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Five Bridge Lakes area near Halifax newest candidate for protection
Chignecto Game Sanctuary next in line
October 20, 2009
The provincial government has just announced that the Five Bridge Lakes area near Halifax is now officially Nova Scotia’s newest candidate for protected Wilderness Area designation.
This positive announcement comes hot on the heels of the final designation of the 14,700 hectare Ship Harbour Long Lake Wilderness Area on the Eastern Shore.
The Five Bridge Lakes area is a large natural patch of Crown land in the heart of the Chebucto Peninsula. Natural features include a series of lakes and wetlands, some older, mixed forest stands and granite barrens. The area is home to many native bird and animal species including a small heard of endangered mainland moose.
The good news announcement was welcomed by conservation-minded groups and individuals across the province and especially by the local Five Bridges Wilderness Heritage Trust and the Woodens River Watershed Environmental Organization. Both groups have been working diligently for many years to see this area protected and are now delighted to see the new government finally moving the area forward for protection. The first step in that process will be a period of public consultation which should begin late this year or early next.
The government also announced at the same time its intentions “to establish a large, wilderness area within Crown lands in and near Chignecto Game Sanctuary in Cumberland County”. Environment Minister Sterling Belliveau and Natural Resources Minister John MacDonnell outlined plans to conduct an extensive stakeholder consultation process to study the potential boundaries of the area and key issues that will need to be considered before declaring the final candidate area that will be put forward. Following this the government will launch a more formal public consultation process as per the requirements of the Wilderness Areas Protection Act.
Wilderness protection of the Chignecto Game Sanctuary and the adjacent Crown lands has been a longstanding goal of the Nova Scotia Public Lands Coalition and has been championed by the local Cumberland Wilderness group as well as the Ecology Action Centre, Sierra Club Atlantic, CPAWS Nova Scotia and the Tourism Industry Association of Nova Scotia.
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