When is a protected area a “protected ” area?
According to the Nova Scotia government, it is only after the property has been formally designated through the Order in Council process.
The following is the government’s explicit rationale for being able to enter into a secret deal to delist and sell Owls Head Provincial Park: It had no status; it is just another piece of Crown land. They claim that they were within their rights. So, they can’t honestly say that they are close to the goal of protecting 13 % of the province, nor meeting their goals for Protected Lands. Many properties, both Provincial Parks and proposed Wilderness Areas on the list, are not formally designated and are therefore not truly protected.
Two opposing statements can’t both be true. The sad reality is that the government is nowhere close to meeting the target of 13% land conservation when a significant number of the properties in Our Parks and Protected Areas Plan may be subject to secret backroom deals and sale to developers. That is the process established at Owls Head Provincial Park.
Stop the lying. Stop the sale. Protect Owls Head Provincial Park.
Christopher Trider
Related Reading: Owls Head Provincial Park and Legal Designation: http://saveowlshead.org/ecology/owls-head-provincial-park-and-legal-designation/
(Originally posted on the Save Little Harbour/Owls Head Facebook group)
