Speak Your Piece

We welcome submissions from anyone who wants to explain in their own words why the sale of Owls Head must be stopped. Anyone who has an articulate and valuable opinion to add to the cause of protecting this special place may submit articles to be published here.

“Back at Owls Head”

Statement from the Nova Scotia Chapter of the Canadian Parks And Wilderness Society (CPAWS):

This summer, CPAWS-NS has visited Owls Head numerous times. Accompanied by a range of biodiversity experts, we have been completing a series of surveys to record the rich natural diversity of this coastal headland. 

Our team has identified over 75 species of birds that occur here, undertaking surveys from the land and on the water. Later this month, we’ll be out again with our snorkels, studying eelgrass beds in the area. 

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By Save Owls Head, ago

Letter: Very Slippery Slope by Verna Higgins

All Nova Scotians should be aware that, in 2013, our province published an “Our Parks and Protected Areas” map for comments by the public. 

Owls Head Park appeared under the heading “Park Lands for Review” along with 281 other parks! That list included such well-known provincial parks as Wentworth, Porters Lake, Martinique Beach, Five Islands, Blomidon Lookoff and Taylors Head.

If Owls Head is sold, which of the others might be next?

Verna Higgins, Middle Musquodoboit

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By Save Owls Head, ago

Letter: Steeped in Secrecy by Beverlee Brown

When did “secrecy” become the provincial byword for the governing Liberals? 

There is a review of Northwood and its recent COVID-19 problems going on, but we’ve been told the results will be mostly kept secret. Confidentiality is needed in order to protect those named in the review. Wouldn’t it be easier just to not publish their names? 

And then there’s Owls Head and the delisting of that area as a reserve in order to quietly sell that land for a golf course. That’s not the premier’s land to sell, especially by changing the rules behind the scenes. It belongs to the province and therefore to the citizens. There should have been a transparent process. If the deal is a good one for Nova Scotia, then secrecy wouldn’t have been needed; a public meeting on the proposal should have been the way to go, allowing full knowledge of the province’s intentions.

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By Save Owls Head, ago

Once a leader in conservation, N.S. now falls behind, report finds

Nova Scotia was once considered to be a leader in Canada for the creation of new protected areas, but in a new report, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) says that’s no longer the case.

“Owls Head is probably the most egregious example we have seen this year of the Nova Scotia government showing their disregard for our protected areas in this province,” she says. “Here is a coastal gem on the eastern shore, that has been recognized as a significant conservation site for decades, and the government was all too comfortable secretly delisting the site without consultation.”

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By Save Owls Head, ago
Photo by Nicole Tomasic

CPAWS: Community scientists descend

Original Post from CPAWS NS, here. Featured photo by Nicole Tomasic

Nova Scotia’s coastline is home to an abundance of birds – shorebirds, seabirds, waterbirds, and even woodland species. Recently, CPAWS-NS helped organize an expedition to Owls Head Provincial Park Reserve, with a group of expert birders, to document the diversity first-hand.

Owls Head is a coastal headland that supports a variety of habitats including bogs and wetlands, estuaries, salt marshes and beaches. Our birding team set out to identify bird species across these habitats and document the ecological significance of this unique region.

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By Caitlin Grady, ago

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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By Lindsay Lee, ago

The Owls Head Act

“Our Owls Head Act says that whenever there is a piece of Crown Land in Nova Scotia that is pending protection as a wilderness area, or as a park, or as a nature reserve, that that pending protected status cannot be rescinded by the government without there being a process of public engagement, public consultation, and the sharing of public information. […] Because after all, that land was put on the protected list, in the first place, as a result of extensive public consultation.”

Gary Burrill

The Owls Head Act as tabled:

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By Save Owls Head, ago