Nova Scotia moves to protect Chignecto as a protected wilderness area
19 Oct 09
Halifax – The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) welcomes today’s announcement from the Nova Scotia government that consultations will soon begin on the creation of the Chignecto Wilderness Area on public lands within, and near, the Chignecto Game Sanctuary.
“Big wilderness is disappearing fast in this province”, says Chris Miller, National Manager of Wilderness Conservation and Climate Change for CPAWS, based in Halifax, “So, today’s announcement of the intent to establish a ‘large’ wilderness area for Chignecto is certainly welcome news”.
Although the area has been declared a Game Sanctuary for many years, such a designation fails to protect the public lands from activities such as clearcutting, open-pit mining, seismic testing, road construction, or development.
The public lands of Chignecto contain some of the largest, intact stretches of forest remaining in Nova Scotia, including concentrations of old-growth Acadian forest. It also supports a number of species-at-risk, including wood turtles, the Inner Bay of Fundy Atlantic salmon, and endangered mainland moose.
“Chignecto is just one of those irreplaceable spots that absolutely must be protected”, says Miller, noting that protecting Chignecto will go a long way in addressing the protected area target of at least 12% of the provincial landmass by the year 2015.
Today’s announcement by the provincial government means that stakeholder consultations on the new wilderness area will begin shortly. Through these upcoming consultations, a proposed boundary for a candidate wilderness area will be identified. CPAWS will be pushing to ensure that the substantial majority of public lands in the vicinity of Chignecto are included within the boundaries of the wilderness area.
CPAWS would like to congratulate the hard working members and volunteers of Cumberland Wilderness, the local conservation group working tirelessly to protect the public lands of Chignecto.
The provincial government also announced today that it is proceeding with a wilderness area designation for a large swatch of public land on the Chebucto Peninsula, near Halifax. The Five Bridges Lake Candidate Wilderness Area is approximately 8,000 hectares in size.
In July, CPAWS released its Parks Day report which found that the slow pace of establishing new protected areas in Nova Scotia was a concern, and that in particular the unresolved issue of a wilderness area designation for Chignecto needed to be addressed.
Contact:
Chris Miller, Ph.D.
National Manager, Wilderness Conservation and Climate Change
201-1099 Marginal Road
Halifax, Nova Scotia
B3H 4P7
902-446-4155