Society relieved Blue Mountain Wilderness Connector is protected
Posted Dec 31, 2020 01:00:00 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The protection of the Blue Mountain Wilderness Connector comes with great relief for a local community group.
On Tuesday, the Nova Scotia Nature Trust announced the purchase of a 545-acre piece of land, that bridges the gap between previously protected sections of wilderness.
Former Deputy Premier Diana Whalen, was one of the founders of the Friends of Blue Mountain-Birch Cove Lakes society, and says the purchase marks significant progress for the long-promised Blue Mountain Birch-Cove Lakes Wilderness Park.
“This is connecting two pieces the province had already preserved,” she says. “Pulling it together gives continuity of wilderness for the animals, for canoers, and people that go in there to hike.”
This undeveloped land lies between Hammonds Plains, Timberlea, and Halifax, and includes extensive forests, bogs, wetlands, rocky barrens and hills, rivers and lakes.
Whalen says the protection of the connector will help secure one of the largest urban wilderness areas in North America.
“Most cities don't even have the option to have an urban wilderness,” she says. “We are in such a fortunate position that within our urban core, surrounded by neighbourhoods and subdivisions we have this large wilderness area that we can preserve.”
In October 2019, the Nature Trust announced a campaign to raise $2.8 million needed to acquire the connector. In July, Halifax Regional Council voted to contribute $750,000 from its Park Reserve Fund.
Whalen says there is still much work to be done, including additional land purchases and the creation of access points.
“One of the biggest challenges right now is that people really want to get in there and go walking and hiking, but the trails are very rough,” she says. “What we need is to have proper trail heads and some trails that are very accessible that people can walk on safely and easily.”
While final boundaries are still to be determined for the broader Blue Mountain – Birch Cove Lakes area, it is expected to span about 5,000 acres.
