Nova Scotia government set to expand nine protected wilderness areas

HALIFAX - The Nova Scotia government announced today that it will proceed with the expansion of nine existing protected wilderness areas across the province.  A total of 23 parcels of land, totalling about 5,000 hectares, will be added to the existing protected areas.

"Large protected areas are better than smaller protected areas", says Chris Miller, National Conservation Biologist for CPAWS, based in Halifax.  "They're better able to sustain ecological processes over the long-term than smaller, isolated sites.  We certainly welcome today's announcement."

The Nova Scotia government also committed to releasing the candidate boundary for Chignecto very soon and completing the designation of the Five Bridge Lakes Wilderness Area.  They also reaffirmed that much of the land recently acquired from several large forestry companies, totalling about 56,000 hectares of land, will be designated as protected as well.

"Chignecto is one of the most significant sites remaining in Nova Scotia", says Miller.  "It contains some of the largest remaining intact forests in Nova Scotia and important populations of several species-at-risk, including the endangered mainland moose, wood turtle, and Inner Bay of Fundy Atlantic salmon."

CPAWS has been calling on the Nova Scotia government to release the candidate boundary for Chignecto and protect the significant majority of public lands under review.

Additional information about the specific wilderness area additions can be found here.

The Nova Scotia government will receive public feedback until June 24th, 2011.  Please take a moment to voice your support for protecting these areas by emailing protectedareas@gov.ns.ca