CPAWS Blog

Every now and then, an opportunity comes along where just a few moments of your time can make a big difference for environmental protection.  This is one of those times.

Today is the final day to comment on a plan that will protect vast amounts of Nova Scotia’s wilderness.

The Nova Scotia government is considering creating hundreds of new protected areas, conserving some of the best remaining intact forest, rare species habitat, and coastal wilderness in the province.  Lots of great sites are proposed for protection.  A map can be viewed here.

It is a bold and ambitious plan.  And, the government deserves a lot of credit for taking these important steps to protect Nova Scotia’s biodiversity.

But there are plenty of naysayers out there who don’t want this proposal to go ahead; people who see the value of trees as telephone poles and the land as a commodity to be exploited.  Every year, 50,000 hectares of forest in Nova Scotia are cut down, mostly by clearcutting.  And, our deep wilderness is increasingly being carved up by logging roads and utility corridors, and more recently, by seismic lines.

That’s why it’s so important for the government to hear from everyone who supports protecting more wilderness.  Without lots of people standing up in support of this plan, many important sites may not get protected.

Please take a moment to make your voice heard and speak up in support of creating more protected areas.

The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) is asking the government to protect ALL of the areas currently under evaluation for protection.  All are ecologically-significant.  And, all deserve protection.

You can make an online submission directly to the government here.

Or, by sending an email to protectedareas@gov.ns.ca

Because two minutes of your time today can make a big difference for the future of Nova Scotia’s wilderness.

Thanks for helping out.

~Chris Miller

It’s not every day that a government announcement draws praise from both forest companies and environmental groups.  But, that’s exactly what happened in Nova Scotia late last week.

That’s when the provincial government unveiled details about the lands it has purchased from Resolute Forest Products (still referred to locally as the Bowater Mill) for conservation.

Included in the $23.75 million land deal, are 10,000 hectares of high conservation value land in southwestern Nova Scotia, the significant majority of which will become new protected areas.  This will help the province achieve its goal of protecting at least twelve percent of the provincial landmass by 2015.

The land purchases include large tracts of intact forest, species-at-risk habitat, significant river frontage (Mersey R., Medway R., Liverpool R.), old-growth forests, wetlands, and sites adjacent to existing protected areas.

Bowater gets some much-needed cash to help keep the mill running, and the people of Nova Scotia, in return, acquire huge swaths of high priority lands for conservation.  Win-win. (Read the CPAWS release)

CPAWS was also very pleased to see the government acquire lands of cultural significance to the Mi’kmaq, as well as productive lands located near Bear River that will be available for community-based forestry by First Nations.

A great deal of care, and hard work, has gone into making this land agreement happen.  And, all the more impressive, considering most of this came together in a matter of a few weeks, just before Christmas.

Hats off to everybody who played a role in making this landmark agreement happen.

It bodes well for continued collaboration in the future.

~Chris Miller

It’s been an interesting, and busy, year for conservation in Nova Scotia.  Lots of progress has been made creating new protected areas.

With the end of the year fast approaching, let’s take a quick look back at some of the highlights.

• Sable Island takes a big step toward protection.  The Federal and NS governments signed a park establishment agreement for Sable Island National Park Reserve, which clears the way for its official designation in the New Year.  This will be Nova Scotia’s third national park, and the first one established in almost a half-century.

• Chignecto also takes a big step toward protection.  The Nova Scotia government unveiled a proposed candidate boundary for two new protected areas for Chignecto; Raven Head Wilderness Area for 40km of Bay of Fundy coastline, and Kelley River Wilderness Area for vast inland forests.  In total, about 25,000 hectares of land are recommended for protection, which will result in the largest new protected area established in Nova Scotia in over a decade.  Learn more here.

• Progress toward twelve percent protected area target.  The Nova Scotia government has been making steady progress toward its target of protecting at least 12% of Nova Scotia’s landmass by 2015.  This year, the government released a detailed proposal for public review, which could see hundreds of new protected areas established across the province.  Currently, only about 9% of Nova Scotia is legally-protected.  High priority sites on the short-list include large intact forests, rare species habitat, coastal areas, significant wetlands, and sites adjacent to existing protected areas.  Make a public submission online here.

• Five Bridge Lakes Wilderness Area established.  After extensive public consultations, the Nova Scotia government officially protected a large tract of wilderness just west of Halifax containing an important population of mainland moose.  The Five Bridge Lakes Wilderness Area is 8,600 hectares in size and provides an important conservation zone near Halifax.

• St. Anns Bank chosen as Area of Interest.  Nova Scotia will soon have a new marine protected area, at St. Anns Bank, just off the coast of Cape Breton.  The Federal government chose St. Anns Bank as an Area of Interest and is proceeding with public and stakeholder consultations.

• Nova Scotia government invests in private land conservation.  This year, the Nova Scotia government committed about $37 million for expanding the public land base, the substantial majority of which will go toward new protected areas.  This funding includes $23.75 million to buy lands from the Bowater mill in southwestern NS, and $6.5 million directly to the Department of Environment for buying lands for protected areas.

• Protected area expansions.  The NS government took steps to expand nine existing protected wilderness areas in the province.  In total, 23 properties will be added to the protected areas, resulting in the protection of 5,000 hectares of new land.

Lots more work to do in the New Year.  See you then.

~Chris Miller

Caribou Bog.  Caribou Island.  Caribou Lake.  Caribou River.

There’s also, Caribou Barren, Caribou Brook, Caribou Cove, and Caribou Harbour.

And there’s, Caribou Marsh, Caribou Plains, Caribou Channel, and Caribou Pond.

A quick glimpse at a map of Nova Scotia reveals a whack of place names with the word “Caribou”.

For instance, to catch the ferry to Prince Edward Island, you depart from “Caribou Ferry”, near the community of “Caribou” and beside the community of “Central Caribou” just down from “Big Caribou River”, and the boat will travel through “Caribou Harbour” and into “Caribou Channel” with “Caribou Island” on your left, and “Caribou-Munroes Island Provincial Park” on your right.  You get my drift.

Nova Scotia is peppered with “caribou” place names.  From this, it doesn’t take a great leap of logic to conclude that there used to be lots of caribou in Nova Scotia.

Indeed, woodland caribou used to occur all over Nova Scotia, from one end of the province to the other.  Sadly, today there are none.  Nova Scotia’s woodland caribou are now extinct, with the last known sighting occurring in 1921.  When archaeologists examine old shell midden sites in the province, they routinely come across discarded caribou bones.

A species that used to be an intricate part of Nova Scotia’s woodlands is now gone, with only their place names now marking their former presence on the landscape.

Just imagine how it must have felt to see a lone caribou walking peacefully on the far shore of a remote lake, or trampling through the deep forests of Nova Scotia’s interior back in the day.  It must have been quite the sight to behold.

Let’s not let what’s happened in Nova Scotia, and elsewhere in the Maritimes, become a harbinger for woodland caribou in the rest of Canada.  Woodland caribou right across the boreal forest are in trouble.  Listed as a threatened species, many of the populations are in free fall and are at risk of extirpation.

The Canadian government has just released a proposed recovery strategy to help bring back the woodland caribou, but it doesn’t go far enough to protect the caribou’s habitat and it only gives the caribou a 60% chance at long term survival.  CPAWS thinks we can do better than that.  We must do better than that.

To learn more and to add your voice to growing list of Canadians asking the government to do more to protect this iconic species, please visit here.

~Chris Miller

The Nova Scotia government has recently announced it will spend $23.7 million buying lands from the Bowater mill in southwestern Nova Scotia in the next few months.  That amount of money should be able to purchase about 10,000 hectares of land, based on previous land purchases.

CPAWS welcomes this investment in purchasing lands for conservation, since Nova Scotia has very little public land and because several Bowater properties contain high conservation value, including old-growth forests, species-at-risk habitat, important wetlands, significant lakeshore frontage, and sites adjacent to existing protected areas.

In Province House yesterday, Premier Darrell Dexter reaffirmed that the priority for the land purchases is conservation and, in particular, to help the province achieve its target of protecting 12% of Nova Scotia’s landmass by 2015.

In case you’re not a regular Hansard reader (like many of us environmentalists are), this is what the Premier said yesterday at Province House when asked about the land purchases in Question Period.

Premier Dexter: “Mr. Spearker, this is a purchase of land.  We are purchasing from them [Bowater] some 25,000 acres of land.  The reason why we’re doing that is to fulfill our responsibility to reach the 12 per cent protected goal…”.

Bowater is one of the largest landowners in Nova Scotia.  They own about 235,000 hectares of land, or about 5% of the province.

CPAWS has spent a lot of time analyzing the Bowater land holdings over the past few years and we know which properties are of the highest conservation value.  Properties listed below are the ones that the Nova Scotia government should purchase as part of the agreement with the company.

~Chris Miller

Fisher Lake
Size: 2,330 hectares
Location: Annapolis County
Conservation Significance:
• Large intact forest
• Significant shoreline frontage on Fisher Lake
• Concentration of old forest (white pine/red spruce)
• Concentration of rich hardwood forest
• High quality Acadian forest
• Landscape representation (contains all major ecosystem types in region)
• Lakeshore islands
• Wilderness recreation (canoeing, hiking)

Roseway and Tobeatic Lakes
Size: 3,126 hectares
Location: Shelburne and Queens Co.
Conservation Significance:
• Large intact forest
• Significant lakeshore habitat
• Concentration of old forest (red spruce, white pine)
• Concentration of rare plants (coastal plain flora)
• Endangered mainland moose habitat
• Significant wetland complexes
• Adjacent existing protected area
• Wilderness recreation (canoeing)

Jordan River
Size: 1,794 hectares
Location: Shelburne Co.
Conservation Significance:
• Extensive river frontage on the Jordan (>20km)
• Large intact forest
• Concentration of rare plants (coastal plain flora)
• Concentration of old forest (red spruce, white pine, red oak)
• Diverse forest ecoystems
• High quality Acadian forest
• Endangered mainland moose habitat
• Significant wetland complexes
• Adjacent existing protected area
• Wilderness recreation (canoeing)

Lake Torment
Size: 1,606 hectares
Location: Annapolis Co.
Conservation Significance:
• Concentration of old forest (black spruce, white pine)
• Large wetland complex
• High quality Acadian forest
• Adjacent Kejimkujik National Park

Alma Lake
Size: 1435 hectares
Location: Annapolis Co.
Conservation Significance:
• Landscape connectivity
• Concenration of old forest (red spruce/hemlock/white pine & hardwoods)
• Large intact forests
• Significant river frontage on the Medway
• Wilderness recreation (hiking, canoeing)

Long Lake
Size: 303 hectares
Location: Lunenburg Co.
Conservation Significance:
• Concentration of old forest (red spruce, white pine, hardwoods)
• High quality Acadian forest
• Adjacent existing nature reserve

Big Indian Lake
Size: 481 hectares
Location: Halifax Co.
Conservation Significance:
• Concentration of old forest (red spruce, white pine, hemlock)
• High quality Acadian forest
• Important lakeshore habitat
• Wilderness recreation (hiking)