We are always looking for volunteers. If you are interested in becoming a volunteer now or in the future, please fill out the form below under "Volunteer" and we will contact you when an opportunity arises. At the Office Manager's discretion, memberships may be awarded to anyone who volunteers with the HRAA.
Conservation, Education & Community Interaction since 1977
Photo Credit: Donald Fougere
ABOUT
The Hammond River Angling Association (HRAA) is a non-profit environmental organization, whose mandate is to protect and preserve the Hammond River watershed through education, conservation, and community interaction.
Since its inception in 1977, the HRAA has engaged in many fish habitat and population enhancement programs, and our main objective is to continue to collaborate with other watershed organizations, Indigenous communities, and provincial and federal partners to further augment the Hammond River, a valuable tributary of the Wolastoq-Saint John River. Some of these activities have included Atlantic Salmon brood stock collection and stocking programs, wetland delineation, bank stabilization, tree planting, land conservation through participating in Canada’s Nature Legacy and the creation of “Theobald Lake- Candidate Protected Natural Area”, ecological research and inventories (with a focus on aquatic and terrestrial species at risk and invasive species), culvert and fish passage assessments and remediation, extensive water quality monitoring and cyanobacterial sampling, industrial environmental compliance monitoring, community outreach, volunteer and citizen science opportunities (rain gauges, “Riverkeepers-Citizen Water Quality Monitoring”, Atlantic Salmon redd counts, shoreline cleanup initiatives, “EcoLogic” classes in local schools). The HRAA also hosts the Hammond River Nature Camp, an environmentally educational summer camp that attracts over 300 youth each year.
The HRAA is a membership-based organization and an affiliate with the Atlantic Salmon Federation, the New Brunswick Salmon Council, the New Brunswick Environmental Network, the Saint John River Management Advisory Committee, the New Brunswick Watershed Caucus, and the Nature Conservancy of Canada.
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OUR ORIGINS
The HRAA has come along way since our humble origins as a group of concerned anglers wanting to protect the Hammond River and its Atlantic salmon population. The first meetings were held in a basement with 45-50 people in attendance. It wasn't until the late 1990's that the HRAA was finally set up in a proper building, with land donated by Arthur Irving and materials donated by Jim Irving. Today, the HRAA still resides in that lodge, known as the Hammond River Conservation Center. We have approximately 325 members, a 12 person Board of Directors, full time staff, many summer staff, a popular nature camp, and over 10 research, conservation and education projects on the go each year.