Nova Scotia proposes largest new protected area in over a decade

Published on Apr 21 2011 |
This article is tagged as: eastern-woodlands, successes, forests, nova-scotia, chignecto |
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HALIFAX - The Nova Scotia government has just released the proposed boundary for a protected wilderness area at Chignecto. A total of 25,320 hectares of public land is proposed for protection, covering about three quarters of the lands under evaluation. The province is proposing two protected wilderness areas be established; one for the vast interior forests of Chignecto (Kelley River Wilderness Area) and the other for the coastline along the Bay of Fundy (Raven Head Wilderness Area). Together, this will be the largest new protected area established in Nova Scotia in over a decade.

"This is an important step for the protection of forests at Chignecto", says Chris Miller, the National Conservation Biologist for CPAWS, based in Halifax. "It brings us much closer to protecting one of the most ecologically-significant areas of the province".

Chignecto contains some of the largest remaining tracts of intact forests in Nova Scotia. A report released by Global Forest Watch Canada last year shows that only 17% of Nova Scotia's forests remain in an intact condition, in tracts larger than 500 hectares in size. That's one of the lowest percentages of any province in Canada. The proposed candidate protected area boundary recommends protection of the vast majority of the intact forests at Chignecto.

The coastline of Chignecto is also significant. Proposed for protection are all of the public lands on the shores of the Bay of Fundy between Apple Head and Shulie, an area containing almost 40km of rugged wilderness coastline and important tidal salt marsh habitat. Chignecto is home to a number of species-at-risk, including one of the last strongholds for the endangered mainland moose and an important population of wood turtle.

"Chignecto is an ecological hotspot", says Miller. "It contains vast tracts of intact forests that stretch all the way from the shores of the Bay of Fundy to the Cobequids. It's home to a wide variety of wildlife, including the endangered mainland moose. Today's announcement is an important signal that the Nova Scotia government intends on protecting the forests of Chignecto."

CPAWS has been working with our partners to protect Chignecto for many years and has previously called on the Nova Scotia government to designate the significant majority of the public lands at Chignecto as a legally-protected wilderness area. We want to applaud the efforts of the hard-working folks at Cumberland Wilderness, who have been leading the charge in the community to protect Chignecto.

CPAWS has undertaken original field research within Chignecto to identify important conservation values and we've documented ecosystems in every corner of the remote wilderness.

Back in 2004, the Nova Scotia government proposed de-listing Chignecto as a game sanctuary and there was much public backlash against that proposal. The public was loud and clear in demanding stronger legal protections for provincial game sanctuaries, not less. A wilderness area designation for Chignecto would prohibit industrial activities such as clearcutting, open-pit mining, and seismic testing, while allowing for continued public use of these important lands. A game sanctuary designation provides no protection from industrial activities.

The release of the candidate boundary for Chignecto kick starts another round of public consultation. The Nova Scotia government will be receiving feedback until August 12th.

To view a map of the proposed protected wilderness areas, click here.

For more information:
Chris Miller, Ph.D.
902-446-4155
cmiller@cpaws.org

Comments

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I have to ask this question. Why am I hearing from the pro-wilderness side their concern about includeing only the Bucktagen Barrens into the Kelly River wilderness boundaries? Why is the Bucktagen Barrens the most important area to consider? This is just a small portion of a very large section of Crown land, consisting of extensive marshes, forests and open barrens taking in also the whole excluded western boundaries of the Game sanctuary,Mitchell Meadows,a large portion of Shulie River,Tompkin Plains and sweeping down to Muddy Plains.All prime moose habitat and all excluded. We can do better than just adding Bucktagen Barrens to the proposed boundaries. Areas in the Sanctuary where there has been clearcutting already done such as around Tipping Meadow have also been removed from the proposed boundaries.No more clearcutting should be tolerated anywhere in the game sanctuary. The proposed boundaries are too small and should take in ALL of the prime habitat so important to the survival of our Mainland Moose. It's now or never.An enlarged area of 35,000 hectares ( what we were originally hopeing for!)will much better insure the future welfare of All our wildlife - Moose ESPECIALLY!

By irwin barrett on Apr/27/2011
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CPAWS has been working closely with our partners at Cumberland Wilderness to ensure that the significant majority of the public lands under evaluation at Chignecto are recommended for protection. We've been pushing for a large protected wilderness area that protects the intact forests, coastline, and species-at-risk habitat of Chignecto. What's recommended for protection by the Nova Scotia government will be the third largest protected wilderness area established in the province, and the largest in over a decade. A total of about 25,000 hectares are proposed for protection of 35,000 hectares under review, or about 70% of the total public lands. Through the upcoming public consultations the boundary will need to be expanded to include the important moose area of the Bucktagen Barrens, on the west side of the proposed Kelley River Wilderness Area. To view a map of what's proposed for protection, please click here (http://www.gov.ns.ca/nse/protectedareas/docs/KERI_RAHE_Overview_A.pdf)

By CPAWS on Apr/26/2011
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As a photographer who has photographed this Cumberland Wilderness area to help promote it's protection, especially through CPAWS and the Ecology Action Centre efforts, I have to say I'm a little disapointed and perhaps naively surprised at it's boundary exclusions.I misstakenly assumed that ALL of the Chignecto Game Sanctuary boundaries would be respected in the new wilderness proposal plus most of the bordering great Moose habitat of crown lands stretching westward to the coastal highway between Shulie and Sand River.Moose are now a threatened and dying species in mainland Nova Scotia and this area is claimed as one of the last strongholds in the province for our mainland Moose. Yet all the Game Sanctuary's western borders and the barrens, marshes and forests that are prime Moose habitat which stretch to the coast are all excluded. Why? I assume that certain pulp and paper interests want to keep these lands free for future prospects.Limited clearcutting has already been done in the Game Sanctuary and for years all along the coastal forests bordering the Bay of Fundy. Last year the provincial government paid Northern Pulp and Paper 26 or 27 million dollars for the coastal crown land stretching from Apple Head to , I believe, Shulie. For another 1 million we could have had no more clearcutting of that streatch of coastline.But NO, the deal is they are still going to go into the forests around Apple Head and clearcut so many more hectares before they really leave!What a gutless, provincial government sell-out rip-off of the public! By the way, This is the land promised to be the new Ravenhead wilderness along with the Kelly River Wilderness.The Kelly River wilderness boundaries should be expanded to include all the Game Sanctuary boundaries and the crown lands to its west (including the very important Shulie River, one of the areas major rivers!)to the Bay of Fundy. Not one more acre of forest should be clearcut!

By irwin barrett on Apr/23/2011
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