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Eigg Mountain - James River Saved!Size & LocationThe initial proposed Eigg Mountain - James River Wilderness Area originally encompassed about 6,000 hectares of Crown land in the Antigonish Highlands. A small portion lies in Pictou County. Located just 10 km northwest of Antigonish, this site represented one of the last good opportunity for a Wilderness Area along Nova Scotia's Northumberland coast.
Natural Description
The northern border of the proposed Eigg Mountain - James River Wilderness Area runs along the base of Knoydart Hollow, a steep 700' escarpment overlooking the Northumberland Strait. The escarpment marks the transition zone between volcanic Precambrian rocks that underlie a plateau to the south, and softer sedimentary rocks beneath the coastal lowlands. Atop the plateau the elevation exceeds 1,000'. While some areas have been cut, vegetation is dominated by sugar maple, yellow birch, and beech, with some conifers. These woods are a remnant tract of the native Acadian hardwood forest, which once blanketed the highlands of northern Nova Scotia. A handful of headwater streams have carved deep ravines through the plateau. They are lined with old hemlocks and hardwoods. Outstanding Natural Features
Outstanding Cultural Features
Outstanding Recreational Features
Threats
Eigg Mountain - James River was the last reasonably large, intact natural area in Antigonish County. It falls under the Stora Enso pulp lease, meaning the area would have eventually be cut if it had not been designated as a Protected Wilderness Area. Due to strong public interest in protecting Eigg Mountain - James River, former Minister of the Environment Ron Russell announced in November 1999 that his department would undertake a preliminary review of the proposed Wilderness Area to assess its merits as a protection candidate. The Department completed the assessment in 2001 and found that it did indeed merit protection. Among other things the report found:
In July 2003, after years of public outcry, the Nova Scotia Government finally committed to protecting this area as well as Gully Lake and 5 new nature reserves in its new Green Plan. Click here for more details. In September 2003 the newly re-elected Hamm government reinforced the Green Plan commitments to protect these two areas in its Speech From The Throne. Click here for more details. During the summer of 2004 the government released a socio-economic study and proposed boundaries for the two new candidate Protected Areas and conducted an extensive public consultation. The public feedback was, not surprisingly, overwhelmingly in favour of protection. The boundaries put forward by government were smaller than the whole crown land blocks that had been advocated for. This was done primarily to accommodate forestry companies with road and/or silviculture investments already in place along the outer edges of the areas. In the case of Eigg Mountain - James River, the proposed boundary was only 52% of the Crown land block, Nevertheless, the proposed boundaries did capture the most important habitat and the near-pristine "hearts" of the two areas and were ultimately deemed acceptable to NSPLC member groups and the general public. In the end, there was strong public support for the government's candidate areas. There is also significant interest in further growing the Eigg Mountain-James River area through inclusion of the Town of Antigonish's large "in-holding" properties as part of the Protected Area designation. Click here for more details. Associated Member GroupsThe protection of Eigg Mountain - James River is supported by the Eastern Mainland Field Naturalists, Pictou County Naturalists, Nova Scotia Salmon Association, Nova Scotia Bird Society, the Town of Antigonish, and the Municipality of Pictou County.
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© Nova Scotia Public Lands Coalition, Ecology Action Centre, 2006 |
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