Scars Across The Landscape
A sample of ATV environmental damage in Nova Scotia
1. Cape Breton Highlands.
A dramatic aerial photo of a sensitive plateau bog, just outside Cape Breton Highlands National Park, with ATV tire tracks spinning around aimlessly in all directions. The destruction of a fragile ecosystem - all in the name of personal recreation.
2. Bowers Meadow Protected Wilderness Area, Shelburne County.
At an access point to the Wilderness Area, braided trails hundreds of meters in width across a bog is visible in the foreground. The ATV trails narrow as they pass through the firmer ground of a forested strip, only to widen out again as they cross the softer soils of the next bog.
3. Bowers Meadow Protected Wilderness Area.
A typical example of "braiding" in a bog. Successive passes by ATVs in the same track quickly break through the shallow root systems of covering vegetation to the underlying soft peat, rendering the track impassible. ATVs then step over to slightly firmer ground until in turn, that track deteriorates.
4. Terence Bay Protected Wilderness Area, Chebucto Peninsula near Halifax.
This relatively small (and theoretically protected) area is riddled with illegal ATV trails. These trails have not been "built" but rather driven over repeatedly until a permanent set of rutted tracks is established. Here, deeply worn ruts in a wet woodland area show damage that will take many years to heal (if it's ever left alone long enough).
5. Tobeatic Protected Wilderness Area, Southwest Nova Scotia.
One of many illegal trails crisscrossing Nova Scotia's largest and, arguably, most ecologically important wilderness areas. Taken at the edge of the bog where it meets the higher ground, this photo shows how ATVs expose the roots of vegetation on the typical shallow soils of a barren.
6. Tobeatic Protected Wilderness Area.
Successive passes by ATVs through this wet woodland area have gouged out a makeshift trail, dramatically compacting the fragile soil and completely destroying the native vegetation.
7. Tobeatic Protected Wilderness Area.
East side of Whitesand Stream. An example of spreading "spider" trails in the open barren near the stream. These trails are no more than three years old, yet the damage will last a generation.
8. Tobeatic Protected Wilderness Area.
In the marginal Ornstein soils of the Tobeatic Barrens, even a single pass by an ORV can cause permanent damage to fragile plants. In the barrens west of the Turnpike esker, ATV trails cut deeply into the native perennials and Reindeer Moss, leaving a scar that will take decades to heal.
9. Tobeatic Protected Wilderness Area.
This aerial photo of the area east of Whitesand Stream shows a well-defined, illegal ATV trail dissecting a stand of red pine.
10. Gold River area near Chester.
This aerial photo shows a braided set of ruts in and around a small freshwater pond. ATV use in wetlands, streams, rivers and lakeshores is rampant, causing significant ecological damage to these important riparian zones.
11. Peggy's Cove.
The coastal area around one of Nova Scotia's most famous and picturesque tourism destinations is being marred by the unrestricted use of ATVs.
12. Peggy's Cove.
Here's a nice picture of Nova Scotia for the folks back home.
13. Cape Breton Highlands.
ATV tracks follow the distinct "braiding" pattern through a sensitive highlands bog/marsh complex near Flint Lake.
14. Cape Breton Highlands.
It only takes 40 passes by an ATV in a bog to destroy 100% of the vegetation cover.
15. Cape Breton Highlands.
More ATV tracks along the shore of Cheticamp Lake.
16. Cape Breton Highlands.
Biologists at Cape Breton National Park report there has been more damage done to the Highlands ecosystem in the last 20 years than in all of the preceding 200 years.
17. Destroyed Vegetation
Deep ruts have chewed through the fragile soil of a bog, destroying the surface vegetation and tearing up the underlying root system.
18. St. Ann's Bay, Cape Breton.
Beaches and coastal dunes contain some of the most fragile ecosystem in the province. The damage from unrestricted ATV use in these coastal zones is significant and growing.
19. Louis Head, South Shore.
A break in the fragile dune grass cover can result in the rapid erosion of the dune itself.
20. Mandy's Marsh, Annapolis Valley.
Coastal marshes and saltwater wetlands are also being negatively impacted by recreational ATVing.
21. Dunn's Beach, Antigonish County.
Endangered species like the piping plover are being put further at risk by ATV use, even in restricted areas that are clearly posted.
22. Dunn's Beach.
Fresh tire tracks despite the notice for ATVs to stay off this protected beach.
23. Dunn's Beach.
Whether this dead piping plover chick was run over or it starved to death when its parents were frightened away from the nest site, the results are still the same.
24. Private property, Hants County.
ATV trails through a farmers field in Hants County at the entrance to a private woodlot.
25. Private property, Colchester County.
Well worn tracks leading into a wetland area on private property. Note the damage to the "Private Property" sign on the left. Obviously posting signs has not deterred local ATV enthusiasts from driving over the owner's property.
26. Along the highway, near Sydney.
Well worn ruts beside the highway on the way into Sydney mark the presence of another illegal trail winding along the roadside and into the woods.
27. Along the highway, near Halifax.
Today there is hardly a road in Nova Scotia without ATV tracks like these beside it.
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