Owls Head Provincial Park has a globally rare plant ecosystem!
Biologists who've studied the broom crowberry ecosystem caution, "If our province does not make an effort to protect this species, there will be no other opportunity elsewhere to protect it.”
Coastal heathlands add diversity to the mostly forested landscape of Nova Scotia and provide habitat for rare species.
Owls Head Provincial Park has biodiverse bogs and salt marshes, with significant species richness and variation.
These ecosystems support species at risk, including the endangered barn swallow.
Part of the shoreline is included in the province's significant habitat database for nesting piping plovers.
Scientists from CPAWS NS recently recorded a sighting of an endangered leatherback sea turtle offshore!
Owls Head Provincial Park features extensive wetlands, which absorb & store carbon. This ecological service is critical in the time of the climate crisis.
The offshore eelgrass meadows can absorb up to 35 times more carbon than trees can!
Owls Head Provincial Park could offer kayaking, low-impact boardwalks, and coastal access while preserving the environment.
New revenue-generating visitor experiences can complement the existing 100 Wild Islands Tourism Advancement Partnership, the Eastern Shore Islands, and the Eastern Shore Seaside Park System.
Eelgrass meadows provide important habitat for hundreds of marine species, including lobster, crab, and herring. This contributes to biodiversity and helps our fisheries.
The ecosystem services (benefits) it provides have been estimated at $20,000 per hectare, per year.
A private valuation (assessment) concluded that the "highest and best use" of the property would be for recreation and conservation.
Only ~5% of Nova Scotia's coastline is public and protected. Owls Head Provincial Park has over 5 miles of publicly owned coastline. This is part of what makes Owls Head Park property an integral natural environment park component of the Eastern Shore Seaside Park System.
If the secret delisting and sale of Owls Head Provincial Park are allowed to proceed, it will put ~125 parks awaiting designation at risk across the province. In many cases, citizens have no idea that these “parks” aren’t formally protected.
The secret delisting of a provincial park reserve set a troubling precedent for Nova Scotia’s parks and protected areas—now and for the future.
In addition to Owls Head Provincial Park, there are approximately 125 provincial parks, nature reserves, and wilderness areas across Nova Scotia that still aren’t legally protected.
After nearly two years of unwavering public opposition, the prospective developer withdrew from the Letter of Offer in November of 2021. Now it’s imperative that the government of Nova Scotia restore the integrity of the provincial park network. We’re calling on the Houston government to legally protect Owls Head Provincial Park and the 125 other properties from Our Parks and Protected Areas Plan with an Order in Council.
UPDATE: In January, the Houston government assured citizens that the province will protect the area, but Nova Scotians are still eagerly awaiting that designation (legal protection).
"We have said from the beginning that the Owls Head Park property is an integral, important, natural environment park component of the Eastern Shore Seaside Park System. This reversal by the developer in the face of overwhelming public opposition presents us with the opportunity to realize a vision for the Eastern Shore as a globally significant ecotourism destination."
"I was raised next to Owls Head Provincial Park, my family lived off the land and the water for generations. I have always felt the importance of nature. To me the underdog is the earth, the animals, the birds, the plants, the trees, the fish. They can’t survive without us protecting them."
"Eelgrass [seagrass] meadows provide critically important ecosystem services, including supporting our fisheries, helping to prevent coastal erosion, and storing carbon. Unfortunately, seagrass meadows are also one of the world’s most threatened ecosystems. Here on Nova Scotia's Eastern Shore, we have an incredible opportunity to protect it."
"Humans as well as nature need a significant change of direction in order to survive... We urgently need action, not words, to preserve public trust and foster respect for nature."
“Roughly half of what we think of as Nova Scotia’s provincial parks are not technically a provincial park and the exact same state that befell Owls Head could potentially happen.
That was the most important aspect of this that we saw, that there ought to be an obligation on government to let the public know before it goes ahead with decision-making on issues like this."
"By protecting Owls Head Provincial Park, this government can restore the integrity of the protected areas network and start rebuilding public trust.
When people recognize that something is deeply wrong, and work together with purpose and vision, they can accomplish amazing things."
"Bit by bit, we chipped away at the natural world that sustains us. The cumulative effect of small, incremental changes over the decades has brought us to the mess we're in now. If there's any hope, it's that grassroots examples will pressure our governments to make the major changes we need."
"Thank you to everyone who put countless hours into stopping this sale. I think this shows that our voices are being heard and we shouldn't give up — we should continue for what is right for the people of Nova Scotia.
Now, we need to get Owls Head Provincial Park protected and stand up for the other parks awaiting protection, so this never happens again.
“Owls Head is a paradise. I went there because I want to demonstrate to my ancestors, and to the Creator, my love for creation by asserting our title and sovereignty. We have to stand up for the next generation because they deserve better than what these men are promising.”
"Our years of data reveal that Owls Head is ecologically unique and of importance to biodiversity conservation.
The impacts [of development] would be complete destruction of those important ecological features."
"Delisting parkland is a red line that cannot be crossed. Until the lands are legally protected, they remain vulnerable. The only way for the Nova Scotia government to properly end this debacle is to put legal protection in place and they need to do that expeditiously."
"In this time of climate change and biodiversity loss,
we are at a historic moment to choose differently
about parks and protected areas,
the future of Nova Scotia,
and the health of the planet.
A forward-thinking tourism strategy can make the Eastern Shore a leading nature tourism destination. Protecting Owls Head Provincial Park will help us to embrace new, low-impact tourism opportunities that benefit the economy and the environment."
Last Earth Day, the government of Nova Scotia pledged to legally protect 61 of the parks that have been awaiting designation. This was a good step forward and (in my opinion) a direct consequence of Read more…
Fine words but no action from the Department of Environment and Climate Change nor from its sister Department of Natural Resources and Renewables.
From Nova Scotia Species at Risk The endangered leatherback sea turtle is an annual visitor along the shore of Owls Head Provincial Park, spotted here most recently feeding on jellyfish last July. The World’s Best-Travelled Read more…
Lead: Dr. Kristina Boerder, Dalhousie University I’d like to share the Science Overview Report for the 2021 field season. The document also includes the budget from the GoFundMe campaign including our expenses – shout out Read more…
It’s World Wetland Day! We know that Owls Head Provincial Park has extensive wetlands, but how much do you know about wetlands? Test your knowledge with our #WWDNova Scotia trivia questions, with help from our Read more…
Sheldon MacLeod featuring Jamie SimpsonSaltwireJanuary 21, 2022 Originally published here Listen to “The ongoing legal legacy of Owls Head” on Spreaker. It was an issue that dogged Iain Rankin in the last general election in Read more…
