Stop the sale of this public coastal ecosystem to private interests
In spite of a year that has been challenging in so many ways, our volunteers have repeatedly 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.
Continue reading “Year in Review”
This article has 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.
Continue reading “Ecological Life Support”“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
Photo courtesy of CPAWS NS
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.
Continue reading “Back at Owls Head”
Robert Bancroft and Eastern Shore Forest Watch Association (Applicants)
v.
Nova Scotia Minister of Lands and Forestry and
The Attorney General of Nova Scotia representing
Her Majesty the Queen In Right of the Province of Nova Scotia (Respondents)
Originally published here
A lot has happened since the CBC investigative report by Michael Gorman uncovered the secret delisting of Owls Head Provincial Park Reserve by the Nova Scotia government. This backroom deal to turn a park into a golf course development has drawn huge public condemnation, and rightly so.
Here’s what we know so far:
2017 – Negotiations begin behind-closed-doors to delist Owls Head Provincial Park Reserve and remove the site from the Nova Scotia ‘Our Parks and Protected Areas Plan’.
Continue reading “The Delisting of Owls Head Provincial Park Reserve”
Nicole Munro
The Chronicle Herald
June 28, 2020
HALIFAX, N.S. — Starting Monday, an environmental lawyer will make his case to a Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge to allow for a judicial review of the delisting of Owls Head Provincial Park and its negotiated sale to a private golf course developer.
But the two-day hearing is only the start to ensuring Nova Scotia’s Department of Lands and Forestry is open and transparent about all of its provincial parks, whether they’re officially designated or pending approval, Jamie Simpson said.
Continue reading “Lawyer: Roughly half of N.S. provincial parks awaiting designation, like Owls Head was before delisting”