owls head

June 14 2022

Owls Head acquiert une protection en devenant parc provincial

Caitlin Grady News owls head, parc, parc provincial, park, provincial park

Le 14 juin 2022, MI’KMA’KI – Owls Head est sur le point de recevoir une protection juridique en tant que parc provincial!

La section de la Nouvelle-Écosse de la Société pour la nature et les parcs du Canada (SNAP N.‑É.) se réjouit de l’annonce faite aujourd’hui par le gouvernement de la province.

« C’est la meilleure issue possible pour Owls Head », déclare Chris Miller, directeur général de la SNAP N.‑É. « Cette mesure corrige une erreur en assurant une protection pour la faune et les écosystèmes côtiers. Elle garantit que cet endroit exceptionnel restera une propriété publique. »

Owls Head est situé le long de la côte est de la Nouvelle-Écosse. L’idée d’en faire un parc provincial fait l’objet de discussions depuis les années 1970, mais ce lieu n’avait pas reçu de protection juridique permanente jusqu’à présent.

En 2019, le gouvernement de la Nouvelle-Écosse a discrètement retiré le parc d’une liste d’aires protégées et a tenté de vendre les terres publiques côtières à un promoteur privé pour l’aménagement d’un terrain de golf. La mise au jour de ces négociations secrètes avait suscité un tollé au sein du public, et un mouvement populaire s’était organisé dans toute la Nouvelle-Écosse pour bloquer la vente et protéger le parc.

« Le premier ministre Tim Houston a pris la bonne décision pour sauver Owls Head, déclare M. Miller. Il a respecté ses promesses, et nous sommes ravis de savoir que ces terres publiques recevront bientôt une protection juridique en vertu de la loi sur les parcs provinciaux. »

Le parc provincial Owls Head a une superficie de 266 hectares. Il s’agit d’un lieu d’importance sur le plan écologique, puisqu’il contient d’importants écosystèmes côtiers, notamment des promontoires, des lagunes, des landes, des herbiers de zostères, des marais salés, des tourbières côtières, des étangs, des îles et une forêt pluviale tempérée. Il abrite une communauté végétale rare au niveau mondial ainsi que l’habitat de plusieurs espèces en péril, dont le pluvier siffleur et l’hirondelle rustique.

Une expédition en kayak de mer organisée par la SNAP N.‑É. à Owls Head en juillet 2021 a permis d’observer une tortue luth, une espèce en voie de disparition, se nourrissant dans les eaux littorales, à la pointe d’Owls Head.

Le gouvernement de la Nouvelle-Écosse a récemment rehaussé son objectif en matière d’aires protégées, en le faisant passer à « au moins » 20 % d’ici 2030. Le gouvernement provincial a également promis de mettre pleinement en œuvre son plan Our Parks and Protected Areas (Nos parcs et aires protégées), qui comprend une longue liste de sites en attente de protection juridique.

« Nous espérons que d’autres aires protégées seront créées très bientôt, ajoute M. Miller. L’atteinte de cet objectif de 20 % d’aires protégées est une étape essentielle dans la lutte contre la double menace que représentent les changements climatiques et la perte de biodiversité. »

La SNAP N.‑É. félicite les nombreuses personnes qui ont travaillé avec détermination pour la protection d’Owls Head. Leur effort collectif a contribué à sauver ces terres côtières du développement, et nous sommes très heureux de cette victoire pour la conservation.

June 14 2022

Owls Head protected as a provincial park

Caitlin Grady News owls head

June 14, 2022, MI’KMA’KI – Owls Head will receive legal protection as a provincial park!!

The Nova Scotia Chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS-NS) welcomes today’s announcement by the Nova Scotia government.

“This is the best possible outcome for Owls Head,” says Chris Miller, Executive Director. “It corrects the wrong. It ensures that the coastal ecosystems and wildlife will be protected. It guarantees that this very special place will remain in public ownership.”

Owls Head is located along the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia. It has been proposed as a provincial park since the 1970’s but has never received permanent legal protection until now.

In 2019, the Nova Scotia government secretly delisted the park from a list of protected areas and attempted to sell-off the coastal public lands to a private developer for a golf course development. When the public learned of the backroom land deal, a huge backlash ensued and people from all across Nova Scotia organized to stop the sale and protect the park.

“Premier Tim Houston has made the correct decision to save Owls Head,” says Miller. “He has followed through on the promises he has made and we are very grateful that these public lands will soon receive legal protection under the Provincial Parks Act.”

Owls Head Provincial Park is 266 hectares in size. It is an ecological hotspot that contains important coastal ecosystems, including headlands, lagoons, barrens, eel grass beds, salt marshes, coastal peatlands, ponds, islands, and temperate rainforest. It supports a globally rare plant community, and habitat for several species-at-risk, including piping plovers and barn swallows.

A CPAWS-NS sea kayak expedition to Owls Head in July 2021 resulted in an important observation of an Endangered Leatherback Sea Turtle feeding in the nearshore waters right at the headland of Owls Head.

The Nova Scotia government has recently increased the protected areas target to “at least” 20 percent by 2030. The government has also promised to fully implement the Nova Scotia Our Parks and Protected Areas Plan, which includes a long list of backlogged sites still awaiting legal protection.

“We look forward to more protected areas being established very soon,” says Miller. “Achieving the twenty percent protected areas target is a critical step in fighting the dual emergences of climate change and biodiversity loss.”

CPAWS-NS congratulates everyone who worked so hard to protect Owls Head. It was a collective effort by many people to save these coastal lands from development and we are so happy with this conservation outcome.

August 25 2020

Back at Owls Head

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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.

Owls Head has long been recognized for its conservation significance, as a stunning coastal headland that supports important ecosystems and a globally-rare plant community. It’s been a treat to explore these ecological features firsthand over the summer, but this also serves as a stark reminder of what we stand to lose if the government proceeds with this ill-conceived land deal.

Owls Head Provincial Park Reserve is currently under threat. The Nova Scotia government secretly delisted this site from protection in March 2019 in order to sell-off these public lands to a golf course developer. The Nova Scotia government undertook this brash move without any public consultation. They didn’t even bother to notify the public that the park had been delisted. We only know about this because of the investigative journalism of the CBC.

This back-room land deal by the Nova Scotia government is totally unacceptable and has triggered a huge public backlash. The government needs to walk back their decision, by calling off the sale of public land and restoring protections to Owls Head.

Since news of the delisting of Owls Head first broke, there has been one small detail of good news. The federal government owns a property adjacent to Owls Head park, the site of an old lighthouse. The Nova Scotia government was attempting to acquire this property and flip it to the golf course developer. Fortunately, following the huge public backlash, the federal government called-off this federal land transfer and is, instead, proceeding with a federal protected area designation for these important federal lands.

That’s an important victory that wouldn’t have happened without the public outcry, but the provincial lands are still very much threatened. CPAWS-NS will continue to advocate for the protection of Owls Head and we will be undertaking important fieldwork at the headland to demonstrate its conservation significance.

As part of our weeklong visit to the Eastern Shore Islands, we will be visiting Owls Head again today. Please follow along.

By: Caitlin Grady, Conservation Campaigner