Stefan Sinclair-Fortin
The Signal
January 28, 2020
Government says Owls Head isn’t a provincial park, but their documents say otherwise
Controversy over the proposed sale of coastal Crown land known as Owls Head provincial park in Eastern Shore has prompted Chris Miller to create a website urging people to speak out.
Miller, executive director of the Nova Scotia chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, said he created the site last week because of the number of people who reached out to him.
“A lot of people are really concerned about it, and people are contacting me and are (asking) ‘How can I help, what can I do?’” Miller said in an interview.
“So I’m directing them to submit letters to the government, for them to reach out to their MLAs.”
Owls Head provincial park is its name in the provincial government’s Our Parks and Protected Areas: A Plan for Nova Scotia and in its accompanying map. But according to the Department of Lands and Forestry, it never was a provincial park.
However, the land was being managed as a provincial park reserve and was awaiting legal designation. But last year that changed.
In December, CBC reported that the land was being sought after by a private developer looking to turn it into golf courses, and in March 2019, the Treasury Board de-listed it from the parks and protected areas plan outside of the public’s knowledge. This information was obtained through an access to information request.
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