RICHARD BELL: Groups Unite to Oppose Owls Head Park Sale

Eastern Shore Cooperator
Posted on March 12, 2020
By Richard Bell

Read Full Article>

In a show of province-wide opposition to the government’s controversial decision to sell Owls Head Provincial Park, 23 groups submitted a joint letter to Premier McNeil on Tuesday, March 10 calling on the government to do three things:

  1. “Stop the sale of publicly-owned lands at Owls Head
  2. Protect Owls Head as a legally-designated protected area
  3. Fully implement the Nova Scotia Parks and Protected Areas Plan”
(more…)

Save Owls Head Provincial Park: Joint Letter

Office of the Premier
7th Floor, One Government Place
1700 Granville Street
Halifax, NS
B3J 1X5

March 10, 2020

Dear Premier Stephen McNeil:

Owls Head is an ecologically significant area along the Eastern Shore that is deserving of legal protection. It contains a number of rare ecosystem types, as well as important habitat for migratory birds and species-at-risk. It is a key headland within the “100 wild islands” ecosystem.

(more…)

CARP in Support of Owls Head Provincial Park

CARP NS (formerly the Canadian Association of Retired Persons) sent this letter to Minister Rankin on February 24, 2020.


On behalf of CARP NS (formerly the Canadian Association of Retired Persons), we want you to know of our concern for the proposed development of Owl’s Head Park Reserve. We believe the proposed development is not in the best interests of the people of Nova Scotia.

A recent national survey of seniors by CARP showed that the top three concerns for seniors are:

  1. Financial Security
  2. Our Environment
  3. Health Security
(more…)

Owls Head Provincial Park and Legal Designation

Guest Post by Karen McKendry
Wilderness Outreach Coordinator, Ecology Action Centre
February 21, 2020

Owls Head Provincial Park has been proposed for legal protection as a park for a long time and effectively used as an unmanaged park since at least the 1970s. But why was it not legally protected before? And why does that matter? And what’s this plan that it was listed in?

(more…)

Ecology Action Centre Reacts to Province Removing Site from Protected Plan

Piping plover photo by Jason Dain

CBC Radio
Information Morning
January 10, 2020

The “globally rare” ecosystem on Nova Scotia’s Eastern Shore was quietly removed from the provincial government’s protected parks plan. Karen McKendry, Wilderness Outreach Coordinator at Ecology Action Centre, spoke with host Portia Clark. We also heard from Environment Minister Gordon Wilson.

Listen now

Karen McKendry from the Ecology Action Centre understands that “people are concerned both about the process and the particular piece of Crown land.” Indeed, there has been strong public opposition to the delisting of the property, which was done in a secretive way. Citizens are also concerned that the ecological values of the site aren’t being protected by the provincial government.

(more…)