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Road Building
A large part of the mining industry in Nova Scotia produces aggregates which we use to build roads. The impact of road-building is, therefore, twofold, as one landscape is forever altered in obtaining the rocks and stones that go into road asphalt, and many other landscapes are forever carved up by the roads themselves. Road Building causes many of the same impacts as housing development; the clouding up of watercourses with eroded sand and soil, and the noise pollution of the construction and the eventual noise of the road. Road Building, however, has the added and profound impact of fragmenting the landscape, making it impossible for wildlife to move freely according to their natural rhythms. This change in natural patterns of movement can have serious impacts on wildlife populations from the direct loss of life when animals are hit by cars, to the blocking of important travel routes to breeding and feeding grounds on which populations depend. Currently the two areas most threatened by road building are the Blue Mountain - Birch Cove Lakes and the Lake Major To Musquodoboit Valley Corridor, both of which are located on the outskirts of Halifax. The Department of Transportation wants to put a new freeway through the heart of the Blue Mountain - Birch Cove wilderness and a connector highway between Porters Lake and the Halifax International Airport has been discussed for years now. If these areas are not protected they will likely be forever fragmented by new asphalt.
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© Nova Scotia Public Lands Coalition, Ecology Action Centre, 2006 |
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