Letter to the Editor
Contributed by Dusan Soudek
The Chronicle Herald/Saltwire
June 24, 2022
Originally published here
Owls Head to become Nova Scotia’s next provincial park” (June 15 story). Kudos to Natural Resources and Renewables Minister Tory Rushton on this announcement. This magnificent 266-hectare section of the province’s coastline certainly deserves protection and provincial park status.
But what is the status of the 12 properties, many of them proposed new provincial parks or their expansions, for which public consultations were announced on Feb. 4, 2021? Or the eight parcels for which consultations were advertised on July 27, 2021? Or the 49 sites publicized as “also intended for protection” on Earth Day (April 22) in 2021? The public is waiting.
Dusan Soudek, director of environment, Canoe Kayak Nova Scotia (ckns.ca)
Editor’s Note:
In January 2020, Nova Scotia used about $1.2 million (of the $14.3 million it received from the Target 1 Challenge fund) to buy 8 sites, which “will eventually become parts of nature reserves, wilderness areas, provincial parks or other protected areas.”
In February 2021, the government announced its intention to legally protect up to 20 new parks and protected areas, in order to reach its modest goal of protecting 13 percent of the province’s land. Twelve of the sites were subject to the formal consultation process, while the other eight sites were listed as “intended for protection.”
The 61 sites announced for protection on Earth Day 2021 can be found here. They include 49 provincial parks, six wilderness areas and six nature reserves.
The government then added (part of) the Ingram River Wilderness Area to the public consultation on June 9, 2021 (in two parts: the addition to the South Panuke Wilderness Area and the creation of Island Lake Wilderness Area).
On June 14, 2022, the Department of Natural Resources and Renewables announced that Owls Head would be Nova Scotia’s next provincial park.
