Photo Galleries
Inspiration Gallery: Landscapes
If you would like a copy of any of the images, please send an email to info@saveowlshead.org.
Please click to see the uncropped photos. You can navigate using the arrows.
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Letters to the Editor
Letter: Owls Head Provincial Park — It’s a Matter of Protecting Public Trust
Environmental organizations are rightly applauding the government’s stated intention to formally protect 20 properties. But the government has failed to protect something important: public trust.
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Letters to the Editor
Letter: Betrayal of Trust by Lindsay Lee
Bill Black’s Jan. 2 column, “Rankin’s policies tack far to the left of McNeil,” includes a brief but untenable statement about Owls Head Provincial Park. “Noting the significant level of local support, he (Iain Rankin) believes that an environmentally sensitive proposal for a golf resort at Owls Head could be approved.”
It’s absurd to claim that an environmentally friendly golf course is possible in this location, as it would raze the biodiverse wetlands and rare plant ecosystems.
Moreover, Black and Rankin have both decidedly ignored the unprecedented betrayal of public trust, the absolute disregard for public consultation with Nova Scotians, and the dangerous precedent this sets for all of our green spaces.
Perceived “local support” cannot retroactively make secretly delisting a provincial park reserve OK. It’s premature to presume the level of local support, as the government has still not conducted any consultations, locally or provincially.
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Group Actions and Events
2020 Year in Review
In spite of a year that has been challenging in so many ways, our volunteers have contributed their time and their talents. We would like to extend our deepest thanks to each of those wonderful groups and individuals. While we can’t share each and every action, we wouldn’t be here without the passion and persistence of our supporters. Please keep reading to see just how far we’ve come.
(more…)Speak Your Piece
7 Years
It was reported this week that “Prince George, 7, Was Devastated Learning About the State of our Planet.”
A little perspective for Nova Scotians: Prince George was born the same year that our provincial government committed to 13% land conservation.
Letters to the Editor
Letter: Unfinished Homework by Lindsay Lee
Lands and Forestry Minister Iain Rankin teased that he’d be making an “exciting announcement” on Monday. Here are some truly exciting announcements that he could (and should) have made before declaring his intention to run for premier:
- That Owls Head Provincial Park Reserve would be rightfully reinstated to Our Parks and Protected Areas Plan.
- That Nova Scotia would protect all of the properties in Our Parks and Protected Areas Plan.
- That Lands and Forestry would adopt ecological forestry by reducing clearcutting, protecting old-growth forests, introducing a silent season to protect nesting birds, and finally, implementing the recommendations of the Lahey report.
Articles
Ecological Life Support
Why we need to preserve this biodiverse coastal headland
This article has since been republished with permission in the January edition of the Eastern Shore Cooperator.
Biodiversity (a contraction of “biological diversity”) comprises all life on Earth. Greater species diversity supports healthier ecosystems and even improved human health.
“We are in the midst of both climate and biological diversity (extinction) emergencies, wherein we are at or beyond planetary thresholds for being able to recover. Such intact ecosystems as Owls Head are our ecological life-support systems. We need them in order to survive as a species, as do the other species with which we share this land, many of which are endangered1.”
Dr. Karen Beazley
Legal
Eastern Shore Forest Watch Association
Eastern Shore Forest Watch Association (Forest Watch) is one of the applicants in the court case to save Owls Head Provincial Park. Along with wildlife biologist Bob Bancroft (President of Nature Nova Scotia), Forest Watch has requested a time extension to ask for a judicial review as well as requested the judicial review itself.
While Eastern Shore Forest Watch Association has never been an applicant in a court case before, the group felt compelled to take legal action after the provincial government secretly removed Owls Head Provincial Park from Our Parks and Protected Areas Plan.
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