Christopher Trider

The Whole is Greater

There’s a saying, “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” which refers to the synergy that is created when the pieces all complete each other and contribute to a greater experience.

Owls Head was not appraised by the secret real estate deal guys as the integral part of the whole Eastern Shore Islands that it represents.
The public lands of Owls Head, 700 acres of pristine coastal heathlands, represent an invaluable connection between the Wild Islands project and the Eastern Shore Seaside Park System. They are a classic, representative landscape of parallel quartzite ridges, bogs and coastal spruce forests with a globally rare plant community.

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By Christopher Trider, ago

Hold Them Close

The formal transfer of the so-called “surplus” federal land at Owls Head to Environment and Climate Change Canada is good news for all of us that are trying to prevent the secret deal to sell the lands of Owls Head Provincial Park.

The same developer, to whom Minister Rankin and Company offered to sell our parklands, was also secretly maneuvering to acquire these lands by using the Federal MP and the Provincial Cabinet.

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By Christopher Trider, ago
Corema - Broom Crowberry

How Do We Put a Value on Owls Head?

How do we put a value on Owls Head Provincial Park?

There have been few valuations for rare plants, let alone globally rare plant communities. For example, a rare Shenzhen Nongke orchid is valued at $202,000 per plant. We would need to do a series of transects and plots at Owls Head Provincial Park to get an honest number of the rare plants and communities to put into the economic calculus of a ” balanced ” view.

“A mature tree can have an appraised value of between $1,000 and $10,000.” So let’s do a survey of all the ancient coastal white spruce stands at Owls head and put an average value of $2000 on the individual specimens, but let’s be fair and only value the trees that are 75-100+ years old, the ones impossible to replace in a lifetime.

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By Christopher Trider, ago

Deep Roots

The stories of climate change and sea-level rise are written in the rocky shores and beaches of Nova Scotia’s Atlantic Coast. The eroded headlands and glacial till have created the migrating sand platforms, our beaches, and marshes. Drowned bays, coves, and inlets, cobble storm berms, rock ridges, and cliffs all stretch along the length of the Eastern and South Shores.

Owls Head has long been recognized as a “representative” coastal landscape, first as a candidate National Park component, then as a survivor of the community battles to emerge as a Provincial Natural Environment Park component of the Eastern Shore Seaside Park System.

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By Christopher Trider, ago
Lily Pond

Water

“The bogs and coastal wetlands of Owl’s Head are beautiful, complex, pristine, and undervalued. Development of the site would completely, irrevocably, and utterly destroy the natural hydrology of Owl’s Head and impact surrounding marine waters.”   

—Christopher Trider

Water. We take it for granted, but it’s important. Owl’s Head has this incredible relationship with water, both on the site and with the adjacent marine areas.

The entire headland of Owls Head acts as a water recharge area. Water is held in the sloughs between the ridges, it filters through the bogs and barrens, then finds its way into the sea at various points. The drainage patterns are a complex, uncharted maze with small ponds and pools, raised bogs, and Douglas Lake. This hydrology is just another layer, another reason to protect the natural integrity of these public lands. (more…)

By Christopher Trider, ago