Where is the candidate boundary for Chignecto?

HALIFAX - The Nova Scotia government is almost a year late in releasing the candidate protected area boundary for Chignecto.  In October 2009, the Nova Scotia government committed to establishing a "large" protected wilderness area on the public lands within, and near, the Chignecto Game Sanctuary and promised to release the candidate boundary by June 2010.

That target has now come and gone.  In Fall 2010, the Nova Scotia government revised its deadline, saying that the candidate boundary would be released in the new year, likely in February 2011.  That target has now also come and gone.

The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) encourages the Nova Scotia government to release the candidate protected area boundary for Chignecto immediately.

"The province is behind schedule releasing the boundary, which is delaying moving to the next phase of public and stakeholder consultations", says Chris Miller, National Conservation Biologist for CPAWS, based in Halifax.  "Let's get the boundary out".

CPAWS is calling on the Nova Scotia government to protect the significant majority of the public lands at Chignecto.  Currently, about 35,000 hectares of public land are under evaluation, including long stretches of coastline along the Bay of Fundy and vast interior forests.

The public lands of Chignecto contain some of the largest remaining intact forests in Nova Scotia, and the only large cluster of intact forest without a protected area at its core.  Chignecto is also home to one of the last strongholds for the endangered mainland moose and contains known populations of a number of species-at-risk, including wood turtle, peregrin falcon, and Inner Bay of Fundy Atlantic salmon.

For more information:

www.cpawsns.org/chignecto