Save Owls Head

Opposition to Owls Head Sale Growing Fast

Richard Bell
Eastern Shore Cooperator
February 18, 2020

Full Article Here>

The controversy over Owls Head Provincial Park began on December 18, 2019, when CBC reporter Michael Gorman reported the province had secretly decided on March 13, 2019 to sell Owls Head Provincial Park to a wealthy American who planned to build three golf courses on the site (Lighthouse Links). The decision put in jeopardy hundreds of other parcels of Crown land that the public had previously believed were protected lands that could not be removed from protection without a public hearing.

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By Save Owls Head, ago

Letter from Dr. Karen Beazley

Dr. Karen Beazley
Dalhousie Institute for Resource and Environmental Studies

Honourable Stephen McNeil, Premier,

Please do not sell public land. NS has very little public land. It should not be sold to or for private interests. The Nova Scotia Nature Trust and the Nature Conservancy of Canada are working hard to purchase and secure ecologically significant lands in NS, with substantial (several millions of dollars of) funding being provided by both private and public individuals and organizations in support of their efforts. They are focusing on connected ecological systems along the eastern shore and elsewhere to complement Provincial conservation efforts. There is strong public support of their efforts, providing solid evidence of public economic and ethical valuation of public and private land conservation in NS.

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By Save Owls Head, ago

Seagrass beds off our coast could be some of the world’s heaviest and oldest organisms

CBC Radio
Mainstreet Nova Scotia
February 12, 2020

Not only seagrasses the only type of plants that flower underwater, but they could be the oldest known organisms on our planet. “The value generated by seagrass is among the highest of any habitat in the world,” explains Worm. The ecosystem services provided by seagrass meadows (such as nursery habitat, spawning habitat, and carbon sequestration) are so valuable that they are valued “in excess of $20,000 per hectare, per year.”

In terms of Owls Head Park Reserve, Worm says”[w]hen we think about doing something to that protected land it’s not just about the land, it’s also very strongly connected to the underwater habitat nearby” which could be “very harmful for the seagrass that lives there.”

Listen Now

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By Save Owls Head, ago
"Hoot" - Original Artwork by Deborah M Stover

Giving a Hoot About Owls Head: Letter and Original Artwork from Deborah M. Stover

February 12, 2020

Dear Premier Stephen McNeil,

I am absolutely completely opposed to your government’s attempt to sell off public lands at Owls Head. This is wrong and anyone with decency, respect for the Earth, and or any kind of intelligence knows this!

These lands are important for conservation and have long been promised for legal protection as a provincial park going back decades. This LAND MUST CONTINUE to be PROTECTED AS IT IS! NO golf course or any other project / development that in any way changes this land should ever take place at Owl’s Head.

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By Save Owls Head, ago
Back Road Bog

Protecting Canada’s Carbon Sinks

A short but beautiful video and article from WWF-Canada explains the value of carbon sinks, and protecting sites like Owls Head, Nova Scotia.

World Wildlife Federation – Canada

Visit Page

In the face of widespread wildlife loss and climate change, WWF-Canada’s new nation-wide assessment maps gaps in essential wildlife habitat protection and opportunities to protect areas that benefit biodiversity while slowing climate change.

A national habitat crisis

Just as we need housing, wildlife need somewhere to live. Half of Canada’s monitored species are in decline, by a staggering 83 per cent, and even wildlife protected under Canada’s Species at Risk Act are failing to recover. Wildlife simply can’t survive with increasingly degraded or destroyed habitats. They need to find food, mate, migrate and raise their young. Climate change only makes matters worse.

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By Save Owls Head, ago

Province firm on Owls Head sale despite objections

Stefan Sinclair-Fortin
The Signal
February 7, 2020

Article Here>

Public will get a say but on the developer’s terms

The government defended its handling of Owls Head on Thursday, despite continuing calls for the sale of public land to be stopped.

Minister of Lands and Forestry Iain Rankin said he is aware of the public’s interest, but has no plans to protect the area. He said the sale to a private developer is still in progress.

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By Save Owls Head, ago