to a room full of supporting and interested community partners. It is also a chance to become inspired by work being done in other municipalities and bring those ideas back to your community. To accommodate attendance, the SAM Regional Meeting is a half day event held during the work week. Meetings involve reports from attending SAM Representatives and community partners, regional topics for discussion, and brainstorming how SAM can better support communities in your region.

Who can attend a SAM meeting?

Invitations are emailed to SAM communities with an online registration form. Town councils appoint a representative to attend the meetings and they can be either:

A) A member of council

B) A member of staff or

C) A member of a council committee or interested town resident.

What is expected of attendees?

The Fall Regional Meeting is an opportunity for sharing, networking, and partnership building. We hope that SAM Representatives come prepared to share their municipality's future environment conservation and stewardship goals, with hopes that municipalities will leave the meeting with more tools and resources available to achieve these goals. SAM Representatives and community organizations can share their past conservation achievements, and any current project(s) they are working on. We generally ask SAM Representatives/attendees to prepare a brief 10 minute verbal report. You are also welcome to bring along written documents or utilize photos/presentations for this purpose. Additionally, there will be a regional environmental/conservation discussion period to stimulate potential actions and provide communities in the region with a better understanding of some potential environmental issues they face.

What if I am unable to attend the meeting?

We recognize that the costs and distances involved in attending the Fall Regional Meeting may be prohibitive in some instances, but we'd still like to hear from you! You are encouraged to send a brief written report (1 page or less) to us (samconservation@gmail.com) outlining the activities which have occurred recently in the ongoing implementation of your municipal habitat stewardship agreement or in terms of your town’s efforts to increase environmental sustainability. Your report will be reviewed by other members at the meeting in your absence.

What are the costs?

There is no registration fee to attend SAM meetings and a nutrition/coffee break is provided at no charge during the meeting. The SAM Regional Meeting is a half day event held during the work week within your municipality's general region. If there are any questions or concerns, please email samconservation@gmail.com.

Are meals provided at the meeting? What about allergies and dietary restrictions?

A nutrition/coffee break is provided at no charge during the meeting. Please let us know on the online registration form about any food allergies or dietary restrictions.

Can our municipality host the next Fall Regional Meeting?

Interested Towns are encouraged to reach out to samconservation@gmail.com after the Spring AGM if they are interested in being a Regional Meeting Host. We can provide a summary document to help guide your town's decision and assist in the meeting hosting process.

Town of Gambo's Website

Local attractions:

Joey Smallwood's Lookout

Smallwood Interpretation Centre

Logger's Memorial Park

Whale Point Trail