The Long’s Braya (Braya longii) and the Fernald’s Braya (Braya fernaldii), are arctic-alpine like plants that have been found in the limestone barrens on the Great Northern Peninsula; an extremely unusual habitat that is home to several rare species of plants. Of course, Newfoundlanders often find it hard to believe that our province could host something so unique. But if you’ve ever driven up the Northern Peninsula and seen this landscape - “it looks like open Arctic terrain” between a roaring, cold Atlantic ocean and a much-used paved road - then you would probably doubt no more.

“This is the only place that these plants can be found in the world,” said Dr. Hermanutz, a plant ecologist, who with the help of a recovery team, is working to ensure that these plants will persist in their natural habitat.

The plants grow only in these barrens, and because these barrens are so rare and so much has been lost to quarrying, the plants are few and far between. In fact, during its three years on the Northern Peninsula the team has only found four populations of Long’s Braya, which makes the plant an endangered species. The Fernald’s Braya is not quite as scarce, however; it has been listed as “threatened” by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, the body that classifies wildlife. It classified the Long’s Braya and the Fernald’s Braya in 1997.

The Braya Recovery Team was designated by the provincial Forest Resources and Agrifoods minister to study the plants and the habitat, and to make recommendations to ensure that the species do not become extinct. Members of the team include the chairs, Dr. Hermanutz, and Henry Mann; Dr. Trevor Bell, a geographer; Dr. Wilfred Nicholls, director of the Botanical Gardens; and others including wildlife specialists, stewardship specialists, and staff from Parks and Natural Areas. The team began its work on the Long’s Braya and the Fernald’s Braya in 1998. Since then, they meet every summer during the first week of July on the Northern Peninsula to do further research.

The team’s mandate is to produce a recovery plan. This task includes making recommendations based on the team’s work to ensure that the Braya does persist, and hopefully to “downlist” the plant so that it is no longer considered endangered. The draft recovery plan has recently been submitted and Dr. Hermanutz is very pleased with that.

The work is not all about the plant, however: it’s also about the people.

“We’re not just fulfilling our own mandate, we’re trying to get the best of both worlds,” said Dr. Hermanutz. “There are benefits for the people in the area, and we have been getting locals in the area involved and interested.”

Dr. Hermanutz feels that the preservation of the plant could be a part of a tourism drive to the area.

“You would not believe the people we see. When we’re in the field we see people from all over the world; we see Germans, people from Japan. People come out of their way to see these plants. They get to see plants that they would otherwise have to go to the Arctic to see.”

The recovery team, with the help of the Green Team are spreading the word about the plant and its rarity to locals in the area. This way, people can work together to secure a long‑term land use planning strategy to ensure that people get what they need, but still ensure that the plant can persist. They have also created an ex situ conservation strategy for both species of braya at the Memorial University Botanical Garden. They will serve as a failsafe in the event that something should wipe out the populations that are now growing in the wild.