Public Lands

Endangered Spaces

News

News Archive

Issues

Take Action

The Coalition

Links

Site Map

Five Stellar Recommendations for our Natural Heritage

May 29, 2006

The Public Lands Coalition congratulates the Heritage Strategy Task Force on including five excellent recommendations to protect natural heritage in its heritage strategy. The heritage strategy was released after an extensive public consultation process based on input from thousands of Nova Scotians.

The Public Lands coalition wholeheartedly endorses the Heritage Strategy Task Force's five recommendations, which include:

1) Work diligently and with a sense of urgency to complete the provincial protected areas network.
2) Support private land conservation through direct investment and incentives, and by working to eliminate barriers faced by private landowners who want to leave a legacy to their community.
3) Develop a coastal management plan to protect Nova Scotia’s coastline and ensure that public access is not lost to private land ownership or development.
4) Conduct a full public review of industrial forestry practices in Nova Scotia.
5) Expand upon efforts to identify, enhance, and protect Nova Scotia’s natural viewscapes and cultural landscapes.

The first recommendation to move with urgency to complete the provincial protected areas network should provide ample motivation for Government to reach its goal of protecting 12 percent of land in Nova Scotia. The goal of protecting 12 percent of land originates from the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, where Canada committed to this level of protection. Currently, a little over 8 percent of land in Nova Scotia is protected through our existing Wilderness Areas, Nature Reserves and National Parks.

NSPLC has identified 19 hotspots on publicly owned Crown land and has been pushing for their protection for years. In 2005 two of these hotspots (Gully Lake and Eigg Mountain) became the province's newest protect Wilderness Areas, bringing the total number of these large natural areas up to 33. But there is still much work to be done. Another 17 hotspots identified by NSPLC arestill in need of protection. Hopefully the government will act on the recommendations of it’s Heritage Strategy Taskforce and get moving on designating these irreplaceable natural treasures quickly, before they’re lost to development.